Finally, Nets To Sue FCC

What a great way to end the week:

Link: Nets Take Indecency Fines to Court - Broadcasting & Cable.

You may recall the week began with Sen. Ted Stevens authoring an intriguing editorial in an industry daily declaring the government should stay out of the content business. It's almost as though he were sending a cue to the networks.

The most heartening part of this story is that the networks are (a) throwing around the word "unconstitutional" to describe the FCC's March 15 indecency rulings, (b) aligning themselves with the 2000 Playboy case, which found that cable was exempt from indecency rulings because there were "less onerous" ways to regulate content than ham-fisted government enforcers.

 

I just hope the networks -- who rely on the goodwill of Congress -- have the stomach to fight this thing as far as they need to, and that this is the beginning of the end for Pacifica.

Earlier: FCC -- the definitive tirade.

And on the jump, Brent Bozell gets spittle on my glasses. (The fact that Hearst-Argyle, one of the most respected local ownership chains, is involved signals the beginning of the end of PTC's influence.)

PTC Denounces “Shameless” Actions of Broadcast Networks
Networks Want Unrestricted Access to Air Expletives on TV

LOS ANGELES (April 14, 2006) -- The Parents Television Council™ denounced the actions of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Hearst-Argyle Television which collectively filed a court challenge to be able to air the “F-word” and “S-word” on television.  Recent FCC rulings found several programs indecent because of these expletives.

“The broadcast networks are spitting in the faces of millions of Americans by saying they should be allowed to air the ‘f-word’ and ‘s-word’ on television.  This suggestion by the networks is utterly shameless,” said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.

“It’s beyond preposterous that the networks would even propose that airing the ‘f-word’ and ‘s-word’ on television is not indecent.  The networks’ principles have now been unmasked for everyone to see.  Their actions today are indecent in and of themselves.

“Memo to the networks: the broadcast airwaves are owned by the American people, and the broadcast industry must abide by community standards of decency.  This is not a proposal, it is the law that the Supreme Court affirmed many years ago.  The FCC rightly decided that the use of these words is considered indecent.  It is the networks’ responsibility to follow the law.

“In the U.S., there are rules of decent behavior and these expletives clearly cross the line.  Maybe the network executives let their children drop F-bombs at the dinner table, but there isn’t a normal family in America that would find it appropriate or decent for that language to be used by their children.  The networks have taken this fight to a court of law because they know they don’t stand a chance in the court of public opinion.

“The only thing wrong with these indecency fines is that they are not nearly tough enough to stop these networks, which have now made it crystal clear that they want to pollute the public airwaves with raunch.”