PTC Weighs in as Friend of FCC

PTC WEIGHS IN AS FRIEND OF FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Parents Television Council, filing for Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, and citizens for Community Values, among others, has asked the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuit in New York to uphold the FCC's cussing crackdown. PTC says the Commission has taken "affirmative steps for "decency" and community standards in the face of an "assault" by broadcasters. PTC concedes that indecency can be "difficult at times to define" in light of a nationwide community standard, but contends that a line must be drawn somewhere. In fact, says PTC, "if the FCC had ruled on the merits of each of the thousands of complaints which were in essence plea bargained away in the recent and various FCC consent decrees [including a November 2005 $3.5 million settlement with Viacom over all non-Janet Jackson complaints], both broadcasters and the public would have better guidance about what is or is not indecent." PTC alleges that networks rate their programs inaccurately on purpose so that advertisers won't be scared away from fare that is "too sexually charged or otherwise indecent." It also calls "utter rubbish" the contention that indecency law impinges on creative freedom, saying that most programmers have cable and other digital platforms to program with "indecent" material if they chose.
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