FCC's Indecency Policy Takes Some Heat

The Federal Communications Commission’s move under Chairman Julius Genachowski to focus on egregious indecency complaints to help get through the million-plus backlog of complaints has drawn some attention, and fire, lately, including a story on cable news April 30 and a letter from legislators to the FCC concerned about the change.

CNN did a story on the public notice issued April 1 asking for public input on whether the FCC should institute that approach, a change in focus from the previous enforcement policy of pursuing fleeting nudity and profanity. "The FCC may actually loosen the rules governing profanity on network TV," said Wolf Blitzer. The story pointed out that there had been more than 90,000 comments on the FCC Web site on the FCC's public notice, with most saying it was not a good idea. And almost two dozen House Republicans -- including media content critic Frank Wolf (R-VA) -- wrote to Chairman Genachowski April 29 saying they were "deeply troubled" by the public notice. "It is imperative that the FCC maintain current indecency standards during hours when children are undoubtedly watching or listening to programming," they wrote.