Increasing FCC Fines is the Wrong Way to Address Indecency by Eric Jaffa
March 14, 2004
Some people were upset by this because they were watching the Super Bowl with their whole families. Many other people, who had TIVO-recorded her dance number, liked it enough to replay it repeatedly. The solution for this type of situation is to give people warning. If CBS had put a warning on the screen before the dance number that it was inappropriate for some viewers, we wouldn't have had this big controversy. Congress reacted this week, but didn't take the reasonable approach of giving people warning.. Instead, Congress endorsed fines up to $500,000 per-incident for broadcast indecency. (The House passed the "Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004," HR.554. "The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation" forwarded a similar bill, S.2056 to the full Senate. Both bills increase fines for each incident of indecency. The maximum is currently $27,500. The House bill increases that to $500,000; the Senate bill to $275,000. The House bill also lets the FCC consider whether a station has broadcast indecent material in deciding whether to renew its license.) Fines that heavy, and the possibility of a station being denied license-renewal, will allow the federal government to drive off the airwaves performers it doesn't like. Howard Stern has been speaking out against George W. Bush recently, for trying to push through "a country club agenda," among other things. The FCC chairman is Republican Michael Powell, son of Colin Powell, the Bush Administration's Secretary of State. For people unfamiliar with "The Howard Stern Show," he doesn't use expletives on the air. He does interview strippers, and near the end of each show, gives his opinion on news stories. There is no law saying it's illegal to interview strippers, but because "indecency" is vaguely defined as "patently offensive sexual or excretory references" the FCC could act as if there is. The FCC could use the stripper-interviews as a pretext to drive Howard Stern off the air, when their real concern is his criticism of Bush during the news segment. It would a reasonable reaction to the current public outcry against indecency if shows such as Howard Stern's were required to say "This show is for adults" before and after each commercial break. However, allowing the FCC to levy $500,000 fines invites abuse of power by the FCC. Please contact your Senators against increasing indecency fines. The bill to do so, S.2056, has been referred to the full Senate, but hasn't passed yet. (The House bill has already passed.) You can find your Senators' names and phone numbers at: www.vote-smart.org. Or call the toll-free Capitol Switchboard number is: 1-800-839-5276, and say "Can I please speak to the office of Senator ____?"
|