Flynt winks; C-SPAN blinks

By Michael Fraase

Thursday, 14 January 1999 06:04PM CST

Section: Censorship

C-SPAN, the public service cable television channel created by the American cable industry, prides itself on presenting live and unvarnished coverage of public affairs. The channel’s mission is to provide its audience “access to ... forums where public policy is discussed, debated and decided—all without editing, commentary or analysis and with a balanced presentation of points of view….” And to “provide elected and appointed officials and others who would influence public policy a direct conduit to the audience without filtering or otherwise distorting their points of view….”

For the most part, C-SPAN does a remarkable job of meeting its mission and provides a valuable public service.

On January 11, 1999, though, C-SPAN blinked.

After running repeated announcements that it would be carrying a Larry Flynt news conference live, C-SPAN pulled the plug 45 minutes before the Flynt conference.

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