CBS Defends Inaction on Without a Trace

CBS DEFENDS INACTION ON "WITHOUT A TRACE"
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
CBS said it didn't take any remedial action after the Federal Communications Commission found an episode of "Without a Trace" indecent back in 2006, saying it didn't think it had to. The Parents Television Council said CBS violated the terms of a Nov. 23, 2004 consent decree, in which CBS parent Viacom paid $3.6 million to wipe out all the indecency complaints and proposed fines against CBS except the Super Bowl Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake incident, which CBS appealed in federal court. One of those indecency complaints had been against "Trace" orgy scene. CBS said it did not think it had to take various steps -- suspend employees, investigate the incident -- spelled out in the agreement because the NAL was against a scripted drama, rather than a live, unscripted show like a morning radio program or awards show that an employee would need to bleep or edit. CBS also said that if the FCC disagreed with that interpretation, CBS' failure to do so had been at most an "unintended omission" in an otherwise extensive, good-faith effort to comply with the agreement. That effort, the network added, included installing editing systems at radio stations, audio and video delays at TV stations and training staffers about compliance with indecency laws.
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