Do Americans have the right to TV? Popular Mechanics gives some disturbing figures on how much the US government has spent on publicizing the switch from analog to digital TV.

Avatar for Alan Noble

Alan Noble

Alan Noble, Ph.D., (Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief) is an Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University. He received his Ph.D. from Baylor in 2013. He and his family attend Shawnee Pres in Shawnee, OK. He is also author of the book Disruptive Witness.
WWW Twitter Facebook

2 Comments

  1. Speaking as a Brit who lives under the regime of the TVL where all are guilty until they write a letter to declare non-viewer status and get a repreive for 6 months, I’ve grown up in a climate that has treated TV as a privelege.

    However, I’ve always believed that TV ownership should be a Right along with any form of communication. After all, the television has been the best and main form of communication to the people for the last 70 years.

    How else would we have known our leaders were taking us to war, new laws were enacted and other major events that affect us all?

    Of course this inevitably leads to the question of whether internet access should be a Right, since this is the way news and communication is going.

    We can hardly expect the government to go back to transmitting news announcements over radio, scouts or carrier pidgeons. Therefore if the government is to use these mediums to communicate to the people and offers no alternative medium, then these mediums should be free (as in operation- not purchase) and everyone should have a Right to own one.

    Reply

  2. In America, the government does provide costless internet access to everyone. Simultaneously, people pay not inconsequential amounts for more convenient internet access. So it seems that our government either views the internet as a right or, at the least, as something worthwhile.

    The Danes last blog post..20080505

    Reply

Comments are now closed for this article.