Concordiensis

Issue date: 5/31/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Erika Schnitzer/Concordy TVuC plays on a television in the Campus Center for anyone to watch.

In recent weeks, Union's TVuC, a club dedicated to presenting media for students made entirely by students, has begun airing a new and controversial show, raising the question of the station's stance on traditional television decency standards.

"Bart on Bart," TVuC's latest addition, features freshman Bart Tomaszewski, who, in interviewing himself with the aid of a green screen and an outfit change, has turned quite a few heads with his explicit speech and other potentially offensive references.

The pilot episode of "Bart on Bart" included three uses of the word "f-k," in addition to other cursing and four explicit sexual references, one of which was to child pornography.

While asking and answering a series of seemingly random questions, the characters integrated a reference to illegal drugs and suicide. As a one liter-sized vodka bottle rested in the foreground as the interviewer and interviewee's available refreshment, three specific references to mental retardation were also made.

But TVuC is a closed-circuit channel, meaning that only the campus and perhaps some of the houses on Seward are able to tune into this adult content. Thus, both Tomaszewski and News on the U anchor Jon Tomlin argue that censorship has no place on the station.

As Tomaszewski said in reference to the content, "everyone is old enough; 17 years old is the age for rated-R movies, and in this case, no one has to watch my show."

Tomlin corroborated this statement, asserting that his "News on the U" is no different than any other media seeking to speak to its audience.

"What we do is to highlight what students do and think; if a student has something to say, they have every right to say it on TV, even if it involves cursing," Tomlin said.

Since TVuC is a relatively new organization on campus, and because it is only shown on a closed circuit, Union has done nothing to regulate the shows' contents. This freedom, in combination with an admitted passion for "stirring up controversy," leads Tomlin to support "pushing the limits here."

Tomlin and Tomaszewski both assert that they have received only positive feedback from their peers in response to such controversial programs. Both doubt, however, that their professors and administrators have watched much of TVUC.

Continued...

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