Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

May 2006 – In March the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) addressed over 300,000 citizen complaints regarding indecency, profanity or obscenity on television when it handed down record fines against CBS.

The FCC slapped a $3.6 million total fine on 111 CBS network stations and affiliates, citing indecent material aired on the CBS show Without a Trace. The episode featured graphic depictions of teenagers participating in a sexual orgy.

“We are pleased by the FCC’s actions that resulted in issuing liability against those who violate the public airwaves by broadcasting indecency,” said Randy Sharp, director of special projects for AFA. “CBS and other networks have an obligation not only to the stations that carry their programming, they also have an obligation to produce programs that do not violate broadcast laws.”

Sharp noted that the FCC received more than 170,000 complaints filed through AFA’s OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com Web sites.

The FCC also upheld the $550,000 fine against 20 CBS stations for the  Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show.

Other pro-family groups also applauded the FCC fines, but Lanier Swann, director of government relations for Concerned Women for America, said Congress needs to give the regulatory agency a more potent bite. 

Specifically she said the Senate still needs to pass HR 310, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which would significantly increase the fines for broadcast indecency. “Current fine levels are simply too low,” Swann said.

The House of Representatives has already passed the measure. The Senate, however, has ignored it for over a year because Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who chairs the committee which oversees the FCC, has refused to allow the bill to be brought up for a vote.