FCC's Full Frontal Assault on TV

FCC'S FULL FRONTAL ASSAULT ON TV
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
[Commentary] In a single stroke that has television's creative community seething, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin gave notice that his agency will clean up the broadcast airwaves, starting with TV. The relative quiet that had marked his first year in office was shattered last week by a mortar round aimed at the TV industry. The damage from the FCC's latest set of indecency rulings: more than $4 million in fines, including a record $3.6 million proposed fine against CBS' Without a Trace for sexual situations -- not nudity, not language -- and either fines or findings against 10 stations for airing shows that were indecent or profane. That's more than all the TV shows that have ever been fined for indecency put together. Four shows were ruled indecent and/or profane but were not fined, and dozens of other complaints were rejected. More than anything, the rulings reflect the thinking of the TV industry's new sheriff, Martin. If the ruling released last week wasn't as comprehensive as some had hoped, it underscores the current FCC's strict interpretation -- however subjective -- of the laws on the books. As Hollywood tries to decipher the federal government's Byzantine findings, writers and show creators say the document has already begun to chill their appetite for edgier fare. All the commissioners supported the indecency actions with the exception of Democrat Jonathan Adelstein, who dissented from the language penalties, calling them “dangerously off the mark.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6317038?display=Feature

* Clear as Mud
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6317046?display=Opinion

* Martin Says Indecency Actions Provide Guidance
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6316923?display=Breaking+News

* Indecent Ad Could Be a First
As part of the indecency decision, the FCC cited a "promo for a DVD" featuring "scantily-clad breasts and thong-clad buttocks." It fined the station $220,000. Advertisers fear that "the broadcast clearance of ads, which already is very stringent, will only tighten up further."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6316828?display=Breaking+News

* Monitoring Indecency, Pushing an Agenda
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/18/arts/television/18watc.html