Posted on 12/02/2005 7:10:38 AM PST by billorites
Television bombards children with sex and violence, entertainment-industry critics say, and they want the government to help shield kids from it. But a string of broadcast, cable and satellite executives - and the actor who played mobster Ralph Cifaretto on HBO's "Sopranos" - on Tuesday urged Sen. Ted Stevens not to go too far.
"We're already starting to self-police ourselves," said the actor, Joe Pantoliano, representing an industry group called the Creative Coalition.
It's been nearly two years since pop star Janet Jackson bared her breast and its jewelry on live television, fueling calls for Congress to crack down on TV indecency.
When Stevens became chairman of the Commerce Committee early this year, the pressure was on the Alaska Republican to do something.
The House has already passed a bill that would increase the fine for indecent broadcasting up to $500,000 per incident.
But Stevens wants to craft a bill that doesn't just increase the penalties on broadcasters who use the public airwaves. He said he wants a bill that also addresses the TV programming that arrives in the home via cable, satellite and, eventually, the phone line.
A few conservative critics have grumbled that Stevens and other political leaders aren‘t moving fast enough.
"Since the vast, overwhelming majority of the public is outraged by this, why can‘t we get something done?" pondered Brent Bozell. He is president of the Parents Television Council and one of the fiercest critics of raunchy and God-mocking material he says has "polluted" the airwaves.
Stevens invited media executives as well as representatives of the Christian Coalition and the Parents Television Council together Tuesday for an "open forum on decency." More than 20 participants sat at long tables arranged in a rectangle in a cavernous Senate hearing room. Unlike previous "listening sessions" Stevens has held
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
Don't those who are afraid of television have a v-chip and a remote control with an off switch? Censorship is something Republicans would do well to stay away from. With Powell in charge of the FCC, however, I think book burnings aren't too far away.
Look cable problem, ignore Able Danger.
All you gotta do is "RTFM".
Somebody reign in this kook.
If you pay for something to be brought into your home, and further you can disable any channels that you don't wish viewed there, then this is none of the government's business.
Thank God they've found something important to worry about. (sarc)
Plus most cable/satellite boxrs have parental control features if someone wants to screen out programming.
The "artists'" idea of what content should be offered to the public is equivalent to the MSM's idea of what is news and how it should be covered.
The same trash that Hollywood cannot sell at the box offices they now put out on television and cable companies, by not allowing the public to choose which channels to buy force anyone wishing to subscribe to say Speed Vision or FOX News to subsidize trash and filth.
Powell is no longer in charge.
I think Stevens' "bridge to nowhere" is more obscene.
That's why this won't stand up to a court challenge.
Same song, different decade.
I wish he would retire to Nowhere, Alaska, and then we'd never hear any of this kind of censorship BS from him again.
Great! And once they get TV cleaned up, then maybe they can "craft a bill" that requires the actors on TV shows to actually have some talent, and the shows to have some kind of quality and value to them.
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