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Indecency on the Airwaves: To Regulate or Not to Regulate?

© The Heritage Foundation

James Gattuso Date: Thursday, 16 February 2006 Time: 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) View Webchat Transcript

Should governments regulate or censor what airs on television and radio? This question applies not only to political speech, but also to what some consider offensive or indecent material.

During a February 16 online discussion, James Gattuso, a researcher in regulatory and communications policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, responded to questions on “Indecency on the Airwaves: To Regulate or Not to Regulate?”

Guest Biography: James Gattuso is a researcher in regulatory and communications policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington and often analyzes policy initiatives of the U.S. Congress relating to broadcast regulation. In the early 1990s he served as deputy chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission.

Gattuso is a graduate of the University of Southern California and received a law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was a member of the UCLA Law Review. He is a member of the California and District of Columbia bars and is the author of a number of articles on competition, telecommunications regulation and Internet governance.