US House Vote to Raise TV Indecency Fines Set for Wednesday

Dow Jones Newswire ^ | June 6, 2006 | Siobhan Jones

[Paul678]

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. House is set to vote on Wednesday to impose a tenfold increase in the maximum fines for broadcasting profane or other indecent material, paving the way for the measure to be signed into law.

The Federal Communications Commission would gain the power to fine television and radio broadcasting stations as much as $325,000 per incident under the bill, up from $32,500 currently. Cable and satellite television providers aren't affected by the measure, which cleared the Senate last month.

Congress began to focus on television programming in earnest after the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, when performer Janet Jackson had a "wardrobe malfunction" that exposed her breast. More recently, federal regulators have been cracking down, and earlier this year announced plans to fine more than 100 CBS Corp. (CBS) stations some $3.3 million for airing an episode of "Without a Trace" that suggested a teenage orgy.

Broadcasters have said that even higher fines could put some stations out of business. Socially conservative groups say the higher penalties are necessary to protect viewers, especially children, from overly sexual or profane programming.

The vote leaves unresolved the controversial questions of what constitutes indecency and how the FCC should apply the penalties. Those questions may in part be determined through litigation. In April, a group of networks sued the FCC, saying that the agency had been arbitrary and capricious in applying decency standards.

Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., called attention to the dilemma, saying that "creators cannot read the FCC's minds on their definition of indecency."

[CT-Freeper]

How about instead, the FCC gets entirely out of the "indecency monitoring" and sticks with just issuing broadcasting licenses?

[bassmaner]

So ... here we go again.

Congress wastes time on crap like this. Meanwhile, the MSM leaks top secret information about terrorist surveillance programs and foreign detention facilities, they slap themselves on the back and congratulate each other as "whistleblowers", and nothing gets done about it.

So, once again, Congress makes it a higher priority to protect little Johnny from seeing Janet Jackson's areola on TV than to protect the country from fifth columnists who are working for an Al Qaeda victory in the war against the Islamofascists. Gotta love it ... (grrrrrrr)

[mysterio]

When is the vote? I hope they vote this stupidity down, but they will vote it in for sure. More money for them, and they get to make Tipper Gore and the rest of the PMRC types happy.

If you are worried about dirty words, get a remote and change the channel. Or read a book.

[Paul678]

Great comments, everyone. Unfortunately, our House (again) saw fit to forget one of the core principles of conservatism: limited government. S193 completely ignores the fact that parents and individuals are better suited to make TV viewing decisions for themselves and their children than a Washington bureaucrat ever can be.

TV Watch has the answers - at www.televisionwatch.org.