FCC HEAD DEFENDS POLITICAL ADS

Political candidates have a right to run graphic television commercials such as one by an Indiana congressional candidate showing aborted fetuses, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Saturday.

The chairman, Alfred C. Sikes, said at a Cape Girardeau press conference that he doesn't believe such campaign advertising should be regulated.

"No, we can't regulate that nor should we regulate that," said Sikes, who grew up in Sikeston and has served as FCC chairman since August 1989.

"Candidates have been doing outrageous things since the birth of the republic, and I don't see that stopping," said Sikes.

He added, however, that the FCC does have the power to regulate campaign advertising when it involves pornography or candidates seeking to incite riots.

Sikes spoke to reporters at the Show Me Center prior to delivering the spring commencement address at Southeast Missouri State University.

Fifty-five graduate students and 619 undergraduate students received degrees at the commencement ceremony.

Asked for his assessment of the television coverage of the recent rioting in Los Angeles, Sikes said television news "can distort significantly and it can become part of the developing turmoil."

But he said television reporters showed "enormous courage in the face of very difficult circumstances" in covering the deadly riot. "My sense is that TV news did a very good job."

He said some observers have criticized the television coverage as being too uniform and not as diverse as that of the print media.

Sikes said: "TV has become the primary source of news today for the majority of Americans. That, to me, carries with it a special responsibility."

Sikes said he believes network television news faces some changes because of competition from cable television and local TV stations.

The FCC chairman said changes in communications technology such as high-definition television and new satellite systems are on the horizon.

"It's a really exciting time," said Sikes.

In his commencement address, Sikes told the Southeast graduates they have received a "wake-up call."

"You will be tomorrow's rookies in the workplace, in civic organizations, and in our nation's communities," he said.

Sikes said the graduates should be concerned about the nation's educational system.

"Public education has long been elementary to our national success, by grounding individuals in needed skills and talents, a faith in democratic principles, and by helping to forge a stronger national culture and identity.

"But in too many places education has been too bureaucratized, standards have been needlessly eroded, and the sharp contrast between education's current realities and both students' and taxpayers' legitimate expectations have robbed it of crucial public support."