Category: Intern Blogs

Senator Byrd Addresses Media Censorship

11/4/2020

By Allison Wharton, Byrd Center Student Intern

The censorship of the internet, particularly on social media, has been a topic of scrutiny and political debate this year. While social media allows for easier spread of ideas and can be used by businesses and professionals for marketing, it is widely regarded as a form of entertainment rather than a medium with any major educational value.[1] The popularity of social media in the 21st century has surpassed traditional forms of media entertainment such as television, but the debate over censorship and the purpose of social media is a continuation of long-standing discussions over the constitutionality of entertainment regulation, which has been addressed by all three branches of government over the past fifty years.[2]

From the 1970s until his death, Senator Robert C. Byrd wrote and spoke frequently in favor of censorship of entertainment media, notably commenting on television, music, and the correlations between culture and crime rates. Byrd’s primary concern with the entertainment industry was the effect it had on children, citing television as a major factor in the decline of his perception of societal morality. In an edition of Byrd’s weekly news column, Byrd’s Eye View, entitled “Television: A New Medium for Child Abuse?” he wrote:

"…by the time an American child watching an average of three hours of commercial television programming per day has attained the seventh grade level, he or she has already witnessed on average 8,000 television murders and been exposed to another 100,000 other assorted acts of violence. Any parent or teacher feeding children a similar intellectual diet should be found guilty of child abuse."

Byrd also wrote about a decrease in crime rates nationally and in West Virginia, and believed that there was an increase in juvenile crime rates that was the product of culture being uncensored and marketed to children. With violence and drug use becoming more common among minors in America, Byrd maintained his stance against television, film, music, and video games depicting crime being marketed to children, arguing for regulations and an updated system of ratings for entertainment deemed inappropriate for young people.

A young Robert C. Byrd playing the fiddle.

Robert C. Byrd performing on the television show “Hee Haw” in 1979.

Though Senator Byrd was quite vocal about his problems with entertainment media, he also recognized the potential benefits. He believed that television and music would be better used for educational purposes than entertainment. Byrd grew up learning how to play the fiddle, recording an album and frequently playing at public appearances throughout his adult life. While arguing for regulation of the music industry, Byrd did recognize its merit. He also appeared on the show “Hee Haw,” despite his seemingly outspoken opposition to television and argued that a “Family Hour” program was necessary for the entertainment industry because it would provide appropriate forms of entertainment that could also be educational. Senator Byrd was initially lukewarm to the idea of televising floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate when C-SPAN was created in 1979. However, he came to realize the democratizing value that television coverage of the Congress could build and he ultimately became an ardent supporter of allowing cameras into the Senate Chamber in 1986.

Byrd’s belief in the regulation of entertainment media was due to his hope for the youth of the country to be better educated rather than to be exposed to themes he cited as the cause for increase in juvenile crime. According to the Federal Communications Commission, material considered “indecent” is protected under the First Amendment and cannot be completely censored.[3] Various members of Congress have spoken both for and against censorship of entertainment and the Supreme Court has a long history of cases on obscenity charges and freedom of speech.[4] Byrd’s reputation as a strict constitutionalist despite rulings to protect entertainment media from censorship reflects the complexity of regulation of the entertainment industry that is still happening today.

Senator Byrd speaking at a news conference about the decision to record and air Senate proceedings, May 12, 1986.

Social media serves as a form of short-term entertainment, while the shift toward more fact-based and educational usage has the potential to have a larger impact.[5] However, lack of censorship makes the validity of claims more difficult to confirm and potentially allows for the posting of more obscenities, while over-censorship or censorship of free speech would be deemed unconstitutional. The same arguments on social media regulation existed long before in discussion of the censoring of television and music. The debate on social media censorship, fact checking, and algorithmic issues are an extension of larger debates about entertainment that stretch back to the mid-20th century and continue into contemporary discourse.

Sources:
[1] Stuart Cunningham and David Craig, Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, (New York: NYU Press, 2019), 8-11.

[2] “A Brief History of Film Censorship,” National Coalition Against Censorship, Accessed June 20, 2020, https://ncac.org/resource/a-brief-history-of-film-censorship.

[3] “Consumer Guides: Broadcast, Cable, and Satellite,” Federal Communications Commission, Last modified May 18, 2020, https://www.fcc.gov/general/broadcast-cable-and-satellite-guides.

[4] “Freedom of Expression in the Arts and Entertainment,” American Civil Liberties Union, February 27, 2002, https://www.aclu.org/other/freedom-expression-arts-and-entertainment.

[5] Brian Patrick Green, “What is the Main Purpose of Social Media: Entertainment or Education?” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (blog), December 16, 2019, https://www.scu.edu/ethics-spotlight/social-media-and-democracy/what-is-the-main-purpose-of-social-media-entertainment-or-education/

A Vision for West Virginia's Future: Tourism

10/28/2020

By Patrick Fuller, Byrd Center Student Intern

From the end of World War II until the early 1970s, a period of great economic expansion swept across the United States. The American middle class experienced substantial growth and found themselves with extra spending money. With the advent of many time-saving home appliances, many Americans also found themselves with extra time for recreation. Naturally, the excess of time and money led to the desire for travel.

A scene along the main street of Stotesbury, a former company town in Raleigh County, West Virginia from "The Saturday Evening Post," 1960.

While most of the world was experiencing an economic boom, West Virginia was not sharing in the prosperity. As more factories and coal mines closed, many West Virginians were forced to leave Appalachia to find work in cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. Senator Robert C. Byrd saw the level of poverty in parts of West Virginia and advocated heavily for federal spending in the state. Though the extractive industries in West Virginia and jobs that accompanied them were leaving, Byrd hoped to bring a new industry to West Virginia: tourism.

Appalachian Aspects - Episode 1

8/28/2018

By Delaney Conner

Welcome to Appalachian Aspects, the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education’s first student-developed podcast. I conceptualized, researched, and produced the podcast as part of my public history internship at the Byrd Center this summer. I hope that this initial episode, which focuses on the development and construction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) during the 1990s, will be the first of a limited series of podcasts that explore West Virginia’s deep and varied history, primarily since the beginning of the 20th century.

Aerial view of NCTC and the Potomac River after its completion, fall of 1997.

Senator Byrd's Visits to the People's Republic of China

10/31/2017

By Patrick Gregory, a public history major at Shepherd University and student intern at the Byrd Center.

Since the end of WWII, members of the Senate and House of Representatives have often gone on trips abroad called congressional delegations, or CODELs. These delegations provide opportunities for members of Congress to gain firsthand knowledge of the nations that the United States has diplomatic relationships with, develop personal and professional relationships with foreign officials and dignitaries, and to negotiate important policy matters. Senator Byrd went on numerous CODELs across the world during his six decades in Congress, including two trips to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) following the opening of diplomatic relations in the 1970’s.

A photograph from Senator Byrd's first trip to China in 1975.

Senator Byrd and His Music

7/29/2016

By Zach Garver - Byrd Center Archives Intern

Nothing touches the soul quite like a rich melody. From all walks of life, all generations, all ethnicities; it moves us, inspires us, and connects us. This notion rang true in the heart of Senator Robert C. Byrd. From a young age, Byrd recognized music as one of the artistic amplifiers of the human condition, made quite evident from the array of photos and documentation the distinguished Senator left behind. A majority of the images featuring Byrd were stoic and reverent, offering the indurate disposition expected from a United States Senator. However, take even a brief glance at any picture of Byrd holding his fiddle, and there is a discernibly different environment to it. No politics, no divisive personal opinions, no formalities. There is simply a man and his music.

Sharing a Few Favorite Photographs from Senator Byrd's Collection

7/26/2016

By Kyle Staubs, Byrd Center Archives Intern

All of the interns and employees at the Byrd Center have our favorite photos in Senator Byrd’s Photograph Collection. The photographs in the archives had already been arranged in chronological order before I was given the task of digitizing these images. While some of them were dated by a stamp or handwritten note on the back, other photographs had to be dated by researching Senator Byrd's press clipping scrapbooks and documents. My project is to scan them and prepare access copies so that they can be accessible to everyone.

So far I have finished the files ranging from the 1920s through the 1970s. Even though I have only started to digitize these photographs, there are a couple that I would like to share. The first photo is of Senator Byrd at the West Virginia Society of the District of Columbia’s "West Virginia Son and Daughter of the Year" Award Ceremony on May 19, 1962. The photograph depicts Senator Byrd with Senator Jennings Randolph and Governor William Wallace Barron playing with a black bear cub. Senator Byrd took advantage of the opportunity for a Kodak moment with the cub.

The New River Gorge Bridge

5/17/2016

By Kyle Staubs

Last Friday, May 13th was the 40th Anniversary of the first dedication of the New River Gorge Bridge while it was being constructed (the final dedicated occurred on October 22, 1977, the day the bridge was opened to the public). Construction on the bridge began in June of 1974. Designed by Michael Baker Company with the direction of Chief Engineer Clarence V. Knudsen and by the U.S. Steel’s American Bridge Division, the New River Gorge Bridge is made from COR-TEN steel and cost $37 million to complete.

At that time of its completion, the New River Gorge Bridge was the world's longest single-span arch bridge. The bridge was also the largest project ever coordinated by the West Virginia Department of Highways. Today, the bridge is the third longest in the world and the third highest bridge in the United States. The bridge is 3,030 feet long and 69.3 feet wide with four lanes and a center divider. Statistics show that the regular traffic on the bridge is 16,200 vehicles per day.

An aerial view of the construction of the New River Gorge Bridge

Staggers, Sr. Press Collection Opens for Research

11/16/2015

by Malorie Matos

The Byrd Center is excited to announce that the Harley O. Staggers, Sr. Press Series is now open for research.

We have just finished processing Congressman Stagger’s fascinating collection of press materials and newspaper clippings. The series contains press coverage of specific topics and issues addressed by Staggers throughout his 32 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. The collection spans the entirety of Stagger’s professional life, beginning with his days as a student at Emory and Henry College in the 1920’s and ending with his retirement from the U.S. Congress in the 1980’s.

VIP: Very Important Papers

9/29/2015

By Malorie Matos

At the Byrd Center, it is our goal to make as many of our archival records available to the public as possible. We re-house, organize, and compile records into easy-to-use finding aids so researchers can directly access documents in our collection.

But what if some of those documents are more important than others?

Senator Byrd’s Congressional Papers Collection contains a wide variety of correspondence from VIPs: fellow members of Congress, foreign dignitaries, celebrities, and presidents. While we want these important documents to be available for public research, any loss or damage sustained through that access would be detrimental to the archives. In order to reconcile our responsibility to protect the documents in our care and our responsibility to share these records with the public, we have taken several precautionary steps.

Byrd Press Series Open for Research!

5/5/2015

By Malorie Matos

A before and after comparison, starting with removing and arranging the records out of their transport boxes and ending with the collection re-housed in acid-free storage and placed in our archives.

It was nearly one year ago that Byrd CLS Intern Malorie Matos began working on processing Senator Byrd’s Press collection. For months, Malorie and fellow intern Sarah Brennan sorted through almost 50 boxes containing thousands of press releases and related congressional documents. Malorie and Sarah arranged and re-housed everything, detailing the entire process in this Post from the Archives blog last October.

We are pleased to announce that the collection is now fully processed and ready for researchers!

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