It’s very strange to try and imagine how highly regulated television and radio was. You can find just about anything on the Internet or on TV regardless of how “obscene or objectionable” it is. What is even stranger to me is that all of those regulations were self imposed, that there was no law enforcing it. Not to mention what was considered inappropriate to show on television was pretty broad, couples couldn’t even be shown together in bed because it imply that they had sex. Couples that already had a child together couldn’t be shown in bed together. I suppose that because there were so few channels television broadcasters really had to have all of their bases covered. It’s funny, older generations are very quick to make fun of how easily offended millennials are and yet… separate beds.

I’m also a bit surprised that the fairness doctrine wasn’t abandoned until the 1980’s. I would have figured that it would have been abandoned in the 1970’s when cable TV was developed and marketed.

In a way a lot of what was being shown during the time of the FCC licensing agreement seems a bit like propaganda. Criminality could not be presented as sympathetic, certain morals had to be portrayed as positive, and law enforcement had to be shown as the good guys. Media may be more “obscene and objectionable” today but at least people are provided with different points of view and different stories.