office handle
02-02-2005, 03:37 PM
this reminds me of the guy in san antonio that used to show clips of barebreasted women late at night on public access.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/210158_porn01.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=1
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Public-access TV porn under fire
Seattle network set to consider whether to end 'Mike Hunt TV'
By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Flip the channels after midnight, past Nick at Nite and the infomercials. If you stumble upon the Seattle area's public-access channel, you might see a man and a woman having sex in a hot tub, followed by another man and woman doing it in a kitchen.
Little is left to the imagination.
In fact, nothing is.
Now questions are being raised again over whether the graphic clips taken from porn movies should be allowed to appear on public-access television. The Seattle Community Access Network, which runs the public-access station for King and south Snohomish counties, has warned Mike Aivaz that his show "Mike Hunt TV" will be yanked off the air if he does not stop airing "the presentation of actual sex acts."
Aivaz says that's censorship, particularly on a channel meant to give access to the airwaves for programming outside the mainstream.
An appeal is scheduled tomorrow night before SCAN's three-member content review board. One member says it will be a difficult decision.
"This is one of the most discussed issues in the United States," said board member Harlan Snyder. "When does pornography cross the line and become obscene? It makes you search your soul.
"It brings to mind the saying, 'I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend with my life your right to say it.' "
Ann Suter, SCAN's executive director, recommended the warning after receiving complaints from viewers. She said she's uncomfortable with "being the arbiter for community standards."
But Suter said federal law bars SCAN from broadcasting obscenity, and she needs to protect the network.
It's not the first time the issue has come up. In 1998, TCI Cable, which then carried the local public-access station, threw another pornographic show produced by T.J. Williamson off the air. Settlement discussions with the American Civil Liberties Union allowed the show back on the air and led to the creation of the content review board.
Other shows, including Aivaz's, have been taken off the air, but only for set periods of time. Suter and the board review shows on a case-by-case basis when complaints are made.
Suter said she agreed with the most recent complaints after she reviewed the program. The station does not screen shows before they air. In part, Suter said the sex scenes fall beyond acceptable community standards.
Graphic sex is "not the kind of thing you'd expect to see broadcast in a public park," she said.
Aivaz, however, argues the scenes are in keeping with community standards, noting the movies are available in any adult video store, and the show's air time protects children from watching it.
Suter released the e-mail messages she's received from viewers since Aivaz began talking about the warning on the air, but she has withheld the writers' names.
Most argued that those who find the show offensive should not watch it and questioned Suter's ability to decide what can be on television.
One wrote: "Defining what is obscene is very subjective. I personally find most of TV to be obscene. The amount of violence on television is very disturbing to me. The shows that 'Mike Hunt TV' has portrayed are nothing more than simple sexual contact. The principles behind a community access channel (are) to respond to EVERYONE'S viewing choices going beyond that of 'normal' points of view."
Another e-mail message said: "The videos he broadcasts on his hourlong program are offensive, plain and simple. He said he has a right to broadcast that material. He said the material isn't offensive because he finds it highly 'spiritual.' He said his broadcasts give his viewers the freedom of choice. I think he's full of it."
Aivaz, 42, appears in the show, sometimes clothed, sometimes naked, with long wavy brown hair and a wild, thick beard. He lights a pipe typically used to smoke marijuana.
In an interview last week, he appeared at times defiant, but also a bit weary of being Mike Hunt.
He said he worked for a time as a waiter but now works only sporadically as a Web designer.
Largely he devotes his life to splicing together scenes from porn movies and taping short segments at home. Last fall he spent much of his time on the air ranting against President Bush.
"Probably the worst thing you could say to me is 'You can't do that,' " he said. "The whole point of the channel is free speech, so that every member of the community can get on their soapbox and say whatever they want, as long as it's not obscene."
He said he hasn't looked for work partly because he'd have to shave off his beard and cut his hair. A clean-cut Mike Aivaz wouldn't be the same Mike Hunt on television.
"It would be the end of Mike Hunt," he said, "It would be like a legend disappearing, like Sasquatch in the Northwest."
However, he acknowledged he's begun thinking of looking for a job.
Aivaz said he's spoken on the air about giving the show up, saying he'd proved his point and now it was somebody else's turn to carry it on.
"I'm broke," he said -- and, he confided, a little lonely. He said finding a job wouldn't "just be for the money. It's the camaraderie."
"All this is a lot of stress for me," he said.
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8131 or [email protected]
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/210158_porn01.html?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=1
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Public-access TV porn under fire
Seattle network set to consider whether to end 'Mike Hunt TV'
By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Flip the channels after midnight, past Nick at Nite and the infomercials. If you stumble upon the Seattle area's public-access channel, you might see a man and a woman having sex in a hot tub, followed by another man and woman doing it in a kitchen.
Little is left to the imagination.
In fact, nothing is.
Now questions are being raised again over whether the graphic clips taken from porn movies should be allowed to appear on public-access television. The Seattle Community Access Network, which runs the public-access station for King and south Snohomish counties, has warned Mike Aivaz that his show "Mike Hunt TV" will be yanked off the air if he does not stop airing "the presentation of actual sex acts."
Aivaz says that's censorship, particularly on a channel meant to give access to the airwaves for programming outside the mainstream.
An appeal is scheduled tomorrow night before SCAN's three-member content review board. One member says it will be a difficult decision.
"This is one of the most discussed issues in the United States," said board member Harlan Snyder. "When does pornography cross the line and become obscene? It makes you search your soul.
"It brings to mind the saying, 'I disagree with what you say, but I'll defend with my life your right to say it.' "
Ann Suter, SCAN's executive director, recommended the warning after receiving complaints from viewers. She said she's uncomfortable with "being the arbiter for community standards."
But Suter said federal law bars SCAN from broadcasting obscenity, and she needs to protect the network.
It's not the first time the issue has come up. In 1998, TCI Cable, which then carried the local public-access station, threw another pornographic show produced by T.J. Williamson off the air. Settlement discussions with the American Civil Liberties Union allowed the show back on the air and led to the creation of the content review board.
Other shows, including Aivaz's, have been taken off the air, but only for set periods of time. Suter and the board review shows on a case-by-case basis when complaints are made.
Suter said she agreed with the most recent complaints after she reviewed the program. The station does not screen shows before they air. In part, Suter said the sex scenes fall beyond acceptable community standards.
Graphic sex is "not the kind of thing you'd expect to see broadcast in a public park," she said.
Aivaz, however, argues the scenes are in keeping with community standards, noting the movies are available in any adult video store, and the show's air time protects children from watching it.
Suter released the e-mail messages she's received from viewers since Aivaz began talking about the warning on the air, but she has withheld the writers' names.
Most argued that those who find the show offensive should not watch it and questioned Suter's ability to decide what can be on television.
One wrote: "Defining what is obscene is very subjective. I personally find most of TV to be obscene. The amount of violence on television is very disturbing to me. The shows that 'Mike Hunt TV' has portrayed are nothing more than simple sexual contact. The principles behind a community access channel (are) to respond to EVERYONE'S viewing choices going beyond that of 'normal' points of view."
Another e-mail message said: "The videos he broadcasts on his hourlong program are offensive, plain and simple. He said he has a right to broadcast that material. He said the material isn't offensive because he finds it highly 'spiritual.' He said his broadcasts give his viewers the freedom of choice. I think he's full of it."
Aivaz, 42, appears in the show, sometimes clothed, sometimes naked, with long wavy brown hair and a wild, thick beard. He lights a pipe typically used to smoke marijuana.
In an interview last week, he appeared at times defiant, but also a bit weary of being Mike Hunt.
He said he worked for a time as a waiter but now works only sporadically as a Web designer.
Largely he devotes his life to splicing together scenes from porn movies and taping short segments at home. Last fall he spent much of his time on the air ranting against President Bush.
"Probably the worst thing you could say to me is 'You can't do that,' " he said. "The whole point of the channel is free speech, so that every member of the community can get on their soapbox and say whatever they want, as long as it's not obscene."
He said he hasn't looked for work partly because he'd have to shave off his beard and cut his hair. A clean-cut Mike Aivaz wouldn't be the same Mike Hunt on television.
"It would be the end of Mike Hunt," he said, "It would be like a legend disappearing, like Sasquatch in the Northwest."
However, he acknowledged he's begun thinking of looking for a job.
Aivaz said he's spoken on the air about giving the show up, saying he'd proved his point and now it was somebody else's turn to carry it on.
"I'm broke," he said -- and, he confided, a little lonely. He said finding a job wouldn't "just be for the money. It's the camaraderie."
"All this is a lot of stress for me," he said.
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8131 or [email protected]