There is too much smut on TV, which is why the Federal Communications Commission is trying harder to punish those who cross the line in presenting indecency as entertainment. But some of the latest cases in which the FCC has levied a total $3.9 million in fines demonstrate how subjective this is. A simulated orgy in the CBS drama “Without a Trace” drew a whopping $3.6 million fine against 111 stations, in part because in cities such as Wichita it aired before 10 p.m. But one Washington station was fined $27,500 for airing an episode of WB’s “The Surreal Life 2,” and one California station was fined $15,000 for some expletives in the Martin Scorsese-produced PBS documentary “The Blues.” Why punish single stations for shows produced by a network and aired nationwide? About the only thing sure about the FCC’s enforcement in post-wardrobe malfunction America is that it’s chilling some TV producers and confusing everybody.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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13 Comments
I don’t watch broadcast TV, unless it’s local news and the show “24″.
I’m not for sure how the laws are set up between national broadcast and the local stations set up as repeaters to display them in our home.
It’s going digital anyways. So I think that might change something. TV’s will have the V-chip installed and the digital box converters will have that option also (I believe).
That way parents can block it out of children.
In all sense of the word, the indecency is all directed at Children. Even Boob-Gate with Janet Jackson outcry was about children seeing it.
If all televisions and digital box converters will have v-chips, then there is no excuse of children not accendently watching programs n TV that parents don’t want them to watch. In that way, there should be no more fines?
Ahhh, Joe…you are expecting parents to be responsible? Surely you jest! We all know the government/teachers/judges are supposed to take care of kids, not the parents!
I mean..that would require responsibility! *shudder*. That is just tooo radical a concept!
I get angry at the idea that I have to be a security guard in my own home. My parents didn’t have to screen music or TV because there wasn’t anything objectionable to filter out. Parents today have SO MUCH to censure on radio, TV, movies, music, video games, the internet, etc.Why CAN’T my home be a safe haven from the smut? Why should I have to make the effort to keep it out of my home? Is this what real freedom is all about?
That’s what happens when you let the self-righteous, right-wing morals police into office. It will probably get worse. The Kansas SBOE is just the tip of the iceberg.
I agree with Joe. We all know the general plots of Without a Trace and it might not be for small children. Are we going to go after Private Ryan because of language?
Boobgate was different; that was an intrusion into what is supposed to be G-rated.
All tv’s made after a certain dtae already have the v-chip installed. The problem is parents, even the right-rightious wing-nits aern’t going to use it. The kids probably know more about it, and how to bypass it anyway.
Cable systems, satelite systems, etc, all show R and even X rated shows. Sapranos for one, sex in the city for another, so censorship is basically a matter of parents controlling their kids. It’s ridiculous for the FCC to be throwing out fines at every station they think is violating standards, whatever that means.
I’ll bet the stations rarely, if ever, have to really pay the fines.It’s all for political show and tell dog and pony shows. Stupid.
Yes, they pay the fines, just a drop in the bucket compared to the profits they rake in. It’s all about money, America has sold her soul and placed her children on the sacrifical altar in exchange for the almighty dollar.
Boobgate! BWAHAHAHA! That’s a classic, Ben.
Damoon,A story I read recently, I think in the KC star, said government fines are rarely paid, and when they are, are being paid at pennies on the dollar. The government bragging about record fines for this or that is usually just political back patting to appease the constituants.
I agree: Money is the root of all evil, and it lurks in the open here in the States. What soul do we have anymore?
TV programs do come with ratings at the top of the show. Perhaps this could be improved with a transparency at the bottom of the screen under the network logo that would further remind parents of what their kids might see.
Given that and the V chip I don’t know what else might be done to address parental concern (neglect?) as to what “naughty” bits of human anatomy kids might see or “bad words” that kids might hear on TV after they have heard them on the playground.
A better concern for the FCC and America at large might be the overwhelming dominance of right wing lie radio since the repeal of the Fairness doctrine.
In Wichita and in markets across the nation, Rush, Hannity, Boortz, Savage, O’Reilly, and others spew the talking points of the GOP and their attendant corporate masters with little regard to truth and none to balance.
I think the stations have gone too far with sex and violence. They refused to curtail even blatant offenses in lieu of making money on sensationalizm. I don’t want to see rules and reglations applied unfairly nor do I want more artistic use of eroticism and violence censored, but perhaps the stations need this strong message since they thumbed their nose at making shows fit for children during allowable hours. Years ago, I saw a 30 minute newscast on FOX about hookers – it was obviously not true journalism and, of course, they could show 30 minutes of women walking around nearly naked and talk about sleezy encounter all that time. My kids are grown, but I want what is best for kids first – do adults really have to have their little sensationalisms on TV?
JR,The market for those right wing shows is wide open, unfortunately. The same has been tried with Liberal shows, and they do not do well in terms of listeners. But to use the FC to attempt to curb them, I find to be a bit hypocritical. The open market of talk radio is going to go where the money (there’s that word again) is.
Far better for the FCC to lay out a doctrine that can be followed very easily. Then the corporate TV execs would have no excuse for violating the rules. As it is now, the rules read like a mentally challanged version of the meds act. Wait, we already have one of those.
I find it utterly hypocritical on the part of many liberals (not specifically those on this BLOG) with being all for defending smut magazines and the porn industry by ranting and raving about the First Amendment, but when a Baptist minister says a prayer concerning politics, those same liberals go up-in-arms about it! Does the First Ammendment only apply to pron tycoons and not to ministers or clergymen?
Is that not hypocrisy? hmmm…