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.