|
Oct. 11, 2004
Morningside College
will host a panel discussion on the hot topic of indecency
in broadcasting on Wednesday, Oct.
20, at 11:45 a.m. in the UPS Auditorium of the
Lincoln Center, 3627 Peters Avenue.
"Naughty
Words, Dirty Pictures: Indecency in Broadcasting"
will feature panelists Dr. Susan
Burns, assistant professor of psychology at Morningside;
Sharlene Georgesen, MSN,
RN, assistant professor of nursing; and Dr.
Mark Heistad, assistant professor of mass communication
and the organizer of the event. Heistad is also the faculty
advisor for KMSC
FM 88.3, Morningside's student radio station. The public
is invited to the free event, which is sponsored by Morningside's
Academic and Cultural Arts Series (ACAS).
The event will start
with an overview from Heistad, who will discuss the terminology
of indecency and the ways in which it affects the broadcast
industry. Georgesen will discuss the issue from a parent's
perspective, while Burns will discuss the psychology of pornography
and peoples' interest in it. The panelists will field questions
from the audience following their presentations.
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) bans certain words and images considered
"indecent" from broadcast radio and television stations, but
not from cable or satellite-delivered services. The same indecency
concept has been used unsuccessfully to ban certain words
and images from the World Wide Web. Congress is now considering
extending the indecency ban to satellite and cable services
and to significantly increase the fines for indecency violations.
Heistad said the
increased interest from the government is fallout from the
controversial Janet Jackson incident during this year's Super
Bowl telecast.
"Indecency is a fascinating
bit of broadcast law," Heistad said. "It bans from some radio
and television programming that which is perfectly acceptable
on others and in print media. It imposes one generation's
ideas of what is acceptable on all others."
As faculty advisor
at KMSC, Heistad said he can see the pros and cons of both
sides of the FCC regulations.
"On the one hand,
I love the indecency rules because they save me from having
to tell my staff what can and cannot be said," Heistad said.
"On the other hand, they scare the dickens out of me because
one mistake and we could be fined out of existence."
Heistad came to Morningside
in 2002. He was previously a freelance radio producer in St.
Paul, Minn., where he developed a weekly program on media
for Minnesota Public Radio. He also produced, created, and
hosted programs for Minnesota Public Radio from 1983 to 1993.
Heistad was an assistant professor at Penn State University
from 1996 to 2000 and has taught at the University of St.
Thomas and the University of Minnesota. Heistad, a 1979 graduate
of Luther College, holds doctorate and master's degrees in
mass communication from the University of Minnesota. He is
a member of the American Journalism Historians Association,
the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications,
the Broadcast Education Association, and the National Communications
Association.
Burns has been at
Morningside since 2002. She was previously a graduate teaching
assistant at Kansas State University and Emporia State University,
Emporia, Kan., and a part-time lecturer at Washburn University,
Topeka, Kan. Burns, a 1996 graduate of Emporia State, received
her master's degree in experimental psychology from Emporia
State and a doctorate in personality/social psychology with
an emphasis in child development from Kansas State University.
Georgesen has been
at Morningside since 2000. She previously served as a project
coordinator and as a nursing manager in the obstetrics and
pediatrics units at Mercy Medical Center, Sioux City, from
1993 to 1999. She has also held nursing positions at Marian
Health Center in Sioux City, University Hospital and Clinics
in Columbia, Mo., the University of Missouri-Columbia School
of Nursing, and St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise,
Idaho. Georgesen, a 1986 graduate of Augustana College, Sioux
Falls, S.D., earned a master's degree in nursing from the
University of Missouri-Columbia in 1992.
ACAS
Calendar
|
