Guardians of Decency

GUARDIANS OF DECENCY
[SOURCE: Detroit News, AUTHOR: David Ho]
The indecency issue has simmered for decades, occasionally boiling over after high-profile incidents such as Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. Much of the public worries about increasingly raunchy and graphic entertainment, but opposes government censorship. TV watchdog and values groups campaign against shows they oppose, flooding regulators with complaints and demanding tougher laws. Big media companies want the government to stay out of it. They say consumers can block shows on their own with technology in most TVs and set-top boxes. And, as broadcasters ponder murky decency definitions and lawmakers consider boosting FCC penalty powers, rapidly changing technology threatens to upend the media landscape and the debate itself by giving consumers more control. A recipe is in place for a more activist FCC -- bipartisan agreement on the need for a tougher stand, heightened public concern and a backlog of complaints from more lenient years -- said Blair Levin, an analyst with the Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. investment firm and a former FCC chief of staff. Unlike the FCC's other regulatory work, where decisions rely on hard facts and figures, in the case of indecency "the line-drawing exercise is very different, very hard and subject to a lot of political second-guessing," Levin said. That can take a toll, said David Solomon, a partner with Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, who served as the FCC's first Enforcement Bureau chief from 1999 to 2005. He said years enforcing indecency rules made him question the effort. "It's so difficult to make objective decisions without trampling on First Amendment rights," Solomon said. Even with commissioners acting in good faith, he said, five people deciding what is appropriate on radio and TV is "a very troubling concept."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060402/POLITICS/6040...

* WB's self-censoring a sign of more?
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060402/COLUMNI...

* Victory for Decency Crusaders? Not So Fast
The American Family Association has declared victory. Again. This time the decency crusaders are taking credit for The WB’s decision last month to cut potentially indecent scenes from its new sexy-ed show, The Bedford Diaries.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6321283?display=Breaking+News