Berkeley Daily Planet
Weekend, July 20-21, 2002
Page 4
FORUM

B-TV Proposal Is Limiting

I am the co-host of UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES, one of the two shows on B-TV targeted for censoring by the proposed measure that the Berkeley City Council is considering. This proposed measure came about because a few people were offended by what we present on our show. A lot of letters have appeared in this forum about this proposed ordinance. They have been overwhelmingly against it, detailing the many dangers of this ordinance within the big picture of taking away our freedoms.

But allow me to talk about the "small" picture of how this would censor our show and audience. I do the show with Frank Moore. Our show is politically, culturally, and artistically radical. Our show is a two and half hour variety show offering in-depth conversations about issues that effect us all with a wide range of people, live music, and cutting edge performances, films, and art. Although we get complaints that the show has too much talk, what the few people find objectionable is the cutting edge art...the same kind of art that got Frank targeted by Sen. Jesse Helms in the early 90’s.

This cutting edge art would get the show exiled to after midnight under this ordinance. This ordinance requires producers to label their shows’ contents as SEXUALLY EXPLICIT. "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" shows will be moved to midnight. We don’t know what SEXUALLY EXPLICIT means! But failure to correctly label a show will have your show moved to after midnight as punishment!

We have always requested our show be shown after 10pm to have the freedom to cover a wide range of topics. But exiling the show to after midnight denies people easy access to it in a very intrusive way. It denies the show "foot traffic," cutting down the number of people discovering the show. It is like moving a store from Shattuck and University to Dwight Way and 8th...or limiting a politician to halls of 50 or less. Imagine the uproar!

Linda Mac

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