Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, & the First Amendment

Winner of the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association

Two well-known experts-Newton N. Minow is a former chairperson of the FCC-suggest bold new ways to think about television and its influence on American life and, most urgently, on American children. The authors argue that to defend an unrestricted freedom to broadcast by invoking the First Ammendent is an improper use of constitutional principle. They remind us that broadcasters are required by law to serve the public interest, and that the Supreme Court and Congress have affirmed that service to children is a broadcaster's legal obligation.