Citizens for Civility & Accountability in Media

Sample Letter To FCC

Chairman Julius Genachowski
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20554

Mr. Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
Herbert C. Hoover Building (HCHB)
U.S. Department of Commerce / NTIA
1401 Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20230

Re: Petition for Inquiry into Hate Speech in the Media and Request to update report on The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes

Dear Chairman Genachowski, FCC Commissioners and Assistant Secretary Strickling:

As a concerned community member I am supporting the requests of the National Hispanic Media Coalition and urging the Federal Communications Commission to open a notice of inquiry into hate speech in the media. I further urge the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) to update its 1993 report, The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes. I am concerned about this issue because of the potential for hate speech to provoke violent hate crimes, and the lack of public awareness concerning this.

I am specifically concerned about the 100-plus weekly hours of prime-time programming comprising the shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levine, Glenn Beck, and local hosts Inga Barks, Ray Appleton and others on our local talk radio station, KMJ AM & FM.

The kind of unreasoned rhetoric, which KMJ unleashes daily, can become a contributor to actual acts of violence perpetrated by people urged on to extremism by the kind of programming that monopolizes their prime-time air.

The possible correlation between hate speech and violent crime gives me great pause. Immigrant, minority, and religious populations are often targets of hate speech before they are subsequently the target of physical hate crimes. For example, last summer local KMJ host, Ray Appleton, stated that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar should be given a reception with a .45 the next time he visits Fresno. When a caller to the local Inga Barks show stated that President Obama should be shot in the head Barks made no attempt to challenge the caller’s comment. When you add to this the many statements by national hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and others that include inflammatory stereotyping of communities of color, women, the disabled, people of faith and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people it makes me concerned for the safety of many in my greatly diverse community.
Hate Speech in the media is a growing problem that must be examined before it can be solved. I support efforts to increase the resources available to the public to understand hate speech. As a member of my community, I will do my part to ask my family and friends to raise their own voices condemning hate speech when they see it and to ask for all citizens to conduct themselves with civility. The appropriate government role is to collect statistics and monitor trends that will provide a broader context when individuals are concerned about what they see and hear on the nation’s airwaves.

I recognize that the FCC and NTIA are currently engaged in the important and time-consuming work in several areas. I hope that this work does not eclipse the important civil rights issues I raise here. A nation that is divided along race, gender and class lines because of hate speech will be less able to achieve equality in any arena, whether in educational achievement, housing, or broadband deployment.

I support official efforts to raise and debate these issues in a respectful manner, and believe that updating the 1993 report is a necessary first step in addressing the issue of hate speech in the media. I request the FCC establish a broad public forum in which to raise and debate these issues in a respectful manner.

Sincerely,