FCC Releases Indecency Decision

FCC Releases Orders Resolving Numerous Broadcast Television Indecency Complaints
On Wednesday the FCC released decisions resolving over 300,000 consumer complaints about the broadcast of indecent, profane, and/or obscene television programming. In these decisions, the Commission addresses complaints about nearly 50 television programs broadcast between February 2002 and March 2005. The decisions respond to the public's growing concern about the content of television programming. At the same time, they provide further information for broadcasters about the kinds of material that are and are not prohibited under the FCC's indecency and profanity standards. In the decisions, the Commission takes enforcement action against the broadcast of a wide variety of television programming. The FCC upholds its earlier decision against CBS for the broadcast of indecent material during the February 1, 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. The Commission rejects CBS' claim that the pulling off a portion of Janet Jackson's bustier to reveal her breast is not indecent. The Commission also holds that CBS consciously and willfully failed to take actions to prevent the broadcast of the material, and that CBS is responsible for the halftime show. The Commission also finds episodes of "Without a Trace" and "The Surreal Life 2," which contained numerous graphic, sexual images, to be impermissible under the Commission's indecency standard. The Omnibus Order also finds indecent the broadcast of a movie containing a graphic rape scene and a talk show featuring a female guest who appeared in an open front dress. Finally, the Commission finds indecent and profane several television programs containing offensive language.
News Release
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-264344A1.doc

Chairman Martin Statement:
"I am pleased that with the decisions released today the Commission is resolving hundreds of thousands of complaints against various broadcast licensees related to their televising of 49 different programs. These decisions, taken both individually and as a whole, demonstrate the Commission's continued commitment to enforcing the law prohibiting the airing of obscene, indecent and profane material."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A2.doc

Commissioner Copps Statement:
"If heightened media consolidation is indeed a source for the violence and indecency that upset so many parents, shouldn't the Commission be cranking that into its decisions on further loosening of the ownership rules? I hope the Commission, before voting again on loosening its media concentration protections, will finally take a serious look at this link and amass a credible body of evidence and not act again without the facts, as it did in 2003."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A3.doc

Commissioner Adelstein Statements
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A4.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-18A4.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-19A4.doc

Commissioner Tate Statement:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A5.doc

Full Text of Orders:
FCC 06-17: Complaints Regarding Various Television Broadcasts Between February 2, 2002 and March 8, 2005.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A1.doc

FCC 06-18: Complaints Against Various Television Licensees Concerning their December 31, 2004 Broadcast of the Program "Without A Trace".
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-18A1.doc

FCC 06-19: Complaints Against Various Television Licensees concerning their February 1, 2004 Broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-19A1.doc

* TV Stations Fined Over CBS Show Deemed to Be Indecent
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/media/16fine.html
* FCC upholds fine on CBS for Super Bowl snafu
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID...
* FCC Lowers $4 Million-Plus Indecency Boom
says it will challenge its fine in court, saying: "The FCC has no authority to censor a program based on its own taste." CBS is likely to go to court as well.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6316388.html?display=Breaking...
* FCC: Jackson's Wardrobe Malfunction Was Indecent
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10021...
* FCC Levies Record Indecency Fine on CBS Show
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114245387453999194.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* Keeping It Clean
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR200603...
* FCC Hits Networks With Fines for Indecency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR200603...
* CBS stations may face $3.6M fine
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060316/2b_decency16.art.htm
* FCC Slams CBS Show
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/03/15/entertainmen...
* FCC Levies Record Fine for TV Show
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-fcc16mar16,1,4188828....
* FCC fines CBS $3.6m over ‘indecency’
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e3acea20-b47e-11da-bd61-0000779e2340.html

* Creative Voices Responds to FCC "Indecency" Decisions
“Today’s FCC indecency decisions put creative, challenging, controversial, non-homogenized broadcast television programming at risk,” says Jonathan Rintels, Executive Director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media. “These decisions illustrate the significant problems with the Commission’s enforcement of its indecency rules. They are vague, arbitrary, insufficiently attuned to the context and quality of the program, and bear no relation to “contemporary community standards,” as the Commission’s own rules require. They substitute the Commissioners’ creative and artistic choices for those made by media artists. And they will undoubtedly result in increasing amounts of self-censorship of protected speech by media artists and broadcasters."

* PTC Lauds FCC’s Indecency Rulings
"The broadcast airwaves are public property and belong to the American people, and as such the broadcast industry must abide by community standards of decency while using the public airwaves between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm. This is not a proposal; this is law – well-settled law that was affirmed by the Supreme Court three decades ago. The airwaves must remain safe for families when children are likely to be in the audience. Those who violate the public trust are breaking the law and must be punished accordingly,” said Tim Winter, executive director of the PTC.