Center for Creative Voices in Media Blog

C-SPAN Will Broadcast Same Bad Words That Got Fox Fined

C-SPAN has asked the Supreme Court for permission to air tapes of the oral argument in Fox v. FCC after the argument concludes on Nov. 4. If the Court grants permission, C-SPAN will air those tapes as soon as possible, and air them "as it was said in the court," full expletives and all. The tapes will also air on C-SPAN's FM radio station in Washington. Which means C-SPAN would likely broadcast the very same "indecent" language that Nicole Ritchie and Cher uttered that got Fox fined by the FCC in the first place and set the stage for this critical case. John Eggerton writes that "C-SPAN almost certainly would not run into any trouble itself from the FCC if it aired the tapes on C-SPAN radio." Which begs the question why does the FCC consider the very same words indecent when uttered by Cher and Nicole, but okay when uttered by Supreme Court justices and attorneys arguing before the court, even though children will likely then be in the listening audience? C-SPAN Seeks Oral Argument Tapes in Fox Swearing Case - Broadcasting & Cable.

Leahy Lays Into FCC Over Indecency Enforcement

Kudos to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) for remarks last night at The Media Institute: "The media should be...bringing vibrant and interesting voices and views into our homes,' not worrying that "an inadvertent slip is going to land them in trouble with regulators." Leahy said that while he does not want 'TV screens and radio shows filled with offensive and innapropriate words and images," he also said he had discovered that "there is an on/off switch," and suggested that was an important content contol technology. He also put in a plug for the V-chip/ratings system. The senator said he believed "Strongly" that it was the role of parents, not government regulators, "to determine what is appropriate for children to see and hear." "Good lord, where are we in this country," Leahy said after recounting the story of NBC affiliates afraid to show an episode of ER about breast cancer because they feared a brief depiction of a woman's breast would get them in trouble with the FCC. Leahy Lays Into FCC Over Indecency Enforcement - Broadcasting & Cable.

Creative Voices 3Q Newsletter

The Presidential election, our upcoming Supreme Court "indecency" argument, opportunity knocking on media consolidation, and a key Net Neutrality victory -- read all about it in our 3Q newsletter. Center for Creative Voices in Media: News.

PTC Uses Kids as Human Shields

Josef Adalian in Television Week does a wonderful job of calling out the Parents Television Council. Couldn't be timelier, with the Supreme Court about to hear the crucial Fox v. FCC case, a case ginned up by the PTC banging on its email lists to flood the FCC with comments, most from people who never saw the show they were complaining about.

Unfortunately, the PTC’s actions and words too often have indicated that its real mission includes pushing for government-sanctioned censorship of the media and the elimination of any and all programming that conflicts with its far-right social and political philosophies. ... The PTC doesn’t want to make TV safe for kids. It wants to make it safe only for those shows that fit into its narrowly constructed worldview of what constitutes acceptable TV. And when it identifies programming that doesn’t mesh with its agenda, the PTC goes into overdrive whipping up its base to take action. “All they’re about is fund raising and court cases,” said one network executive who, like everyone interviewed for this column, spoke only on the condition of anonymity. “They would rather curse the darkness than light a candle.” Adalian Column: PTC Uses Kids as Human Shields - TVWeek - News.

Former FCC Chair Powell Regrets Pro-Indecency Vote

Now former FCC Michael Powell tells us he regrets having approved the decision to declare Bono's comments indecent. "It was a terrible mistake and I voted for it," Powell said at a forum on the Commission held in mid-September. Supreme Court to hear FCC f-bomb appeal on Election Day .  Recall when that decision, and the Janet Jackson furor, broke out -- in 2004, as President Bush was "basing" his reelection campaign on his appeal to the conservative "base."  Powell, as FCC Commish, reversed his former vocal opposition to expansive FCC "indecency" enforcement, and instead launched the Commission on a virtual crusade against it.  As we pointed out at the time, Powell was simply using the FCC to inflame (energize?) the base and turn the 2004 election in a "culture war" referendum.  Now, apparently, his principles and conscience have returned.  Unfortunately, creative media artists and the public have been saddled with his legacy: arbitrary and capricious FCC decisions that make a mockery of the First Amendment.  That's what the Second and Third Courts of Appeal have found, and why we're a party to upholding the Second Circuit in Fox v. FCC, to be heard by the Supreme Court on November 4.