A fun read in New York magazine today, courtesy of Kurt Andersen, who pays a visit to his alma mater with an interesting opinion piece about the suddenly-toothsome FCC.

Viz,

“It is comforting to watch the Man reaffirm mainstream values of laissez-faire restraint. And it’s fun to see this central contradiction of conservatism – the amoralists’ economic freedom versus the zealots’ will to regulate – exposed. But what’s most intriguing is that it might just become a great test case for the modern media age: Now that 86 percent of Americans have their TV programs delivered by cable or satellite, and any 12-year-old is free to look at billions of unregulated Web pages, what exactly is the point of having the federal government make rules about how raunchy or rude broadcast programs may be?”

Exactly.

In case you missed it, my KCRW radio show this week features an interview with “Oz” and “Homicide: Life on the Streets” creator Tom Fontana about the chilling effect he thinks he new decency legislation will have on the TV business. You can listen to it by clicking here.