Posted on 01/27/2004 5:13:47 PM PST by Sub-Driver
'Bubba the Love Sponge,' Puppeteers Prompt Huge Indecency Fines By Jonathan D. Salant Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government cracked down on indecent programming Tuesday, proposing a record fine against the nation's largest radio chain for a show titled "Bubba the Love Sponge" and only the second fine ever for a TV broadcast. The FCC proposed a $755,000 fine against Clear Channel Communications for sexually explicit segments of the radio show aired on four Florida radio stations between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. It was the single largest fine ever proposed for indecency.
The commission also proposed a $27,500 fine against Young Broadcasting of San Francisco Inc. for airing a man exposing himself on its "KRON 4 Morning News" show.
The fines were announced a day before a congressional subcommittee planned to examine the FCC's enforcement of indecency rules. Critics say the FCC moves too slowly to address complaints and that its penalties are not severe enough to dissuade broadcasters from airing objectionable material.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell last week called for Congress to increase the maximum fine for indecency from $27,500 per incident to $275,000. He said the latest fines show the FCC is serious about pursuing penalties but needs the threat of larger fines to get broadcasters to toe the line.
"As the commission continues the challenging task of balancing the protections of the First Amendment with the need to protect our young, these increased enforcement actions will allow the commission to turn what is now a 'cost of doing business' into a significant 'cost for doing indecent business,'" he said.
Clear Channel was fined for objectionable segments of "Bubba the Love Sponge" aired on its stations in four Florida cities: Callahan, Clearwater, Port Charlotte and West Palm Beach.
The segments included graphic discussions about sex and drugs that were "designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners," the FCC said. One segment featured the cartoon characters Alvin the chipmunk, George Jetson and Scooby Doo discussing sexual activities.
The segments ran 26 times and the commission proposed fining Clear Channel $27,500 for each airing, or $715,000. Clear Channel faces an additional $40,000 fine because of record-keeping violations at the stations. The company has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal.
In response, Clear Channel called for an industry task force to develop indecency standards for radio, television, cable and satellite networks. President Mark Mays agreed there are limits to what programmers may air but said the government's enforcement is haphazard so broadcasters don't have a clear idea of where the line is drawn.
"Indecency is not just a radio problem, a television problem or even a cable problem," Mays said. "It is an industrywide challenge, and we all must take responsibility to make sure it is addressed on a fair and consistent basis."
Commissioner Michael Copps was the only member of the five-person FCC to oppose the fine against Clear Channel. He said the penalty was not severe enough, suggesting instead that the FCC consider revoking the stations' licenses.
"The message to licensees is clear," Copps said. "Even egregious repeated violations will not result in revocation of license."
The fine against Young Broadcasting of San Francisco was for the KRON morning program on Oct. 4, 2002. During it, one of the performers from a theatrical show titled "Puppetry of the Penis" briefly exposed himself. The performers appeared on the TV show wearing only capes.
The FCC said the station should have expected that such a display could occur and should have taken steps to prevent it.
The only other fine for indecent programming on television was the $21,000 leveled against Telemundo of Puerto Rico License Corp. for three programs on San Juan's WKAQ-TV in 2001. The programs contained sexual innuendoes, including one scene of a man and woman in a bubble-filled bathtub.
The largest cumulative fine for indecency was $1.7 million paid by Infinity Broadcasting in 1995 for various violations by radio host Howard Stern.
The fines came in advance of a House subcommittee hearing prompted by the FCC enforcement bureau's decision not to fine NBC for an expletive uttered by rock star Bono during the Golden Globe Awards show last year.
The lead singer of the Irish rock group U2 said, "This is really, really, f--- brilliant." The bureau said Bono's comments were not indecent or obscene because the word was used as an adjective rather than to describe sex.
Powell has asked his fellow commissioners to overturn the decision.
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., has introduced legislation for a tenfold increase in the maximum fine.
FCC Commissioners Kevin Martin and Jonathan Adelstein have called for the FCC to fine stations for every indecent "utterance" rather than for every show or segment. That would produce much larger fines.
The FCC defines obscene material as describing sexual conduct "in a patently offensive way" and lacking "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value." Indecent material is not as offensive but still contains references to sex or excretions.
Radio stations and over-the-air television channels cannot air obscene material at any time and cannot air indecent material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
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On the Net:
Federal Communications Commission: http://www.fcc.gov
I wonder, did they include cigars and interns, because that really would be offensive.
I've got a box full of unused "u's" I'll sell real cheap.
I often listen to the Bubba the Love Sponge show on my way to work. I will admit that he is very crude and not very bright, but it is often entertaining. And, Ned, (a character on the show) is absolutely hilarious. The beauty of it is that if I don't like what is going on during the show, I can change the channel! There is a lesson in there somewhere. Oh I know, we must not allow this because of "the chhhhiiiiilllllddddddrrrrreeeeeennnnnnn". I often wonder why the government is able to stop what goes on between willing parties...
This is the lesson:
The second bit of advice --'If it offends you, don't buy it' -- is both lulling and destructive. Whether you buy it or not, you will be greatly affected by those who do. The aesthetic and moral environment in which you and your family live will be coarsened and degraded. Economists call the effects an activity has on others 'externalities'; why so many of them do not understand the externalities here is a mystery. They understand quite well that a person who decides not to run a smelter will nevertheless be seriously affected if someone else runs one nearby.
The externalities of depictions of violence and pornography are clear. To complaints about those products being on the market, libertarians respond with something like 'Just hit the remote control and change channels on your TV set.' But, like the person who chooses not to run a smelter while others do, you, your family, and your neighbors will be affected by the people who do not change the channel, who do rent the pornographic videos, who do read alt.sex.stories. As film critic Michael Medved put it: ' To say that if you don't like the popular culture, then turn it off, is like saying if you don't like the smog, stop breathing. . . .There are Amish kids in Pennsylvania who know about Madonna.' And their parents can do nothing about it.
From "Slouching Towards Gomorrah." by Judge Robert Bork
This is often advanced by libertinians, who apparently have never learned that "can" and "should" are not synonymous.
Are they F'n kidding me? LOL
News Flash from the Department of the Obvious
Gov. employees in the form of cops, IRS agents, city gov., etc, already DO tell you how to live. So, unless you are living in some kind of Uni-Bomber style shack you should have realized this by now.
As to the second part of your post; make what they are doing illegal then the gov. can keep them from doing it. (pause to hear losertarians' heads explode)
I typed that last point to hopefully illustrate the idiocy of the "Well, it's not illegal so I can't object" kind of reasoning. The fact that pain was caused to some losertarians was only an added benefit.
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