Korean Job Discussion Forums

SarcasmKills · Joined: 07 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

So after revelling in the Pistons win, I flip over to AFN to see John Edwards being interviewed.. He launches into a tirade about how bad he thinks Bush is.. for a good minute and a half, as he was starting to talk about the war, the volume was muted by the channel..

No it wasn't my TV (I checked other channels)..

Part of me understands that it's not in their best interests for soldiers to see that (don't want to demoralize them in anyway).. but is this an example on inhibiting free speech?

I've been up since 4:30... pardon any blabbering on...

VanIslander · Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 3:23 pm Post subject:

isn't the station owned and operated by the U.S. military?

if so, the issue of free speech regarding anti-military operations talk isn't salient

On the other hand · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue

VanIslander is correct about this not being a free-speech issue. However, I think the military is pretty naive if they think that soldiers won't figure out that Edwards was saying some pretty hardcore anti-Bush stuff, seeing as how they allowed the first part of his statement to go uncensored.

In a case like that, they'd be best off not airing the interview at all.

daskalos · Joined: 19 May 2006 Location: The Road to Ithaca

I used to work for AFRTS, though not in Korea, and unless the rules (official or otherwise) have changed, whoever lowered the volume was acting on his own righteous initiative. Programming is/was selected on the basis of US ratings and availability (meaning, can they get it for dirt cheap), and censoring is/was not permitted, the idea being that the boys and girls in uniform had the right to hear and see what the people whose rights and lives they're supposedly defending are hearing/seeing. The only exceptions to this were cases of host nation sensitivities.

But since I imagine that the military today is even more like the Military Wing of the GOP than it was even a few years ago, it does not surprise me at all that some cog on a sound board decided to protect his idiotic boss's honor.

Octavius Hite · Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 5:25 pm Post subject:

Wanna watch that terrorist Edwards help the enemy by criticizing our Dear Leader and his crime family go here:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/

gypsyfish · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

Censorship. Is that why the faces were all green, too?

Silly.

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

What show was the John Edwards interview on? Headline News? They've already taken Meet the Press off AFN Prime. Of course, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is ultimately in charge of programming...

They still regularly announce that their policy is not to censor, but I think that basically applies to entertainment shows regarding family values issues. Since they also regularly announce that it's against military law for a soldier or even (I think) a DOD contractor to directly criticise the commander-in-chief it wouldn't be prudent to expose them to unnecessary criticism of the President (which they might then naturally repeat among themselves...)

gypsyfish · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

He was on This Week.