BuzzMachine

When freedom becomes a unique selling proposition

When freedom becomes a unique selling proposition

: So I was listening to Sirius yesterday and heard one of its (many) promotions for its comedy channels and their pitch was that it's "radio that's cool, without the FCC rules." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Declaration of f'ing independence

Declaration of f'ing independence

: Esquire rips a web-page out of the Parents Television Council's play book with a declaration of independence you can sign and send to the FCC with a click. Howard Stern is our founding father.

The history of the present Federal Communications Commission is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the airwaves, bringing with it a tyrant's notion of "decency." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC should be reminded that all radios and televisions have a button. This is called an "off" button, and it can be used when citizens find broadcast content to be disagreeable. It strikes us as tiresome to have to repeat this old remonstrance, but whatever. Furthermore, there now exists all manner of filters and blocks that can be used by parents and guardians to protect children from content that is not suitable for them. We, however, are not children, and we will not be treated as such by our government....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

...the radio host Howard Stern does not lack for literary merit. Rather, he is part and parcel of a long, ribald tradition of gloriously undignified art that includes Rabelais, Henry Miller, and James Joyce, all of whom discussed "fingerbanging" in one way or another. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The radio host Howard Stern does not lack for educational merit. Rather, he is charting the sexual mores of our great nation, much like noted anthropologist Margaret Mead did....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In every stage of his oppressions, Howard Stern has petitioned for redress. He has railed against the FCC on his radio show, urging the citizenry to vote against one George W. Bush. He engaged in a tense discourse with former FCC chairman Michael Powell on the air, pointing out that television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey also discusses anal and oral sex in detail but is not equally oppressed because she is beloved by the media aristocracy and gives away motorized carriages to her audience....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For when faced with the termination of his astonishingly high-paying job, when faced with censure from his very own employer, Howard Stern refused to do what most of us would do: He refused to make accommodations. Rather, he declared revolution. And this is a great and good thing. This is the very act that defines a hero. This is the very act that defines an American man. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And now as a free and independent radio host, he will be able to discuss masturbating to Aunt Jemima at his discretion. It's possible that he will be discussing masturbating to Aunt Jemima to a total of four listeners. But this makes him no less a patriot. God bless Howard Stern, and God bless America, land of the free, home of lesbian porn stars and angry drunken dwarves.

I signed and clicked. In fact, be like the PTC: sign and click often. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: ALSO: Here's a very nice vlog showing the absurdity of PTC complaints against Arrested Development. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

God's work

God's work

: Thanks to Carsonfire in the comments below, we read a most remarkable evangelical Christian editorial opposing attempts to extend FCC censorship to cable and satellite. It's more than just tactical, political advice; it takes the evangelical imperative to say that such intereference is distracting and dangerous. Amen, brother. Jordan J. Ballor writes:

Such an unprecedented move speaks to the growing influence of evangelical Christian political activism. Indeed, some evangelicals have long supported huge increases in FCC fines and expanded powers for the governmental agency....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Christians should certainly be active participants in every facet of society, including politics. But Christian activists need to be wary of falling prey to the temptation to use political power to impose external standards of morality for a number of interconnected reasons.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

First, there is a disturbing trend among American evangelicals to stress public exhibitions of virtue, often to the detriment of personal practice. The furor over the public displays of the 10 Commandments is one example, but the fight over broadcast decency has taken on a similar flavor.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For Christians, the significance of the new covenant means that it is more important that the law be written on our hearts than that it be displayed in our courtrooms. For Christian concern to be otherwise brings us under Jesus’ condemnation of Pharisaical hypocrisy.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This truth flows into a second and closely related problem. Overzealous political activism poses a threat to the fundamental task of the church: proclamation of the gospel. Many criticize the relief efforts of nominally Christian groups, such as the National Council of Churches, which divorce evangelism and charitable work. But where Christians rightly decry such inconsistency in other quarters, we should also beware the temptation elsewhere to confuse or obscure the fulfillment of the Great Commission.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The gospel is not reducible to the institution of laws amenable to Christian morality.

Isn't that wonderful? In short: You can't legislate morality. You have to live morally.

And a disproportionate emphasis on such laws tends toward a position that is inimical to Christianity. Yet the perception often remains that the way the church is to “engage culture” is primarily, if not solely, through public policy.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Beyond these theological problems lies a prudential question of the wise use of political power. While Christians maintain the influence to form policy in a certain area, the laws are likely to remain in accord with Christian morality. The danger is that once the power of such regulation of speech and free expression has been ceded to the government, it is nearly impossible to get it back. And it is almost certain that the current season of Christian political influence will eventually wane.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Today perhaps the antics of a Howard Stern will be outlawed by increased governmental regulation. But tomorrow it may be that simply reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans will be prohibited as hate speech, indecent or otherwise intolerant.

Couldn't have preached it better myself. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Offing Tony

Offing Tony

: Rep. Bernie Sanders warns what will happen if Congress passes the numbnutty attempts to extend the FCC's numbnutty censorship to cable and satellite:

And it won't just be the Sopranos getting the boot from primetime. There'll be no more Chris Rock specials. No more Howard Stern on the E Channel. No more R-rated films.

He goes after the White House and the Republicans but the sad truth is that Democrats are in this too. Too many are too afraid to stand up for free speech. How pathetic is that?[via SpeakSpeak]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Where nipples are welcome

Where nipples are welcome

: My rant about female media mutilation got a link from a naturist blog. There's somebody who's not blogging in pajamas. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

When indecency is pervasive, is it indecent

When indecency is pervasive, is it indecent

: Adam Thierer writes in today's Washington Post that the spreading ooze of content regulation -- aka censorship -- holds more dangers on the horizon:

Some lawmakers seem to believe that once any media technology becomes popular enough, it becomes "pervasive" and therefore some degree of censorship is justified. But the notion that "popularity equals pervasiveness" is frightening, because it contains no limiting principles. This wasn't the standard we applied to print outlets such as newspapers as they grew in popularity. Nor is it the standard we apply to the Internet. In fact, recent Supreme Court decisions have rejected attempts to apply indecency controls to cyberspace.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Of course, none of this is going to stop pro-censorship policymakers from pushing the envelope to incorporate new media -- at least basic cable and satellite programming -- into the indecency mix. If this "popularity equals pervasiveness" regulatory paradigm becomes law and passes muster in the courts, we will have entered a world in which the public has to pay to escape censorship. Anything Congress or the FCC deemed "indecent" would likely be forced onto a premium or pay-per-view tier, where consumers would spend considerable sums to receive some of their favorite programs. But here's the really interesting question: If large numbers of viewers still flock to premium or pay-per-view services to get their favorite programming -- such as HBO, or Howard Stern's new show on satellite radio -- wouldn't the "popularity equals pervasiveness" calculus apply to those channels as well? If so, we could look forward to still more laws to protect us from ourselves.

[Thanks, Ruth]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Great Nipple Hunt continues

The Great Nipple Hunt continues

: We've been dutifully reporting attacks of prudes on tipples and now here's another case of national mammarophobia:

Teen actress Lindsay Lohan's breasts have been digitally reduced for forthcoming Disney film Herbie: Fully Loaded, to avoid offending family audiences.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Test screenings for the new movie, the fourth sequel to the 1968 film The Love Bug about a Volkswagen Beetle car with a mind of its own, indicated that some parents felt Lohan's character Maggie Peyton was too raunchy for a children's film.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Disney technicians were forced to plough through numerous scenes - especially those showing the busty actress jumping up and down at a motor racing track, reducing her breasts by two cup sizes and raising revealing necklines on her T-shirts.

The director denies it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The problem these days -- when grown people make news hunting down nipples -- is that you can't tell the parody from the truth. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And then again, let's not forget the surgical speculation.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

All of which leads to just one conclusion: In America, breasts are news. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: SPEAKING OF WHICH....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Scarletlisting

Scarletlisting

: Jon Rintels of CreativesVoices.US emails on the Mötley Crüe suit over being banned by NBC because of the F word and the WCBS reporter who was fired for daring to utter the F word and he says:

I fear these bans and firings are becoming our era’s blacklisting, with the threat to our nation’s children no longer "godless communism" but "godless pop culture."

Well said. Protecting us from F words and nipples -- it's all part of an effort to control through demonization of some enemy within. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: They're banning books, too. This case isn't about F words or nipples, but about the lowly penis. Get the cultural airbrush out. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Media female mutilation

Media female mutilation

: Reporter Misty Harris of CanWest puts together a disturbing trend against the nipple. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

First, of course, there was Janet Jackson's armored apex.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Then, I as I recounted, Pam Anderson said producers were taping down her nipples on her show (the first bad use for gaffer's tape). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Now, Harris reports, Desperate Housewives is digitally erasing the nipples of two of its stars (nippleless sex is apparently ok). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And Victoria's Secret introduces a bra to tamp down those pesky, independently minded nipples. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Oh, come on. Women have nipples. God made nipples. God bless God. What's wrong with nipples? Are we letting fear of prudes turn us into a nation of sniggling 12-year-olds?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I told Harris that I think this is a case for the National Organization for Women, who should take umbrage at the notion that nipples corrupt, that nipples are bad for us.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Free the Anderson Two! Free the nipples!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Save the F man

Save the F man

: I am glad to see a movement swelling to save Arthur Chi'en, the hapless WCBS reporter who, not knowing he was on the air, asked a couple of bozos shilling for the Opie & Anthony show who were trying to mess up his report, "What's your fucking problem, man." Everyone writing about this, including Chi'en himself, first falls down saying that was stupid and regretable and wrong. But was it worth firing the man? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

All he did was say fucking. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Have we come to the point in this country when we honestly think that a word that has lost all meaning, just a word, is going to cause the downfall of the nation and is worth a man's career? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Perspective, people!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

What's offensive is that we let the offended run the world. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, now I'm offended. WCBS should not have buckled under to pressure -- anticipated pressure at that -- just because of one stupid word. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It is time to send a message back to the fringies and tell them that they have their priorities all out of wack. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A blogger named Sergio D. Caplan started a site to Save Arthur Chi'en with instructions for calling WCBS or just using this form; that's what I'm doing (though, amazingly, they don't have a link to send a message to the news department -- the one department that should be listening to the public!). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This week, Clyde Haberman wrote a column in The Times drawing attention to the issue this week and reporting that fellow reporters are dismayed and that the communications director of the transportion authority complained to the station. It's a cause.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So join me in writing to WCBS and defending not just Arthur Chi'en but sanity.

It is insane that you fire Arthur Chi'en for one simple, fucking word. It's just a word, people. You throw out a man's career. You buckle under to the fringe. You embarrass yourself. You insult your audience (what, you think we can't take care of ourselves?). Because of one fucking word. For shame. Bring back Arthur Chi'en!

: I STAND CORRECTED: He actually said, "What the fuck's your problem, man?" The stories about this were so coy, it was impossible to tell and I parsed it wrongly. For grammar, give me an F. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Mötley suit

Mötley suit

: Motley
is suing NBC for banning them after Vince Neal used the F word:

In the latest twist in the broadening battle overdecency standards, the glam-metal band Mötley Crüe filed suit against NBC yesterday. The suit states that the network violated the group's free-speech rights and weakened its sales by banning it after Vince Neil, the lead singer, used an expletive on the air in a Dec. 31 appearance on "The Tonight Show."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Los Angeles, accuses the network of censoring the band to mollify a Federal Communications Commission that has been increasingly quick to levy steep fines for broadcasting indecent material on television and radio.

Well, too bad that the suit's absurd. NBC choses what to put and not put on the air -- it's called editing or producing, not censoring. Now I suppose one could argue that it's not their air, it's our air, so the band could sue to get on -- but, of course, that's ludicrous; that would end in every American getting 15 minutes of fame. Or I suppose the band could sue the FCC for creating this chill -- except the FCC didn't fine FCC and, besides, the F came out in the "safe harbor" for nastiness after 10 p.m. Still, I'm glad to see anybody go tilting against the windmill (read: broadcast tower) that is the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A nation of sopranos

A nation of sopranos

: Broadcasting & Cable reports that the so-called American Family Association is going after condom ads and "the immorality, violence, vulgarity, profanity, etc., which the media is forcing on our children." They don't want condoms, they don't want erections, they don't want things that cause erections, they don't want gay people, they don't want romance. They want to castrate the nation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Meeting Chairman Powell

Meeting Chairman Powell

: I just met Michael Powell. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The former chairman of the FCC was at the Aspen Institute forum I've been attending; he's a senior fellow there. So I knew I'd see him. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And I'll confess I was a bit nervous about meeting him. Or perhaps embarrassed. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I've been hard on Powell on this page over his role in the FCC's indecency blitzkrieg. And I certainly stand by that criticism. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But I also agree with him on his other unpopular stance, media consolidation. I respect where he stood on the First Amendment -- before he led the indecency stampede. I think he gets the importance of letting technology grow on its own (he has said that the best thing FCC did for wi-fi was nothing, or words to that effect). I've seen him speak at a conference and knew he was smart and softspoken. So it's not as if I was meeting someone I could ignore. Powell's not someone to be dismissed. I was eager to meet the man and hear from him. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And I didn't flatter myself to think that he'd paid any attention to what some blogger had snarked about him. But Larry Kudlow had told me that he'd brought up my criticism to Powell on the air. So I didn't know: He could have decked me. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I decided to make it clear from the first that I'd blogged about him, from the other side. Twice, I said I was a blogging gnat who'd buzzed about him and he dismissed that, waved the point away like a bug in the air, and said I was just one of many. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Aspen rules are that you can't quote someone with attribution without permission and I didn't intend to blog conversations with Powell. I will say that when we discussed indecency, I said that the FCC and Congress have no cover to defend the First Amendment; if they do vote for free speech, they can be accused of voting for smut. And he didn't disagree. I will also admit that in a conversation about our favorite gadgets, I told about using my Treo to blog about the FCC's fine against Howard Stern from the choir loft of my church. He noted the irony of that. And otherwise, we talked about technology changing society and how the next generation thinks and about favorite gadgets and about telecom and video games and media consolidation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I like him. He's smart and easygoing and charming. We disagree about indecency (though I suspect we're not as far apart as it may seem) and agree about other issues. And I'd like to hear more from him. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Is there any news in this post? No. But I figured that given our history, I couldn't meet Michael Powell without telling you. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

How advertising really works

How advertising really works

: Howard Stern told great and pathetic stories this morning about trying to get a job when he got out of college: radio guys who listened to his horrible audition tape and told him he was the worst announcer they'd ever heard, a close-miss at becoming a ladies' buyer at Bloomingdales, and stints with advertising: Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He got a job as a media planner at Benton & Bowles. Math skills? they ask. Excellent, he says. And then he arrives at work and knows he's in over his head. He's working on Planter's Peanuts. The boss whips out a calculator and sheets of numbers and tells him to find all the Jewish newspapers in the country -- Jews like peanut oil for cooking, he says -- and calculate the CPM and then divide. In Howard's head, he shrieks: "Divide? DIVIDE?!?" He comes in on Saturdays and then Sundays -- "you don't have to wear a tie on Sundays," somebody tells him (which reminds me of the old working-at-Disney joke: "If you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother coming in on Sunday"). He can't do it. He quits with no notice. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Note that this is how money is divvied up to the titans of media: Some kid out of college who, if he's lucky, can divide, plans where to spend an advertiser's bucks. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Howard's father then got him an in a the B&B film department as the AV geek but he got fired before he was hired because he'd quit his last job there without notice.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And then he got a job in sales at a tiny radio station, where the boss, who wasn't wearing a shirt, told him to sell advertising and get in-kind trade: Howard went to a Chinese restaurant and convinced the man he had to advertise on radio and he comes back to the office with hundreds of Chinese dinners at the ready when he finds authorities taking documents. He goes back to the Chinese restaurant and tells him never to advertise on radio.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is how media works. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Free speech is free speech

Free speech is free speech

: The Center for Creative Voices and I are allies in the fight against censorship and government regulation of speech but we part over government regulation of the business of media. Creative Voices just released its media bill of rights. We agree at the start:

A free and vibrant media, full of diverse and competing voices, is the lifeblood of America’s democracy and culture, as well as an engine of growth for its economy.

They believe that corporate consolidation is ruining that. I believe that the internet is solving that and corporate consolidation is about the dinosaurs huddling together for warmth as their ice age approaches. I believe the market and technology are giving us incredible control and diversity. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

At Freedom to Connect, Susan Crawford told us that we should not ask for regulation where we want it or we will get it where we don't want it: Witness the PBS kerfluffle. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Creative Voices wants regulation on ownership of media -- of the press, regulation on diversity of hiring in media; regulation mandating content on the airwaves:

Electoral and civic, children’s, educational, independently produced, local and community programming, as well as programming that serves Americans with disabilities and underserved communities.
Media that reflect the presence and voices of people of color, women, labor, immigrants, Americans with disabilities, and other communities often underrepresented.

But if you ask for that kind of regulation to give you the programming you think the world should have, you open the door to regulation to give the other side the programming they think the world should have. You want shows about people of color and women and immigrants. They want shows with God and no sex. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The only answer is the First Amendment as it applies to speech, content, regulation, and ownership:

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...

(And, yes, I now believe this holds for political speech as well.)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: CORRECTION: Jon Rintels, head of Creative Voices, corrects me in the comments: Creative Voices signed the bill of rights with others and did not release it on its own. He urges you to read the bill. So do I. We disagree about some things and agree about others so have at it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You tell 'em, Bernie

You tell 'em, Bernie

: Bernie Sanders -- the independent congressman who fought the good fight for free speech on Maher's show the other night -- writes more on the cause:

Since his inauguration address, President Bush and his right-wing colleagues in Congress have launched a full-scale effort to limit and control the programming Americans are able to see and hear over the airwaves and the Internet. In short, they’re going after your computer, your radio and your remote control.

I wish it were only the right-wing. But it's not. [via SpeakSpeak]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: SpeakSpeak also sends us to a CafePress store with clever T-shirts -- "Shut the FCC up!" -- to support Creative Voices.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And the don't even have a First Amendment

And the don't even have a First Amendment

: British TV authorities -- and where there are TV authorities in any country is beyond me -- have decided that the airing of the Jerry Springer opera did not violate their rules ... despite its Deadwoodspeak.

Jerry Springer: the Opera provoked accusations of blasphemy and a firestorm of protest from religious campaigners when it was broadcast earlier this year. But the television watchdog Ofcom has ruled that the programme did not breach broadcasting guidelines.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Ofcom received more than 16,000 complaints - an unprecedented number - but yesterday ruled that although the January showing "clearly had the potential to offend and indeed the intention to shock, it was set in a very clear context as a comment on modern TV"....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Religious groups were particularly offended by the programme's portrayal of Christian figures, which included Jesus wearing a nappy.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Tabloid press reports stoked the controversy, saying that the programme contained 8,000 swear words. According to the BBC, however, it only contained "around 200 f-words" and "nine c-words".Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In its ruling, Ofcom said it "appreciated that the representation of religious figures was offensive to some people".Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But it said: "The show's effect was to satirise modern fame and the culture of celebrity....."

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

TV Watch coverage

TV Watch coverage

: On the Media covers the launch of TV Watch. Listen here. (My posts here and here.)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Here's TV critic Melanie McFarland's column about TV Watch and about the PBS konservative kerfluffle. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Here's a UPI story in the Washington Times that can't find the heart to go after TV Watch, considering how damned bipartisan it is. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Here's fellow TV Watch traveler SpeakSpeak on how damned bipartisan it is. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Frankly, I think the coverage fizzled. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Nannyism gone wild

Nannyism gone wild

: Jay Allen sends news that a middle-school marching band in Benton Harbor, Michigan, was forbidden from playing Louie Louie -- the instrumental version -- because one lone whining parent thinks it's obscene. There was, by the way, an FBI investigation into the song years ago that concluded it is not obscene and, in any case, the lyrics can't be understood. The Smoking Gun has pages from the file and the real lyrics. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Hypocritical Disney

Hypocritical Disney

: ABC refused to take the United Church of Christ's commercial promoting acceptance but did take a commercial from the guy who promotes spanking children, James Dobson and his so-called Focus on Family. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The UCC now sends out ABC's excuse:

"The network doesn't take advertising from religious groups. It's a long-standing policy," said Susan Sewell, an ABC spokeswoman, in a Religion News Service story by Kevin Eckstrom on Wednesday evening.

And they compare that with the Focus on Family mission statement:

To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in disseminating the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible, and, specifically, to accomplish that objective by helping to preserve traditional values and the institution of the family.

And its "guiding principles":

Since Focus on the Family's primary reason for existence is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a practical outreach to homes, we have firm beliefs about both the Christian faith and the importance of the family. This ministry is therefore based upon five guiding philosophies that are apparent at every level throughout the organization. These "pillars" are drawn from the wisdom of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian ethic, rather than from the humanistic notions of today's theorists. In short, Focus on the Family is a reflection of what we believe to be the recommendations of the Creator Himself, who ordained the family and gave it His blessing.

Smells pretty damned religious to me. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Disney, you are busted. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Takes one to know one

Takes one to know one

: Brent Bozell, self-appointed national censor for the so-called Parents Television Council, reacts to yesterday's announcement of a group to finally oppose him -- TV Watch:

Garin took aim at the conservative Parents Television Council, which regularly peppers the FCC with complaints and has managed to mount a vociferous campaign for government regulation. "The Parents Television Council is trying to invent an alternative reality that really doesn't exist," said Garin.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But the PTC countered by pointing out that TV Watch is funded by the parent companies of three of the four major broadcast networks.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"This supposed 'coalition' needs to be taken - and dismissed - for what it is," said PTC President L. Brent Bozell, "a collection of random citizen and public policy groups that have simply been hired and paid for by the networks to do their dirty work."

Pot, meet Kettle. Bozell's PTC is a "supposed 'coalition'" if I've ever smelled one. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And, no, Brent, I'm not paid to fight you. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Brent, you say TV Watch needs to disclose their funding. They did. So did I. The networks listed -- three of the big for, which is to say everybody but dickless Disney -- paid for the survey and the pretty logo.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But now that you mention it, Brent...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Do you pay the ladies who count up "damns" and "hells" on TV? Don't you pay your staff to do what you do? Do you pay yourself? How much of the $4 million you raise on your fancy letterhead goes into your pocket and pays your expenses (alongside your other supposed coalitions)?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Come on, Brent, why don't we talk about the real issue: The First Amendment. These are good people, good citizens who are speaking out to defend it... against you. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fighting for the First Amendment

Fighting for the First Amendment

: I signed onto TV Watch, an organization unveiled today that "opposes government control of television programming and promotes the use of parental controls" -- or as I would put it, opposes the FCC/religious-fringe jihad against the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

All I'm really doing is lending my name and quote, along with others on a bipartisan list, in the cause of defending free speech. But I am delighted that someone is finally stepping forward to give Congress and the FCC cover to defend the First Amendment against assaults from the so-called Parents Television Council and others who would use government to censor what we can see (and hear and read and click on).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

TV Watch released a survey that says Americans prefer to chose their own entertainment and don't want government to do it:

: 86 percent of Americans say more parental involvement is the best way to keep kids from seeing what they shouldn’t see. 11 percent say the government should increase control and enforcement of network television programming. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: By nearly four to one, Americans say more government regulation is not the solution, personal responsibility is.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: 91 percent of Americans – and 80 percent of those who say they “often” see things they feel should not have been aired – say that “some people will always be able to find something on the television or radio that offends them. But the sensitivities of a few should not dictate the choices for everyone else.” Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Even among the most sensitive viewers, those who “often” find television content objectionable, 74 percent of respondents said they prefer “people exercising personal choice over what they watch on television,” and not “government regulation of what is appropriate.”

Here are some quotes from fellow signatories (some of them roped in by me):

: “Freedom of expression is more than the sum of individual free speech rights. It's part of a larger culture – a democratic culture – with a robust public sphere of inquiry, learning, art, and political debate. To protect freedom of expression we must do more than prevent government restraints. We must encourage and support the institutions and practices that make the public sphere healthy and vibrant, and that give everyone, rich and poor alike, a chance to participate.”
-- Jack Balkin, professor, Yale Law School Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

“The solution to the problem of objectionable content for some is not heavy-handed government regulation that chills free expression for everyone. Rather, parents and consumers need more choices – better choices – and better information about those choices, so they can decide for themselves what to watch and what to avoid. That’s not just better for creative artists – it’s better for all Americans.”
--Jonathan Rintels, executive director, Center for Creative Voices in Media Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

“Why would we give more control to government when consumers have all the control they need over their individual TV sets? If the FCC has the power to remove or alter programs that you don't like, it also has the ability to kill programs that you love. That’s why it makes no sense to empower Washington bureaucrats when we can use the tools we have to decide for ourselves and our children which programs we watch."
-- Braden Cox, Technology Council, Competitive Enterprise Institute. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"One of the FCC's original missions was to promote cultural diversity. But the indecency warriors threaten that mission. Creativity flourishes in an environment of free speech."
-- Susan Crawford, professor, Cardozo Law SchoolAce Utilities 2.50 serialz

“Instead of forcing yet more government regulation on the American public, it is time we find a solution that respects the rights of private citizens, the intelligence of the American consumer and the role of a limited government.”
-- Nick Gillespie, editor Reason magazine Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Right now, the FCC only hears from a few well-funded, politically motivated groups. Despite their claims, they don’t speak for the majority of Americans. It’s time for the rest of us to speak up and tell the government that we don’t want them limiting free expression based on one group’s idea of ‘good taste.’"
-- Amanda Toering, director of SpeakSpeakAce Utilities 2.50 serialz

”I don’t like many things on television, but I also don’t want the government determining what I can watch. A fundamental conservative principle is at stake here – protection against a big government dictating how we should live.”
-- Stacie Rumenap, deputy director, American Conservative Union Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

”This is about individual rights and responsibilities. If we increase government control over this powerful medium, politically correct enforcement of TV will follow the next liberal into the White House. We don't need the PC police deciding what is appropriate programming.”
-- Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax ReformAce Utilities 2.50 serialz

"We must protect the First Amendment and our right to free speech from efforts to regulate media – television, cable, satellite, or internet – that try to silence anything that could offend anyone. This lowest-common-denominator approach is driving the best creativity off TV, it is putting a chill on public discourse, and most important, it is interfering with parents' rights to set our own standards for or children. The remote control gives us all the power we need. We don't need to give that power to the government."
-- Me

The survey was funded by media companies (members include News Corp. and Viacom -- both of which are fighting FCC fines, at last -- and NBC Universal). No one is paid to be involved. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The organization promotes more information, ratings, and use of the V chip. I've said in the past that I'm not a great fan of the V chip (because it, too, allows the nannies to complain and get content that offends them marked with the scarlet V). But it's what we have and so I certainly agree that information and the chip beats the hell out of government censorship. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And I strongly believe that it is time for Americans to rise up and oppose the fringers and nannies and defend the most precious principle of American democracy: free speech. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: More of my posts and rants on the topic here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Reuters story on the launch here. Broadcasting & Cable's here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

>This is the guy who wants to tell us how to parent?

This is the guy who wants to tell us how to parent?

: Max Blumenthal reports that James Dobson -- the scary guy who wants to censor what you watch and tell you how to parent -- ran ads on ABC while a church could not:

During [Sunday's] season finale of ABC's schlocky reality show, "Supernanny," James Dobson's Focus on the Family will be running ads promoting its "Focus on Your Child" program, which advises parents on how to implement the parenting principles outlined in his best-seller, "Dare to Discipline." These include spanking with "sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely." Children have to be taught respect for authority at an early age, Dobson preaches, or they'll never develop respect for governmental authority or God.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Dobson's theory on corporal punishment reveals the political underside of his self-help work....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Once parents bite Focus's bait and join up, they may learn some valuable techniques for improving their relationship with their children. At the same time, they will become immersed in the subculture of the Christian right, where they will meet Macho Jesus and the gay/pedophile deviants who are out to destroy the very fabric of their marriage. Family counseling is merely the net Dobson casts to bring folks on board with his political agenda.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Focus's ad buy is its first in prime time TV. It has ostensibly purchased the ads through its 501 c-3, the self-help component of its organization, so it can claim legally that the ads are not political. But they are, and it's absurd to say they're not. On his radio show, Dobson shamelessly begs for money for his 501 c-4, Focus on the Family Action, his organization's political arm. FOF Action is the entity which collaborated with the Family Research Council to bring us the memorable event known as "Justice Sunday," where Dobson blamed the Supreme Court for "the worst Holocaust in human history." Given that the political and family components of Dobson's empire are so indistinguishable, I think it would be appropriate and necessary to file a complaint with the FCC over Focus's insidious ad buy.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Furthermore, ABC's accomodation of Focus smacks of hypocrisy. Last winter, ABC's broadcast network refused to an ad by the United Church of Christ promoting its inclusive policy to gays and other groups explicity forbidden from belonging to churches under the ideological sway of Dobson and his ilk.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stacking the FCC deck

Stacking the FCC deck

: Last week, I linked to a report that Sen. Ted Stevens, the bozo who's trying to expand FCC censorship to cable and satellite, is trying to install his aide on the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Now comes word at Broadcasing & Cable that Sen. Sam Brownback, the scary guy who's pushing for censorship harder than anyone in the Senate, is now trying to get a former aide of his on the FCC.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Anybody want to nominate Howard Stern? Opie? Me?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Desperate censors

Desperate censors

: I have to believe that in the Bozell and Dobson households and in the homes of church ladies across the land, an angry and disappointed groan was heard when Laura Bush said she watches Desperate Housewives. In my house, you could hear a gratified cackle. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: LATER: Sure enough, the Washington Times frets. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is war

This is war

: At long last the ACLU says it may join the fight for the First Amendment and fight the FCC's censorship. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Why don't they just appoint Pat Robertson?

Why don't they just appoint Pat Robertson?

: 1115.org reports that Ted Stevens -- the twit who wants to extend FCC censorship to cable and satellite -- now wants to install one of his aides in one of the empty chairs at the FCC. This is war, people. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It's easy to complain about complaining at the FCC

It's easy to complain about complaining at the FCC

: John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable's blog has a nice bit of Catch-22ism from the FCC, which announces that it's now EASY to file complaints with our national nannies -- damn, just what we needed: a way to make it easy for the prudes and prigs to kneecap the First Amendment and waste bureaucrat-lawyers' time and taxpayer money everytime somebody says "damn." What's wonderful about this is that Eggerton goes on a wild-goosed chase trying to get to that EASY form and it's NOT EASY (thank goodness for small favors). Followup here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Tube boobs

Tube boobs

: This is incredible: The head of the National Association of Broadcasters selfishly argues for extending indecency regulations to cable just because if he has to suffer under unconstitutional FCC censorship of free speech, he wants his competitors to as well. If the man likes censorship so much, he would have done well to have stuck a gag in his own mouth before he delivered that idiotic and dangerous speech.

President and CEO Eddie Fritts, speaking during the opening ceremony of the NAB's convention in Las Vegas, said broadcasters prefer “responsible industry self-regulation” to government regulation. “But I must ask: if Congress decides to regulate broadcasters for indecency, does it make any sense for cable, satellite TV (and) satellite radio to get a free pass?” Fritts said.

But it's not just one fool. This is apparently NAB policy:

"If you are going to regulate broadcasters, the same rules ought to apply," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said.

Note that even Bush is not pushing for indecency regulation creeping into satellite and cable. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The Boi from Troy says it wonderfully:

This issue is not new. In fact, it reinforces my belief in Nineties Nostalgia. Rather than seek to regulate cable and satellite content, Bill Clinton pushed the market to adopt the V Chip and a ratings system. That way, even if a parent were not around, they could choose which programs and stations to which family members had access.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

What we've got here is a question of personal responsibility--a theme George Bush highlighted in his 2000 Presidential Campaign. With 200+ stations across the dial--appealing to animal lovers, women, history buffs, motorcyclists, and soon, homosexuals--you pretty much know what to expect whenever you choose to watch a certain station. If seeing kimodo dragons bite off water buffalo testicles is not your kind of thing, don't watch Animal Planet!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

By suggesting that the federal government should regulate cable and satellite content, he is saying that the "Responsibility Era" is not about taking personal responsibility...it's about the federal government taking responsibility for the rest of us. And in this case, I have to say I prefer Clinton's approach to Bush's.

: Pieter Dorsman says that the government and the industry are moving past the V-Chip to the N-chip. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Brendan Loi agrees with Boi from Troy as does Roger L. Simon; ditto Nobody's Business.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: An archive of many of my recent posts on the topic here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: On the V-chip: I actually opposed the V-chip when it was proposed years ago and, back when I was a TV critic, I got into a loud argument about it with Democratic Rep. Ed Markey on John McLaughlin's old cable show. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

My argument was that by enabling this technology and empowering networks to decide what content gets the scarlet V, we also enable government to argue that the ratings aren't right and to decide what content should be tagged with the label. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Note that, of course, the so-called Parents Television Council is arguing that the networks aren't labeling content properly [via TVGeekSpeak]. We can see where this heads. Slippery, that slope.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Then and now I still favor (1) the First Amendment, (2) the marketplace, (3) parents' authority, and (4) the off-button. But the V-chip already exists and so it is being used as an argument against further government regulation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This blog has the Parents Television Council Seal of Disapproval

This blog has the Parents Television Council Seal of Disapproval

: Steve Rhodes sends me a tip with a link to a survey the so-called Parents Television Council is running that give us an idea what they're all up to. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Let's all go and spam the survey! Really: Link here and give all the wrong answers. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For my three favorite shows, I listed Howard Stern on E!, Desperate Housewives, and Deadwood. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Anyway, it's clear that one thing they want to do is come up with a PTC Seal of Approval. Oh, God, I hope Hollywood had the balls to refuse to put that on any of its art. This is the organization that is causing millions of dollars in fines from the FCC and is plundering the First Amendment and is trying to cut off artistic freedom in this country. If an entertainment company puts that seal on its product, it is only encouraging these religonuts. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'm betting Disney will be the first in line to do it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They push their store with the ugliest crap this side of a rummage sale. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And, of course, never satisfied with using government to enforce their views, the PTC asks: "Would you support legislation in your state that would impose a civil or financial penalty on those who sell or rent "M" (mature) or "AO" (adults only) rated video games to children under 18 years of age?" They want to send the kid at the corner video store to jail. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I just sent in my survey. Want to bet it won't be counted?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Bush and the 'off' button

Bush and the 'off' button

: At the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Bush spoke and Scott Anderson of the Chicago Tribune asked him about efforts to extend indecency legislation to cable and satellite. Bush didn't hear the complete question and so it's unclear whether he's talking about regulation or merely personal standards. But he does repeat that the first and best defense against something you don't like is the 'off' button.

Q There are those who would like to place on satellite and cable some
decency standards. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I'm for that. I think there ought to be a standard. On
the other hand, I fully understand that the final edit, or the final
decision is a parent turning off the TV. I mean, the ultimate responsibility
in a consumer-driven economy is for people to say I'm not going to watch it,
and turn the knob off. That's how best to make decisions and how best to
send influences. But I don't mind standards being set out for people to
adjudge the content of a show, to help parents make right decisions.
Government ought to help parents, not hinder parents in sending good
messages to their children. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But, look, I mean, we're a free society. The marketplace makes decisions. If
you don't like something, don't watch it. And, presumably, advertising
dollars will wither and the show will go off the air. But I have no problems
with standards being set to help parents make good decisions.

: UPDATE: The White House backpedals on behalf of its man:

A White House spokesman said later Bush was merely expressing support for legislation that passed the House of Representatives last year that called for increasing fines on broadcasters that violated decency limits but did not address cable and satellite television.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

American women have no nipples (before 10 p.m.)

American women have no nipples (before 10 p.m.)

: Pamela Anderson, appearing on Howard Stern this morning to plug her new Fox show Stacked, said that the network censors have come on the set and ordered that her nippled be "taped down" because you can't have nipples before 10 p.m.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This shows the absurd lengths to which regulatory puritanism has gone: Now American women can't have nipples, at least not before the "safe harbor," when, apparently, nipples are suddenly, magically allowed to pop out again. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I say that the NOW should be storming the FCC with protest over this: Because of the chill (which, yes, ironically, would have the undesired effect on nipples) they have imposed, we are now at the point where a woman's clothed anatomy is deemed to be injurious to children. That's childish itself; it's absurd; it's sexist; it's more offensive than any nipple, even Janet Jackson's. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Free the nipples!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Transplant successful

Transplant successful

: The other day, the LA Times quoted the head of Comcast saying that he was considering taking Howard Stern's show off E! to suck up to legislators and regulators.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

On Stern's show this morning, they said that panicked calls were made from Comcast to E! to Stern Inc. denying this. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, good. Comcast officially gets its balls back. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Disney, on the other hand, has no balls. Mickey is a eunuch. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Castrated cable

Castrated cable

: The LA Times reports a frightening bit of gutlessness -- no, balllessness -- from the cable industry:

But in an attempt to avoid anti-indecency backlash, sources say, [Comcast Corp. CEO Brian] Roberts may move to take some of Comcast's raciest programming off the air.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Sources said that Roberts was considering not renewing "The Howard Stern Show" — the videotaped version of the shock jock's rant-filled radio program — when the contract expires this spring. The show, which helped put the E channel on the map, is still a ratings winner. But Roberts is worried that Stern, who has racked up more than $2 million in indecency fines for the nation's radio stations, could provoke unwanted scrutiny from Washington, especially if he gets even raunchier once he moves to satellite radio in January.

This is particularly ballless because what cable is trying to avoid is a push to allow consumers to get a la carte channels, which many consumers say they want and which would solve the problem of getting and paying for channels you don't want in your home (as opposed to blocking them but paying for them anyway). He's willing to throw out the First Amendment -- not to mention customer service -- for that. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

What's doubly appalling about this is that it is the result of Congress and the FCC enforcing a law they haven't even enforced yet. They are pressuring cable to get rid of the shows they don't like -- and we do -- with the mere threat of legislation.... legislation that surely will be found to be unconstitutional in any case. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is an abuse of power. Cable should be standing up to it. It should be squealing like a stuck Ted Stevens pig. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So let's add Roberts to the ballless hall of fame with Disney, which invited censorship of cable to avoid a la carte pricing. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And let's contrast that with Johnathan Rogers, a respected TV exec and a good guy I men when he was at CBS. Rogers has balls:

If a compromise cannot be reached, cable executives here warn, some of America's most-watched shows could become targets, including such "basic" cable offerings as "Nip/Tuck" on News Corp.'s FX and Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants," which some critics allege promotes a gay lifestyle. Premium cable channels, such as HBO and Showtime, could also face restrictions.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Viewers are in jeopardy of losing some of their favorite programming unless they speak up," said Johnathan Rodgers, a longtime television executive who is now chief executive of TV One, a cable channel aimed at African Americans. The 5 million people who watch FX's "The Shield," for example, "should let their congressmen know, because other people are labeling it indecent," he said. "That's a judgment call."

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Nucking futs!

Nucking futs!

: Just when you think this indecency fetish in Washington can't get sicker, another legislator with a stick up his ass opens his mouth (and the stick protrudes):

The chairman of one of the entertainment industry's most important congressional committees says he wants to take the enforcement of broadcast decency standards into the realm of criminal prosecution.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III, R-Wis., told cable industry executives attending the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. conference here on Monday that criminal prosecution would be a more efficient way to enforce the indecency regulations.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"I'd prefer using the criminal process rather than the regulatory process," Sensenbrenner told the executives.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The current system -- in which the FCC fines a licensee for violating the regulations -- casts too wide a net, he said, trapping those who are attempting to reign in smut on TV and those who are not.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"People who are in flagrant disregard should face a criminal process rather than a regulator process," Sensenbrenner said. "That is the way to go. Aim the cannon specifically at the people committing the offenses, rather than the blunderbuss approach that gets the good actors.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"The people who are trying to do the right thing end up being penalized the same way as the people who are doing the wrong thing."

At last week's Freedom to Connect, when I interviewed First Amendment attorney Bob Corn-Revere, he reminded the crowd that indecency is already a criminal matter; it's not enforced that way. Now someone wants to. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Say, if I were on TV -- and soon, if some have their way, on cable or satellite... or the internet -- I could not only be fined up to $3 million a day under new legislation if I said "fuck Sensenbrenner," he would now have me go to jail. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, fuck Sensenbrenner. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Freedom to Connect

Freedom to Connect

: I'm at the Freedom to Connect conference in Washington. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: David Isenberg, who put this all together, gave a stirring rap (and I mean rap) saying that our freedom to connect is not political enough. He said that thanks to a six programmers somewhere in Europe (read: Skype) had eliminated the need for phone companies ... and paying them $1 trillion dollars. So what will we do with that trillion, we people? Feed people? Solve the energy problem? What?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet project gives stats just in from their latest study (which will be up on their site shortly):
: 136 million American adults use the internet -- 67 percent of adults.
: 87 percent of teenagers use the internet
: 59 million Americans have high-speed at home, just over half of users.
: 40 million Americans used the internet to get news online yesterday -- half the number who got it from TV, two-thirds of the number of who got it from newspapers.
: 4 million Googled someone they were about to meet.
: 1 million googled themselves.
: Lee also told me that they asked about use of Craigs List and online classifieds and found very high usage.
He says "the internet has become the norm in America." They're having trouble asking people when they use the internet because it's so much a part of their lives in so many ways now. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Susan Crawford is unbloggable. She comes out with ideas that require digestion and by the time you've digested it to blog it she is on to the next idea. So I don't try. One questioner got up and said, "You're even better than your blog." You get the idea. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I finally figured out one of her points: If you want government to help you fix something (e.g., kill spam) you also open the door to government regulation of other things you don't want (e.g., email). So beware governmetn involvement. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

When the First Amendment is 'the other side'

When the First Amendment is 'the other side'

: CJR Daily goes after The New York Times, as I did the other day, for writing about new FCC National Nanny Kevin Martin and the so-called Parents Television Council without going to anyone -- anyone -- who defends the First Amdment against them. The Constitution is now the unheard other side.

Relying exclusively on quotes from the PTC's president, L. Brent Bozell, Martin, and a few pro-fine Congressmen, the Times ignores any hint of opposition to the proposed new rules.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

There's little question that there is a significant movement afoot to increase indecency fines, but the Times fails to report that an equally passionate movement has arisen to resist the proposed expansion of the FCC's mandate.

[via SpeakSpeak]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Our freedoms

Our freedoms

: Bill Hobbs gives you a quiz: Can you name the five freedoms enshrined in and guaranteed by the First Amendment?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Free speech for free speech, please

Free speech for free speech, please

: The Times today talks about censorship under the reign of Kevin Martin, new chairman of the FCC. They quote Brent Bozell, self-appointed head of the so-called Parents Television Council. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But they don't quote anyone from the other side. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The other side needs another side. We need an Americans Free Speech Council. We need to stand up for the First Amendment. And when reporters write stories such as this, they should see that their stories are incomplete if they don't hear from the other side, the side of free speech and the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The cost of free speech

The cost of free speech

: The Congressional Budget Office estimates the FCC will collect $10 million in fines over the next decade. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern's restraint

Stern's restraint

: Howard Stern was remarkably restrained this morning gloating about the Wall Street Journal story that reported on an investigation into the Imus Ranch and the PVS jock not paying the charity that runs the spread for his personal use of it. Howard, who has harped on this for years, played his Imus theme -- "I'm a Fake Cowboy" -- only a couple of times. The Journal story is a great read that also shows restraint: It doesn't accuse Imus of anything but let him paint an amusing self-portrait. But today, the Journal also had to report that the investigation is over. It's not scandal. But it is comedy. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fighting for the First Amendment

Fighting for the First Amendment

: I'm at an Association of National Advertisers' meeting on TV in New York and Bob Corn-Revere, the leading First Amendment attorney (whom I'll be interviewing at the Freedom to Connect conference) is speaking to the industry:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He is subbing for an FCC speaker and he's doing so because, he reveals, when Kevin Martin got the chairman's job at the FCC, people in the agency were told to cancel all speaking engagements.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He lists new content-control initiatives: on violence (see the post below), on children's TV and ad limits (including even the inclusion of URLs for network promotions), on advertising of food ("the new tobacco?"), on product placement, and, of course, on indecency and profanity.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Indecent

Indecent

: Lots of news on the indecent indecency front:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: ANOTHER INDECENT BILL... Sens. John D. Rockefeller (a Democrat... for shame) and Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced an indecent indecency bill that is even more constitutionally abhorrent than the House version. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They would extend FCC censorship to violence, not just indecency. How the hell they're going to define violence is beyond me. So Saving Private Ryan can go on the air even with the F word but it has to go off again because it's violent? And let's get rid of the news, of course. Wave as you go down the slippery slope, senators: First, you want to censor indecency. Then profanity. Now violence. Warning: Political speech is not far behind. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And they would extend FCC censorship to cable and satellite. Warning: The internet is not far behind. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They also require full-screen, 30-second warnings every 30 minutes for any "violent and indecent programming... on broadcast, cable, and satellite programming [sic]." Since no one knows what violent and indecent programming is, the warning should just go up on every show. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They require more children's programming. So they want children to watch more TV, eh?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And they raise fines up to $3 million per day with a provision that appears to allow the FCC to double fines if the violation was scripted or if it occurs on a show with a "viewing or listening audience ... substantially larger than usual, such as a national or international championship sporting event or awards program..." Henceforth known as the Jackson Clause. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: IT'S THE CONSTITUTION, DUMMY... Even national nanny and FCC commissioner Jonathan Adelstein knows that this bill is unconstitutional:

"Right now it's not in our rules to go after any material that's broadcast over cable or satellite," Adelstein said. If Congress were to make such a law, "it would likely be held unconstitutional in the courts. The courts have told us to be very careful about what we say is indecent and they recognize that we’re walking a tightrope between the First Amendment and the need to protect children from hearing this kind of thing.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"If it’s a cable system, or a subscription service like satellite or cable, people are paying for it," Adelstein continued. "They’re inviting it into their homes. And the basis for the broadcast restrictions is that it’s pervasive… But taking that into cable or satellite, the courts would probably look askance at."

: CNN NOT FUCKED.... Just yesterday, the FCC turned down a complaint for a dropped F bomb on CNN during convention coverage because... well, duh, the FCC doesn't censor cable... yet. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here's the Washington Post's take. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: ON TIME... A few notes on Time's cover story (not really online) on the indecency kerfluffle:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: THE SURVEY SAYS... A poll asks, "Should government ban it from TV?" Note that in no case does a majority say yes:
: Violence? 36 percent yes.
: Cursing and sexual language? 41 percent yes.
: Explicit sexual content, such as nudity? 41 percent yes.
: Drug and alcohol abuse? 33 percent yes.
Well bring on the naked, cursing, drunk ninja ladies!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: OK, then, how about that supposed national consensus of outrate over Janet Jackson's breast? Asked whether they were offended by the incident, only 31 percent said yes. Well, then, were they offended by the Desperate Housewives promotion on Monday Night Football? Only 24 percent said yes. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Asked whether any of these things were "never suitable" -- bare breasts; frontal nudity; bare buttocks; implied sex, no nudity; same-sex couple kissing; advertising for sexual potency drugs -- none gained a majority. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: DISNEY IS EVIL... The story drew to my attention the fact that a Disney executive just broke ranks and favored FCC regulation of cable -- because it's preferable (for Disney... to hell with the Constitution and free speech) to the alternative suggestion that cable customers should be able to buy only the channels they want. Says Broacasting & Cable:

Of course, anytime you hear a media company volunteering for tighter government controls, it sets off the old Follow the Money alarm bells. As it happens, some lawmakers are suggesting an alternative to the content restrictions: forcing cable operators to allow “à la carte” channel shopping so that parents can opt not to receive channels they don’t want their kids to see. Mostly wholesome Disney doesn’t have much to fear there. Ah, but à la carte selection would also allow millions of subscribers who don’t like sports but do like cutting expenses to dump ESPN—one of the priciest items on cable’s prix fixe menu.

Disgusting Disney.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: DAMN, DAMN, DAMN... Time follows around an "analyst" from the so-called Parents Television Council, Kristine Looney [note my restraint], as she catalogues even uses of the word "damn" in a data base covering the naughty bits in 100,000 hours of TV. Naughty includes "every incident of sexual content, violence, profanity, disrepect for authority, and other negative content." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Disrespect for authority is now indecent?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I WISH THEY'D CLEAR OUT OF MY HOUSE... Time says that "almost single-handedly, the PTC has become a national clearinghouse for, an arbiter of, decency." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Whoa! These bozos appoint themselves to that role and Time swallows it. Even to the FCC, the PTC is not the arbiter of decency; even the FCC turns down many of its prudish yelps. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: DAY IN COURT... A court test of indecency law and enforcement is long, long overdue. Time says that "industry sources tell Time" that broadcasters are considering a court test case. I thought that was already underway with Viacom's refusal to pay the Janet Jackson tit tax and Fox's decision to fight the record Married by America fine that led to my FOIA (quoted in Time). Maybe they have another case. Good. More = merrier. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"There are difficulties" that the FCC faces, a broadcast executive tells Time. "One is that extreme [regulatory] positions are going to run into constitutional problems. The second is inconsistent and vague rulings are going to run into contstitutional problems."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The new national nanny: Another FOIA

: I filed a Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence from FCC commissioners to Brent Bozell, head of the so-called Parents Television Council. Here are excerpts from a letter to Bozell from Kevin Martin, the new chairmanof the FCC:

First, I want to thank the Parents Television Council and the many organization with which you are working for alling attention to the issue of indecency on our airwaves. I share your concern about the increasing courseness of the programming on television and radio.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC plays an important role in protecting Americans -- particularly children -- from obscene and indecent material...."

It's his right, but I'm uncomfortable with Martin thanking Bozell; it puts him on Bozells side; it encourages him. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I also have trouble with him saying that he is protecting adults, and not just children, from indecency. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Martin tells Bozell he supported reducing the requirements for filing complaints (no longer requiring tapes or transcripts). And he pushes to count every utterance of an alleged indecency as a violation to pump up the fines: "Classifying each indecent utterance as a separate violation could result in significantly higher fines for many complaints."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Nothing damning there, mostly echoes of Martin's statements (see a complete list of them here). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Among the other letters, there are a few interesting notes.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy sends what appears to be a form letter but then adds in her handwriting: "Happy Holidays. I'll see you in the new year!" Almost sounds as if they socialize. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: LATER: Terry Heaton sends along a link to this good edwardpig analysis of Martin's relationship with Bozell:

Martin worked for Ken Starr during the witch hunt against Clinton, and when the Florida fix was in danger of falling apart in 2000, "Martin left for Miami so quickly he didn't pack a bag. Working round the clock, he could be seen on TV peering over ballot counters."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The possibility of having a Bush rubber stamp in the position of FCC chair is bad enough. What's worse is that Bush's primary motivation for naming Martin is to throw a bone to the cultural conservatives. Specifically, Brent Bozell, the head of both the Media Research Center (MRC) and the Parents Television Council (PTC), strongly endorses Martin for the post....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But the fact is that Bozell, for all of his conflicts and sleaze, is about to wield considerable power at the FCC. Not only do PTC members account for 99.8% of the complaints filed with the FCC in the past year, Martin seems favorably disposed to heed those complaints and act on them in a big way. Furthermore, Martin does not appear to be content with simply regulating broadcast television. He has suggested that he'd like to explore broadening FCC authority to regulate satellite and cable TV as well.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

New FCC, same as the old FCC

: Kevin Martin is to be appointed the new chairman of the FCC. It won't improve. It likely will get even worse. More later...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Next, they come after the internet...

: I've warned you that after the national nannies attack broadcast, they'll come after cable ... and then the internet. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Sen. Ted Stevens, the aging fool who vows to censor cable, now hints that he'll go after our medium. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But in all honesty, it's hard to tell whether he's targeting the internet... or whether he's just an ignorant, confused, old fool. He says:

We ought to find some way to say, here is a block of channels, whether it’s delivered by broadband, by VoIP, by whatever it is, to a home, that is clear of the stuff you don’t want your children to see.

Well, of course, VoIP is voice over internet protocol -- that is, it's the next-wave phone -- and unless the addled fool plans to start censoring your phone calls -- who knows? he could get that in his cobwebby head: no more phone sex! -- then it seems to be this dangerous dinosaur is just confused about one technology or another: Broadband. Cable. VoIP. Broadcast....It's all just so much newfangled whippernsapper stuff, you know. Oh, I do certainly believe that Stevens would censor the internet, given half a chance. But I don't know whether that's what he's trying to say here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The rest of the transcript is sadly inarticulate. A few other goodies: On cable:

I intend to try and level the playing field. I take the position that at the time the Supreme Court made its decision about cable, cable was just one of the ways for public access to television products. Today 85 percent of the television that is brought to American homes is brought by cable and I believe that the playing field should be leveled. We have imposed this as a standard on local broadcasters. Under the law, we compel cable to carry those local broadcasters.

First, the right way to level the playing field is to acknowledge that broadcast is no longer ubiquitous and special and that the exception to the Constitution carved out for broadcast censorship is no longer valid and all media should have First Amendment protection. The level playing field should be a field of free speech and control by the marketplace, not government censors. Second, must-carry regulations, love them or leave them, have nothing to do with the FCC's indecency authority or the Supreme Court rulings in this arena. You're mixing apples and kumquats, Senator. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He says he wants a rating system for cable as the movies have. He says that without that rating system, they would have censored movies. Try that these days, bud!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He says he delayed markup of the bill because he's going on his honeymoon 25 years after getting married. Leave the Viagra at home, fella: If we can't have fun, niether can you. And...

As I said to that group downtown a couple of weeks ago, I’m not a prude, I like to watch the Sopranos once in a while. I turn them off once in a while, too, but I was sitting there the other night signing my mail and I had on this one program and all I heard was four letter words and participles. Now, when I served in World War II most of us didn’t have very good vocabulary, so that’s why we used those things, those four letter words, but they’ve got better writers than that. They can say the same thing without doing that.

Those nasty participles!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Senator, I want to introduce you to a fancy newfangled device: It's called a remote control. It has an off button and a channel button and you can hit either of them whenever you want. You don't want to hear them danged particples, fine, change the channel. Maybe I do want to hear those participles and the people who say them want to say them. So who the fuck are you to say what I shouldn't hear? And who the fuck are you, Senator, to judge how writers write and what they write? Our founding fathers did not envision that you should become the national nanny, the national editor, the national censor, the national critic, or the national grammarian. Run the damned government, man, and leave the culture to the culture. That is not, never has been, and never should be your job. Yet more:

I think that standard ought to come back in our life – no just to protect children, but let’s get off of this stuff of using, we see it everywhere now. As a matter of fact, many people that I know use four letter words and participles more than we did in the Army. I just don’t understand why we can’t be more of a civil nation. Ok? And, I’m getting old, so I can say those things. All right?

And if I want to say fuck I will say fuck. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He'd be sad and funny if he weren't so dangerous. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Your government censors at work

: The FCC rules that the Desperate Housewives promo was not indecent and illegal. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, duh. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But it took all kinds of lawyers and tax dollars to conclude:

We conclude that the material in question is not patently offensive, and thus, not indecent. In particular, the “Monday Night Football” segment, although sexually suggestive, is not graphic or explicit. wens is fully dressed throughout the segment, and, with the exception of a moment when her bare back is exposed to the audience, Sheridan is at all times fully covered with a towel. No sexual or excretory organs are shown or described, and no sexual activities are explicitly depicted or described. Furthermore, the scene where Sheridan drops her towel and jumps into Owens’s arms is brief. Although the scene apparently is intended to be titillating, it simply is not graphic or explicit enough to be indecent under our standard.

And what damned business is it of the goverment's if something is sexually suggestive or intended to be titillating? They seem disappointed it was not explicit enough to get a slap. How much is enough? Only your FCC knows for sure. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

More podcast play

: I've played with another podcast response: This brief (five-minute) 'cast takes quotes from Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein's interview with Brooke Gladstone on On the Media . It was a good interview but I couldn't resist adding my own answers to Adelstein's answers. I'm not so sure this one works; hear what you think. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I wish this is what the opposition party would do to, say, the State of the Union speech. Rather than that cardboard response the Democrats gave to the last SOTU, how much better it would be if they gave Bush an audio fisking: Respond to his stands, point-by-point, back-and-forth in a podfisk!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Ted Stevens, our senator from Iran

: The Reuters report on Sen. Ted Stevens abhorrently unconstitutional attempt to extend government censorship to cable contains some mind-boggling quotes from him and his House cohort (my emphases):

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said he would push legislation this year to accomplish that goal and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton said he would back it if it does not violate free speech rights.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," Stevens, from Alaska, told the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents hundreds of local television and radio affiliates. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air" broadcasters.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"There has to be some standard of decency," he said, but noted that "no one wants censorship."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stevens cited the discussion of masturbation and sex toys during prime time television as one example of content that bothered him. He told reporters he would extend the restrictions to premium channels like HBO as well.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"If we can work out the constitutional questions, I'd be supportive of that," Barton of Texas told reporters later at the conference. "I think they ought to play, to the extent possible, by the same rules." ...

Getaloada these loads: They know this is unconstitutional. But they propose it anyway to get publicity and votes. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They're gaming the Constitution. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I love this: 3Martini says we need a new bumpersticker:

I'm an adult. I watch cable. And I vote.

: Davenetics issues the same warning I always warn when these people want to expand censorship:

Let's see, if they have the power to "deal with" cable and satellite, I wonder which medium might be dealt with next?

: John Thorpe adds:

I will put it as clearly as I can -- in case the old dingbat Senator cannot understand it. This is not why we elected you. We elected you to cut taxes, fix the entitlements, and kill terrorists -- and not in that order. That's it. No one elected you to make sure that some busybody housewife in Ames, Iowa isn't offended because Bart Simpson said "shit" or whatever the outrage du jour is this week.

: Note that one of Barton's top contributors is Clear Channel. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: LATER: See Dan Gillmor, who also sees unfortunate similaries between Stevens' reign and that in Maylasia. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Indecency makes strange bedfellows

: There's an odd consensus of sorts forming around the notion that thereal solution to is to kill broadcast and increase choice. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Jonathan Rintels at CreativeVoices. just sent me this email:

We debated the Parents TV Council on CNBC last night. Rather than endorse Sen. Ted Stevens's call today to extend FCC broadcast indecency regs to cable and satellite, we were pleasantly surprised (shocked?!) that PTC agreed that our solution was far preferable: give consumers the right to pick and choose what cable channels they want, rather than eat the broadcasters' and cable companies' "packages," larded with channels that offend them. PTC went on to say that technology would soon solve the problem of objectionable content on cable, via VOD and digital cable boxes. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In many ways, I think the debate may be between Old School/Old Media vs. Technologically Savvy New School/New Media – that Sen. Stevens, as well as some of his Hill colleagues, push the old Central Command and Control censoring solution for cable because they don’t know/understand the pro-consumer, pro-personal choice/individual freedom technology that’s out there now with more about to come down the pike.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The video of our CNBC appearance is here.

Now see Ernie Miller's comment in the very good discussion going on in the comments below, in response to another commenter:

Why not disable broadcast entirely and rely exclusively on content which you choose explicitly to bring into your home through the DVD player? Or, don't teach your children to change the channel, teach them only how to operate the DVD player.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Of course, we could always eliminate broadcast television all together, which, honestly, wouldn't be a bad solution in my book.

I wouldn't get ready to pull the plug quite yet, of course. But technology brings many solutions -- the remote control, the V-chip, channel-blocking, broadband allowing on-demand programming, and so on -- putting control where it belongs: in the hands of the consumer, not government. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Howard Stern made a point this morning about Steven's constitutionally abhorrent effort to extend government censorship to cable (which even Michael Powell knows would be illegal): If you try to censor cable, it's no longer about protecting children, the justification the censors use on broadcast. Now it's about government trying to "protect" adults: you and me. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Go tell Ted Stevens to:
1. Mind his own damned business.
2. Read the First Amendment.
3. Worry about the deficit and health care and homeland security and Social Security and...
4. Retire. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I'll say it again: The internet is next. They will try to go after what you and I say here. Welcome to Maylasia. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Handy-dandy indecency smasher

: Pete Blackwell gives us instructions for the only device you'll ever need to get things you don't like off your TV. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Howard Stern this morning ran a commercial for another amazing technological innovcation that cures this indecency thing: The Knob.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: And Ernie Miller gives us one of his magnificent analyses of the FCC ruling on Private Ryan. He shows, for example, how silly it is that the FCC has to decree that the F-word is always sexual -- even when uttered in he mud of a foxhole, making it curiously homoerotic in the case of Ryan. He concludes:

By all means, let's honor veterans (I'm one), but maybe we could also honor the liberties those veterans fought and died for. The FCC understands that we should honor veterans, but they apparently do not understand why they deserve to be honored.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Senator greases slope with KY

: Sen. Ted Stevens wants to control speech on cable, too.

The Alaska Republican told reporters at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual state leadership convention that the regulations should also apply to premium services such as HBO.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"The problem is most viewers don't differentiate between over-the-air and cable," he said. "Cable is a greater violator in the indecency arena."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stevens brushed aside constitutional questions about whether the government has the right to regulate indecent speech on pay TV services.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

March 02, 2005Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Sen. Stevens: Pay TV should comply with indecency regsAce Utilities 2.50 serialz

By Brooks Boliek
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ted Stevens, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told broadcasters Tuesday that pay TV services should have to comply with the same indecency regulations as over-the-air TV stations.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Alaska Republican told reporters at the National Association of Broadcasters' annual state leadership convention that the regulations should also apply to premium services such as HBO.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"The problem is most viewers don't differentiate between over-the-air and cable," he said. "Cable is a greater violator in the indecency arena."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stevens brushed aside constitutional questions about whether the government has the right to regulate indecent speech on pay TV services.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"I think that's wrong," he said. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over the air, because of the combination of the two."

Forget about putting the 10 Commandments in stone in government buildings. Can we just etch the First Amendment over the doors there? Dangerous, this guy. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC follies, continued... and continued... and continued...

: As Gomer (or was it Guber?) would say: Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC just decided that the F word in Saving Private Ryan is not indecent, obscene, or profane. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In fact, the FCC turned down three complaints -- on Will & Grace and Arrested Development, too. It's as if, once they got rid of Howard Stern, they could let up. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Except I'm still waiting to hear their ruling on Oprah Winfrey. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The latest wisdom from on high....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: In the Private Ryan case, the FCC says that it found Ryan not indecent in 2001 and 2002 but that 66 stations wouldn't air it this time "citing their uncertainty as to whether it contained indecent material, reportedly based, in part, on Commission indecency rulings subsequent to these previous broadcasts of the film." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, yeah: In the Bono case, the FCC decrees that the F word is not only indecent but also profane and says:

...we believe that, given the core meaning of the “F-Word,” any use of that word or a variation, in any context, inherently has a sexual connotation, and therefore falls within the first prong of our indecency definition....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We now turn to the second step of the analysis – whether the broadcast of the phrase at issue here is patently offensive under contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium and therefore indecent. We conclude that the answer to this question is yes. The “F-Word” is one of the most vulgar, graphic and explicit descriptions of sexual activity in the English language. Its use invariably invokes a coarse sexual image.

Pretty clear to me. That's why the 66 stations refused to air the movie. They felt a chill. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC says that this movie would have no impact on children because children wouldn't watch. Oh, yeah, kids have never been drawn to war movies. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I always enjoy the FCC being forced to say dirty words:

The film... contains numerous expletives and other potentially offensive language generally as part of soldiers’ dialogue, some of which is cited by the Complainants. Such language includes: “f***,” and its variations; “hell”; “ass” and “a**hole”; “crap”; “son of a bitch”; “bastard”; “s***” and its variations, including “bulls***” and “sh***y”; “p***k”; and “pee.” For the purpose of this discussion, we will assume arguendo, that this material meets the first and second components to our analysis of whether it is patently offensive, in that at least some of the language is graphic and explicit, and is repeated throughout the course of the three and a half-hour broadcast of the film.

But here's my favorite part of the ruling, when the FCC argues itself out of this corner. It does so by arguing that Ryan is art. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So that puts the FCC in the position of being the national art critic. The FCC says what is art and what is not. The FCC judges the value of our speech. The FCC is no a censor, it's a f**king critic. Just what we need.

Deleting all of such language or inserting milder language or bleeping sounds into the film would have altered the nature of the artistic work and diminished the power, realism and immediacy of the film experience for viewers. In short, the vulgar language here was not gratuitous and could not have been deleted without materially altering the broadcast. In this context, we must proceed with caution and exercise restraint given “the high value our Constitution places on freedom and choice in what the people say and hear.”

But only what the FCC says it thinks we should say and hear. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

That is Constitutionally indecent, obscene, and profane. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

(I will confess I added asterisks because this is a segment now on MSNBC.)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Real webcasting history

: Forget about all my MSNBC games. The big wecasting event today is the start of the King of All Blacks show. Howard Stern has been threatening to start a show with him on Sirius. That'll guarantee a million new subs, huh?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Into orbit

: MediaWeek reports on a survey of Stern fans to find out how many are planning to make the switch. 22 percent said they are definitely getting Sirius; 41 percent were still deciding. If those numbers play out, the deal works well for Sirius and Stern. It was reported that Stern had to bring in 1 million subs to make the deal work. He has an audience reported at anywhere from 8 to 18 million; that's 1.7 to 4 million subs just for the 22 percent who are decided; add in some proportion of those who still thinking; add in Nascar fans, now that Sirius got that deal... and I'm glad I bought Sirius stock (with absolutely no insider knowledge!). I'll write a post soon on my reaction to having Sirius and my wish list for it. (Hat tip: Peter Weinberger)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: OOPS: I read an email on this and linked from there. Jimmy Robinson in the comments is my editor and catches me in a bad omission: The story goes further to say that a sizable hunk were not aware of the size of the fee (which is too much, I'd say) and that reduced the number considerably so, given the audience/fan numbers above, the net ends up either below or above 1 million. So they'll still have a lot of selling to do. Thanks, Jimmy. But I'm still not selling the stock. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern, Clear Channel settle

: Howard Stern and Clear Channel have settled; no word on details of the deal. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

At long effin' last

: The LA Times says broadcasters are, at long last, going to challenge the FCC's indecency cops.

"I think the government is more vulnerable to an indecency challenge than they've ever been before," said Kurt A. Wimmer, a Washington communications lawyer....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Broadcasters haven't brought a major indecency or obscenity case since 1978, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to issue indecency fines. That case involved a Pacifica radio station's airing in 1973 of comedian George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" routine.

If the broadcasters had fought long ago, we might not be in this unconstitutional mess. CBS, which wimped out with a recent consent decree, is going to fight the Janet Jackson case. And Fox is, as I've reported before, fighting the Married by America fine (the one brought about by only three letter writers). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

If the broadcasters had had the balls to fight this before, they might have given constitutional cover to Congress not to vote against the First Amendment. But they were wimpy and late. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Satellite stock

: The NY Post reports that there's an investigation into the rise Sirius stock before Howard Stern announced he was moving there. The SEC even subpoened show regular Chaunce Hayden -- who never gets anything right; he even tried to "report" that the wrong Desperate Housewife was reputed to be gay after he heard part of a TV tease. Stern has said frequently that he could not tell anyone about his plans until the announcement was made precisely because it would have been insider information. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But this was hardly insider speculation. As soon as Janet Jackson bared her inch of flesh, I bought Sirius and announced it here. It was obvious to me: The FCC witchhunt would get worse; Congress would go nuts; Stern would leave terrestrial radio; he'd go to the player ready to pay him more and because Sirius is the underdog, it would be Sirius. It's the only stock pick I've ever done well because it was so damned obvious. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Nannymania

: The atmosphere of nannyism in this country has gotten out of hand. First farts (below), now Eve's breasts.

He painted Eve as God created her: nude.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And when he finished including the bare-bosomed Biblical first woman, he inscribed the word "love" on the mural that covers the outside wall of his Roseville art studio.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In Ed (Gonzo) Stross' eyes, his variation on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" mural is art.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In 39A District Judge Marco Santia's eyes, it's a crime....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Santia ordered Stross, 43, to serve 30 days in jail, do two years' probation and pay a $500 fine for violating a city sign ordinance. Roseville officials said letters were prohibited on the mural and Eve's exposed chest is indecent.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Besides jail time and the fee, Stross is to tastefully cover Eve's breasts before reporting to the Macomb County Jail on Monday morning, and to paint over "love" by May 1....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

ACLU Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg said someone from his office planned to meet with Stross later Thursday to discuss representing him.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"It's a sad day in America when an artist goes to jail for reproducing a Michelangelo painting on the side of his art studio," Steinberg said....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He said he plans to raise money for the fine and probation costs. Stross, who has multiple sclerosis and receives disability payments, said money is tight.

[Thanks, Movieboy]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The unkindest cut of all

: Howard Stern got a new ruling from the lawyers this morning: No long farts. Short farts are OK. Fart sounds made with the mouth (or, I assume, armpit) are apparently OK. But long farts from the fart factory are now feared to be illegal. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Yes, this is why mankind invented the law and broadcast technology: to argue about the the legal length of a fart. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

There've been many final straws on Stern's back and he's lobbying to leave now whenever he can. He has also made clear that the minute the indecent indecency bill is signed into law, he'll do nothing but play records, for it's certainly not worth fines that could add into millions -- long after the alleged crimes -- for a medium he's leaving. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But this was the unkindest cut of all. Howard said he found farts funny at 5 and still finds them funny at 51. He makes no pretense of having a sophisticated sense of humor about this. They're just farts. Farts are funny. But now farts are illegal -- or lawyers think they could be, though no one will ever make it clear. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is beyond silly, it's below stupid. Do we really need legislation about farts? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They're bleeping our soldiers again

: PBS' Frontline spent months filming a report on soldiers in Iraq, A Company of Soldiers, set to air on Feb. 22. Guess what: Soldiers under fire tend to use no-no words. And this caused PBS to wimp out and bleep the words. Under pressure, they agreed to also send an uncensored version. Frontline Executive Producer David Fanning wrote a stirring memo to PBS stations:

...This is a film about young men at war, often in combat, and always in danger. As you might expect, the language of these soldiers is sprinkled with expletives, especially at their moments of greatest fear and stress. As we edited the program, we were judicious, but came to believe that some of that language was an integral part of our journalistic mission: to give viewers a realistic portrait of our soldiers at war. We feel strongly that the language of war should not be sanitized and that there is nothing indecent about its use in this context....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Our attorneys, including outside counsel, have advised us that the expletives in “A Company of Soldiers” do not violate the FCC’s indecency rule. They have concluded that the uses of the f-word and others in this film do not cross the FCC’s guidance against “gratuitous” use....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For these journalistic and legal reasons, FRONTLINE believes this is the moment for public television to stand firm and broadcast “A Company of Soldiers” intact, as it was intended. We believe what is at issue is not the particulars of this case, but the principle of editorial independence. Because overreaching by the FCC is at its heart a First Amendment issue, all programs are at risk, whether art, science, history, culture, or public affairs.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We believe the risks of an adverse outcome are small and the principles we stand on are large. Editorial decisions should be free from influence by the government and should be made in accordance with the standards, practices, and mission of public broadcasting.

WGBH in Boston decided to air the uncensored version. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: So first PBS wimps out showing Buster the bunny visiting lesbians because the new secretary of education thinks lesbians are offensive. Now PBS censors our soldiers because Bono said the F-word once. Here is a blogger's interview with the senior editor of the Buster episode. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The fools

: Howard Stern this morning is playing the self-congratulatory babble of the congressmen who kneecapped the First Amendment yesterday. They are obnoxious in their foolish pride. "We're one step away from burning books," Howard says. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The enemies of First Amendment

: The House just passed the indecent indecency bill 389-38. As soo as I can, I will put up the names of the brave 38 lawmakers who voted for the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The Center For Creative Voices in Media -- an anti-media-concentration group -- says:

Today’s vote was a tragedy for creative artists. More importantly, it was a tragedy for the American public.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

As a result of today’s House vote, the American public will be denied even more opportunities to view quality programming, repeating the tragedy of last Veteran’s Day when broadcasters fearful of an FCC fine abruptly canceled “Saving Private Ryan” – a multiple Oscar-winning tribute to veterans. Today’s House action revokes the public’s right to choose what to watch – and what not to watch – and turns that choice over to Big Brother: the FCC, the Parents Television Council, and the giant media conglomerates who will self-censor programming to avoid these exponentially increased penalties.

: Here are the good people who voted for the First Amendment:
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Baird
Berman
Clay
Conyers
Delahunt
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Grijalva
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hinchey
Honda
Kucinich
Lee
Lewis (GA)
Lofgren, Zoe
McDermott
Nadler
Owens
Paul
Payne
Sabo
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanders
Schakowsky
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sherman
Stark
Velázquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Waxman
Woolsey
That's one Republican, one independent, and 36 Democrats. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fighting for the First Amendment

: Even the conservative Heritage Foundation believes the indecency legislation rushing through Congress is indecent. James L. Gattuso just published a paper on the Heritage site trying -- late in the day, unfortunately -- to get Congress to stop this rush toward regulation and censorship. The good bits:

...However, the proposed solution, increased government restrictions on speech, is fundamentally misguided. Conservatives – who have long been the targets of politically correct speech codes on college campuses and elsewhere – should be particularly wary of this approach....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Considered more carefully, however, this regulatory approach is flawed and perhaps even dangerous. “Indecency” is a notoriously hard term to define. Content need not be obscene to be indecent, but it must be more that merely offensive or inappropriate. The FCC defines indecency as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.” This definition is as clear as mud....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The chilling effect that results is very real, keeping much non-offensive—and valuable—material off the air.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Even more dangerously, the push for restrictions on indecency will, almost inevitably, lead to calls for restrictions on other types of content. Who could, for instance, oppose restrictions on “hate speech”—as, of course, defined by regulators. And what about content deemed “insensitive” to others in society? The path to politically correct speech codes is a clear one. Even controls on political speech are possible. There is already talk of re-imposing the “fairness doctrine,” which required broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues. The doctrine’s effect was to discourage controversial issue-oriented programming. It was not until this rule was repealed in the 1980s that talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh found a place on the radio dial....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Rather than impose ever-stricter limits on media content, lawmakers concerned about the quality of programming should instead promote policies that would expand the choices available to consumers. Already, cable programmers such as the Family Channel and Disney Channel offer family-oriented television. Many more are available on satellite television. And Sirius—despite its Howard Stern deal—recently announced it would offer several channels of children’s radio on its satellite network.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

By reducing governmental barriers to new outlets, policymakers could further increase the number of choices available. Such steps could include freeing up underused radio spectrum, reducing regulations that discourage investment in new telecommunications systems, and reducing taxes on providers.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Ultimately, the solution to offensive programming lies not with policymakers but with individual consumers and families. Parents and others unhappy with what they see on the television have available to them weapons more powerful than has any congressman. Like other businesses, broadcasters respond to their customers. Complaints to broadcasters and to the advertisers that support them can be effective. But the most powerful weapons consumers wield are their own remote controls.

The right should be fighting this because they hate regulation and big government. The left should be fighting this because they should hate government control of speech. Every American should be fighting this because we believe in the cornerstone of the Constitution, the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Amendment 1.1

: It's a dark day for the First Amendment. The House is expected to pass its indecent indecency bill raising the fine for any of us -- any of us -- who violate the very unclear rules of the FCC to $500,000. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The chickens in Congress -- birds of both parties -- will pass it because they're afraid of voting for smut but not afraid of voting against the Constitution. The chickens in the broadcast industry have done nothing to fight this (if they had any guts, they'd go silent for some period of time in protest, as Howard Stern suggests); the unions are squacking at last. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Meanwhile, the allegedly religious right is pushing for more: They want the Justice Department to go after cable. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Match made in heaven

: The star of the GoDaddy.com commercial is going to be on Howard Stern this morning. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: UPDATE: Punditguy finds that the guy behind GoDaddy is also the guy behind Bible programs. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Prudes on parade

: Thirty-three members of Congress sent a letter to President Bush begging him to hire a real prude as the nextr chairman of the FCC. Daily Variety has the letter (it's behind a wall) but Brian Linse has excerpts from the story:

The letter arrived at the White House after Bush told a C-SPAN interviewer last week that parents should play the primary role in protecting children from indecent material. "While we acknowledge the importance of parental controls over children's viewing habits," the letter said, "Hollywood and certain media companies work to ensure that children are exposed to it whether they or their parents like it or not." ...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"The next FCC chairman will oversee an important time in our nation's history, and they must be ready to aggressively enforce the laws that Congress has passed. We encourage you to nominate an individual of boldness, strength, and vision who will continue the work already begun. We must not let immorality become normalized nor federal laws ignored."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The letter originated as a collaborative effort between Reps. Joe Pitts (Pa.) and Charles Pickering (Miss.). Among others signing it were Dave Weldon (Fla.), Steve King (Iowa) and Jim Ryun (Kan.). No Democrats signed it.

Get this: "We must not let immorality become normalized." That's not your job, boys. Run the government. Our morality is our business. I feel like sending them all a framed copy of the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But I'm glad to see them nervous, for Bush is more reasonable than they are; he knows that parenting is a parent's job. Sure, he'll sign the indecent indecency legislation rushing through Congress. But by this, I hope he's not ready to name Pat Robertson to the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is what Bush said on C-Span:

As a free speech advocate, I often told parents who were complaining about content, you're the first line of responsibility; they put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off.

Listen to your leader, boys. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

When I sent them the First Amendment, I'll enclose a universal remote control. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: And this is the legislation these self-appointed national nannies are about to pass:

The maximum fines now run $32,500 per incident but would jump to $500,000. The fine for a performer would jump from $11,000 to $500,000, and the Federal Communications Commission regulation that requires an individual to first receive a warning would be repealed.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Watch... if you dare....

: The good folks at Crooks & Liars put up video from segments on the FCC and free speech in which I pop up: CBS Sunday Morning here and Abrams report here. Neither is my best performance but that's life. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Nipplegate, a year later

: So it has been a year since Janet Jackson sort-of exposed her breast amid the blood, sweat, and erectile dysfunction of the Super Bowl. We act as if the nation changed that day but, of course, it didn't. We're the same America we were before the malfunction. We still like sex. We still have a sense of humor. We still have a First Amendment (I think). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

What changed, instead, was media's treatment of media and the nation. The religious right saw an opening for the last gasp of Puritanism in America and media helped them by making gross oversimplifications and gross overstatements of the meaning of nipplegate and the election and that stupid poll that asked people whether moral values matter. Media jumped on the story as if, overnight, we turned into a nation of prigs and prudes. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So in the year since the malfunction, we've seen fines multiply like pornographic bunnies. We've seen Brent Bozell and his so-called Parents Television Council doggedly pursue every use of the words "hell," "ass," and "dick." We've seen the FCC and Michael Powell lose all self-respect as they become our national nannies. We've seen Congress rushing to pass indecent indecency bills aimed at bankrupting anybody -- including you -- who dares to utter the F word because they're more scared of voting for porn than voting for the Constitution. We've seen broadcasters buckle like a wet witch in the Wizard of Oz as they pixelate cartoon butts and treat gays as offensive (when, not very long ago, bigotry was more offensive). We've seen the leading star of radio abandon it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And today we're sure to see the dullest Super Bowl commercials and half-time show in history. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This wasn't mass hysteria that did this. This was mass-media stupidity. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The only hope is that in this year, it finally has gone too far and, at last -- without or without the help of broadcasters wimpering in puddles -- the courts will stand up against the prigs and pols and pundits and stand up for the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: See also Frank Rich on the Year of Living Indecently:

That our government is now both intimidating PBS and awarding public money to pundits to enforce "moral values" agendas demonizing certain families is the ugliest fallout of the campaign against indecency. That campaign cannot really banish salaciousness from pop culture, a rank impossibility in a market economy where red and blue customers are united in their infatuation with "Desperate Housewives." But it can create public policy that discriminates against anyone on the hit list of moral values zealots.

: This will be the subject of a CBS Sunday Morning segment today; they interviewed me, Bozell, Sen. Sam Brownback, and Opie & Anthony. I won't be able to see it since I'll be out. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The National Association of Broadcasters finally spoke out against the indecency witchhunt but from the supid perspective, saying it's just not fair that they get censored and cable doesn't. The upshot of that could be, of course, that everybody gets censored. What the NAB should be doing instead is defending the First Amendment. They should be giving Congress reason to vote against the indecent indecency bill ... instead of expanding it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: LATER: Remember how America was dying for a network with nothing but wholesome programming? Well, Pax is dying. So much for that. Back to Desperate Housewives!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: HELLO SUNDAY MORNING VIEWS: For more (for too much) on this, here's a link to my more recent posts on the topic. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The reviews are in. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Copps the cop speaks... oh, no

: The most frightening FCC commissioner, Democrat Michael Copps, speaks to TV execs at the NATPE conference. The man is clueless about the state of media -- all media, including the internet; he doesn't understand the real dynamics of the media business today; he's the most eager kneecapper of the First Amendment. A few choice remarks:

...I know that a lot of you in
this audience share my concern about the media track we’re on. Some of you have already spoken out and contributed your creative thought and hard work to the issue of how we reinvigorate the diversity and competition that our consumers and citizens not only deserve, but require....

He wants to do that with regulation when the real solution is innovation. The internet is exploding TV -- changing the business models, opening up competition, driving diversity -- and Copps is too blind to see it.

History shows us that combining distribution with production was how John D. Rockefeller built his stranglehold. I’m not saying that history repeats itself exactly, but often there are enough similarities that we ought to at least pay attention to it. This is one of those times....

What's really happening, Copps, is that distribution is losing its value as the internet increases competition -- for audience, for attention, for advertising dollars, for distribution. The fact that the internet showed Jon Stewart's performance on Crossfire to at least 20 times more than the old network, CNN, proves that distribution and production are becoming separated. Read the news, Copps.

By the way, in contrasting network power now with, say, 30 or 40 years ago, remember that back then they didn’t have their own stable of “owned-and-operated” stations. Plus we had financial interest and syndication rules to check market power. We had a real FCC re-licensing process for stations. We had specific public interest requirements. And broadcasters had a Voluntary Code of Conduct far more disciplined than anything they have today....

Oh, yeah, those were the good old days for monoplists, regulators, and censors. Those were the days of... The Beverly Hillbillies!

Each of us as citizens suffers from the lack of diverse programming. So much of today’s network menu is geared to the 18-34 year old age demographic.... But I think many of you would agree that a case can be made for more programs geared to older Americans—and let’s remember that shows like Golden Girls were independently produced.

I smell a quota coming on: Not enough old farts, damnit: More gray beards. (Hey, wait a minute, maybe that would be good for my career!).

Similarly, there is evidence that younger viewers are being left behind in the new media environment. Children Now examined the impact of consolidation on kids. They analyzed the market in Los Angeles and found that the number of broadcast TV programs for children dropped nearly 50 per cent after independent local stations were swallowed up in media mergers!...

Yo, Copps, get yourself a cable box! Kids have entire channels now devoted to them; they have tons more programming -- good programming, better than the crap I watched.

So it is time—it is long past time—for the FCC to consider and approve a setaside,
like 25 or 35 per cent of prime-time hours, for independent producers and creators....

Man, this guy is enough to turn me into a libertarian. Well, when it comes to the FCC, I am. This is -- and so much more about technology and spectrum and freedom -- is why I want to see the FCC abolished. (Are you listening, George? Go with it, George.)

Big media companies argue that they need the economic efficiencies of consolidation in order to survive. Now, we all realize that we live in a national economy—and a global economy—where the pressures of competition are extreme. We know that we cannot turn back the clock to a simpler past which never was, truth be told, quite that simple. I have never equated bigness with badness, and I have supported mergers and acquisitions that serve the public interest. That being said, we are talking here about a special industry—a very special industry. When we talk about media, we are not talking about just another commodity.

And there's the heart of what's wrong with Coppsthink and FCCthink: Media is special. It deserves to be treated differently. It deserves more regulation, in their view. No, sir, it deserves less because media is speech and -- does this sound familiar? -- Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC applies supply and demand to freedom

: Ernie Miller passes on the news that the FCC is raising its rates for Freedom of Information Requests. Guess they've had a lot of them, eh?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: When you think about it, the web should make FOIA obsolete: The goverment should put all its documents up online for all to see. It is our government, after all. That's real freedom of information. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

When the F word was OK

: Coz digs into the past to find that Bono's profane and illegal F word was not the first time he'd uttered it on TV. At the 1994 Grammys:

U2, a band that had been around nearly 15 years in 1994, won the Best Alternative Rock award for their Zooropa album, and frontman Bono accepted it with heavy irony.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Yeah, alternative all right," he said. "We shall continue to abuse our position and f--- up the mainstream. God bless you."

Did life and society and morality all suddenly change just because Janet Jackson kinda exposed her breast? Apparently so. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Sponge Michael, SquarePants

: Timothy Karr at MediaCitizen reveals the unholy alliance of Michael Powell and SpongeBob -- and the coverup. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Bush: As confused as everybody else on indecency

: On the one hand, George Bush defends the First Amendment in an interview on C-SPAN this weekend. But then he seems to realize that he has just painted himself in the corner, so he turns around and defends Michael Powell, too. Such is life on the slipperly slope. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But note that George Bush does say that the first and best reaction to what you consider indecent is not government regulation but the remote control. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Go with it, George. Go with it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

From Broadcasting & Cable's coverage, the transcript (full C-SPAN transcript here):

LAMB: ... one of the big issues moving around Capitol Hill is indecency. And I want to ask you, how far do you think government should go in telling people who use the airwaves, the broadcast stations, what can be said?

PRESIDENT: As a free speech advocate, I often told parents who were complaining about content, you're the first line of responsibility; they put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off.

Amen. But he continues:

PRESIDENT: I do think, though, that there can be a -- that government can, at times, not censor, but call to account programming that gets over the line. The problem, of course, is the definition "over the line."

Well, but Mr. President, that is censorship. And, yes, that is precisely the problem: Where is the line and who draws it? Should it be government? No, it should not. You know that, in your heart of hearts. Go with it, George. Go with it.

PRESIDENT: My answer would be, if I were interviewing an FCC chairman, please tell me where the line is, and make sure you protect the capacity of people to speak freely in our society, but be willing to -- if things get too far, call them to account. I think Michael did a good job of balancing that.

Mighty tight corner you just painted yourself into, Pres.

LAMB: There is a bill that if it were passed on Capitol Hill would up the fees, up the fine from $27,000 for using bad language, for instance, to $500,000 as a maximum fee.

Actually, that's only the fine per incident. The maximums go up to $3 million. That is a serious chill on free speech. That is the intent of the legislation: to chill free speech. But to the President, it's amusing:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, they're going to collect a lot of money when some of these TV shows are still on.

I'm not laughing, George.

LAMB: But is that -- I mean, at what point, though, do you have somebody that says, that word can't be used, but that word can be used?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I understand. Look, it's the old -- the classic definition of the Supreme Court -- by the Supreme Court on pornography, you know it when you see it. I think that was Judge Potter Stewart who said that.

That was, I believe, what the court said on obscenity and that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about indecency on broadcast. He continues:

PRESIDENT: Look, we are a great society because we're a free society. On the other hand, it is very important for there to be limits, limits to what parents have to explain to their children. Nevertheless, I do want to repeat what I said earlier -- the parent's first responsibility is to pay attention to what their children listen to, whether it be rock songs or movies or TV shows.

The poor man just gave himself whiplash flipflopping like that. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Let me help you out here, George: You are a Republican. You believe in small government. You abhor regulation. You should kill the FCC. Go with it, George. Go with it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Evil cartoon bunnies strike again

: Hoo-boy. Washington, big media, and, of course, those wacky religious folks keep thinking that cartoon characters can ruin our morals. The latest silliness:

The nation’s new education secretary denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The not-yet-aired episode of “Postcards From Buster” shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has decided not to distribute the episode, called “Sugartime!,” to its 349 stations. She said the Education Department’s objections were not a factor in that decision.

WGBH will air the episode. It's as if people think that even mentioning that there are gay people is going to cause an explosion of gay people: the Teletubbie gambit. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You'll remember that Fox pixilated a cartoon character's butt and the so-called Parents Television Council complained about another cartoon characters naked butt -- but at least the FCC, in a moment of sanity, decided that would not ruin the nation's morals. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The indecent indecency bill rides again

: The prigs and prudes and enemies of the First Amendment are at it again, trying once more to get their indecent indecency bill through Congress. This time, it will make it all the way to Bush's desk, and we know what will happen there. An holier-than-thou alliance of Republican and Democrats are joining to kneecap the Constitution:

Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the issue, unveiled on Tuesday a bill to raise fines on broadcasters and entertainers to as much as $500,000 per violation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It would also require the FCC to consider revoking a station's license after three violations. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Meanwhile, Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, plans to introduce a measure on Wednesday to boost fines to as much as $325,000 per violation and a $3 million maximum for continuing violations, according to spokesman Aaron Groote.

[Hat tip: Oliver]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: By the way, this is why I had a problem supporting Joe Lieberman: He's a cosponsor of this travesty. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

F that

: Reuters says that three of five FCC commissioners have voted to turn down complaints about the use of the F word in Saving Private Ryan. Yes, that's no surprise. But because the FCC refused to do that before the movie was to air -- and because the FCC had just ruled that the F word was the first word decreed by government to be profane -- 66 stations refused to show Ryan and I say they were right: They did not want to put themselves at risk for breaking the law the FCC had just made. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I quote from the FCC's Bono decision:

...[W]e believe that, given the core meaning of the ``F-Word,'' any use of that word or a variation, in any context, inherently has a sexual connotation....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We conclude that the answer to this question is yes. The ``F-Word'' is one of the most vulgar, graphic and explicit descriptions of sexual activity in the English language. Its use invariably invokes a coarse sexual image.... If the Commission were routinely not to take action against isolated and gratuitous uses of such language on broadcasts when children were expected to be in the audience, this would likely lead to more widespread use of the offensive language..... The fact that the use of this word may have been unintentional is irrelevant; it still has the same effect of exposing children to indecent language. Our action today furthers our responsibility to
safeguard the well-being of the nation's children from the most objectionable, most offensive language....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We also find, as an independent ground, that the use of the phrase at issue here in the context and at the time of day here constitutes ``profane'' language under 18 U.S.C. § 1464....

This is the kind of inconsistency that is driving broadcasters bonkers and that also exposes the danger of government regulating speech. Where's the line, guys, where's the line? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Parents Television Council loses one 36

: The FCC just rejected 36 complaints by the so-called Parents Television Council. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I have a theory that the people in the FCC -- including even lame prude Michael Powell -- are secretly embarrassed that they have turned themselves into the nation's chief prigs and mouth-washers, that they have kneecapped the First Amendment, and that their tenure will be marked in history for the stupidity of following along with what they thought was a political movement but turned out to be only a few religious nutjobs with no lives. But that's just a theory. If it were true, it would explain how the FCC decided to reject these 36 PTC complaints just as Michael Powell ducks out of office. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Note, however, that they still have not ruled on Oprah Winfrey saying exactly what got Howard Stern an indecency violation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In the first set of rulings, the FCC seems to bravely decides that "dick" in various forms is OK. Ditto ass, penis, vaginal, nutsack, and a three-way. In the second set, they add the words hell and damn -- as if they were ever in contention as indecent and blaspamous -- as well as breast, nipples, can, pissed, crap, bastard, and bitch. It's the liberalization of America, I tell you, it's the second damned sexual revolution!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Woops, not so fast Jarvis, put away the tie-dyes and scented oils. The FCC explains:

A number of complaints cite isolated uses of the word “dick” or variations thereof. In context and as used in the complained of broadcasts, these were epithets intended to denigrate or criticize their subjects. Their use in this context was not sufficiently explicit or graphic and/or sustained to be patently offensive. Although use of such words may, depending on the nature of the broadcast at issue, contribute to a finding of indecency, their use here was not patently offensive and therefore not indecent. Similarly, we find that the fleeting uses of the words “penis,” “testicle,” “vaginal,” “ass,” “bastard” and “bitch,” uttered in the context of the programs cited in the complaints, do not render the material patently offensive under contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium.

Ah, so I can call the FCC commissioners a bunch of dicks, asses, bastards, and bitches and get away with it. Get me on the air! But if I use those words in a sustained manner --
FCC is full of asses and asses and asses and asses -- my ass would be grass. As clear as ever. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You'll be relieved to know that the FCC did not find a fleeting glimpse of a cartoon boy's butt indecent. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And aren't we glad the FCC didn't rule that this complaint from the homophobic, bigoted PTC was indecent: "The show also contains several scenes in which male characters talk about kissing men and female characters talk about kissing women." Yeah, so?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Meanwhile, Paul Boutin just sent me the latest headline from the Onion: "U.S. Children Still Traumatized One Year After Seeing Partially Exposed Breast On TV"Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Just to show you what an incredible exercise in stupidity and wasted adulthood this is, here is the list of the rejected complaints ... all of them filed by PTC prudes who have no life and nothing better to do than listen for the word "dick". ...

a. “Everwood,” September 16, 2002, 9 p.m. EST: a character remarks to another: “I got this black eye because of you, dick.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

b. “Fastlane,” September 18, 2002, 9 p.m. EST: one character threatens another by stating: “…in my next life I’m coming back as a pair of pliers and pull off your nutsack.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

c. “Girls Club,” October 21, 2002, 9 p.m. EST: a young female attorney says to an older male attorney: “. . . those power dicks are going to start giving me trials.” The attorney responds: “Is that what you call us? Power dicks?”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

d. ““Girls Club,” October 28, 2002, 9 p.m. EST: a female character remarks: “I’m not feeling too sexual these days . . . . Especially here, I’m having a little trouble with one of the power dicks.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

e. “Dawson’s Creek,” October 30, 2002, 8 p.m. EST: one character remarks to another: “Listen, I know that you’re pissed at your dad for flaking on you. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad dad, and it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. Another character responds: “No, it just means he’s a dick.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

f. “Dawson’s Creek,” December 11, 2002, 8 p.m. EST: one character tells another: “. . . you’re being a dick.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

g. “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” January 8, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: musical number during which the title character’s naked torso and genital area are blocked by objects, furniture, and, in one instance, by his hands. Later scenes include the use of the phrase “fat bastard,” and the word “testicles.” In another scene from this film, a male and a female character are in bed together, but no sexual or excretory organs or activities are depicted or discussed.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

h. “NYPD Blue,” April 8, 2003, 9 p.m. CST: a character states: “That dickhead in a wheelchair.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

i. “Friends,” May 1, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: a female character and her husband encounter the husband’s former girlfriend at a medical office. After a conversation concerning fertility treatment, the female character says that she has to go because she’s got “an invasive vaginal exam to get to.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

j. “The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer,” May 12, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: one scene depicts two female characters and one male character in bed together; all three are under the covers and there are no sexual or excretory organs or activities depicted. Another scene depicts a male character tying a female character to a bed and then applying ice to her abdomen. The female character moans and writhes. A third scene depicts a maid undressing while a male character surreptitiously watches. A portion of the side of the maid’s breast is shown, but her nipple is not exposed.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

k. “Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” October 23, 2003, 8:30 p.m. EST: the title character Jamie pulls a prank on the mother of one of his friends. The mother believes that she is participating in a serious television interview about Jamie. The interviewer, who is in on the prank, mentions that Jamie reported that the “hottest night of his life” occurred when he became “intimate” with the mother, and that Jamie and the woman’s son used to play a game called “you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.” Later, the woman confronts her son and tells him that Jamie said he’d “had sex” with her. She asks her son “you didn’t show [Jamie] your penis or something, did you?” When the joke is revealed, the woman calls Jamie a “bastard” and threatens to “kick his ass.” In another scene, involving a fake funeral home, Jamie says “it’s gonna be my ass.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

l. “Run of the House,” October 23, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: a female character teases her brother about dating a woman who looks like his mother and, after her brother and his girlfriend have been in the hot tub, tells him “I know what you’re doing."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

m. “Scrubs,” November 13, 2003, 9:30 p.m. EST: in one scene, there is a discussion among a male character, his fiancée, and her brother in which the male character antagonizes the brother by telling the fiancée he wants to “love her up and down and all around,” and that they should “go put some more of your footprints on the ceiling.” The brother reacts angrily, saying “that’s it you son of a bitch.” In another scene, a male doctor tells a female resident that he would rather listen to her “go on and on about the joys of dolphin sex.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

n. “Gilmore Girls,” November 18, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: in one scene, a character’s
grandfather reminisces about college pranks involving nudity; in another scene, two current college students discuss the night the male student spent nude in a dorm hallway. There is also another scene in which a female character listens to a brief message on her answering machine in which a male caller makes a reference to “growing a pair.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

o. “One Tree Hill,” November 18, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: in a school hallway, a male character tells a female character, “I’ve got something for you,” and she replies, “I know you do, gorgeous.”43 He then gives her a book, telling her she might want to “check it out,” and she replies, “Oh, I definitely want to check it out. I suppose I could read the book, too.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

p. “Steve Harvey’s Big Time,” November 20, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: a fully clothed contortionist appears and manipulates his body, including twisting his upper body around and between his legs, and stepping through a tennis racquet frame such that he reaches between his legs to move the racquet so that he can step out of it. The show’s host remarks that the contortionist is a “skinny-ass little dude” and grabs his genital area as the contortionist pushes his body through the tennis racquet frame.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

q. “Will & Grace,” November 20, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: a male character studying to become a nurse remarks to a male friend that he’s taken his own blood pressure many times, to which the friend replies, “yeah, and how many times on your arm?” Later, the nursing student tells his fellow students that “he can name all the bones in the human penis.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

r. “Scrubs,” November 20, 2003, 9:30 p.m. EST: a male character and a female character is depicted in bed, under the covers. The male character asks the female character if it’s “a good time to start talking about a nickname for [his] penis.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

s. “Charmed,” November 23, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: three female characters are talking, one remarks that she’s late because she was “tied up,” and another asks “where, at Richard’s?” Later, one of the female characters talks about being afraid to “take it to the next level” with her boyfriend, and another character tells her to “relax and let it happen.” She replies: “That’s easy for you to say, you weren’t the one sleeping with an angel for three years.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

t. “Gilmore Girls,” February 10, 2004, 9 p.m. EST: one character says to another: “you’re a dick.” Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

u. “Angel,” February 11, 2004, 9 p.m. EST: one character says to another: “you’re still a dick.”

A second batch:

a. Boston Public,” October 29, 2001, 8 p.m. EST: a student challenges a teacher’s assignment, and the teacher says to the student, “Did you know, Mr. Pratt, that you are a big dick? Do we have any other big dicks with us today?” In a subsequent scene, another character asks the teacher whether he wants to get fired, and the teacher responds, “Is this about me calling a student a dick?” The other character admonishes him, “No more dick talk.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

b. “AUSA,” March 18, 2003, 9:30 p.m. EST: one scene depicts Adam, a lawyer, lying on a hotel bed watching an adult movie on the hotel’s video system (no video images are visible). Dialogue from one video, “Here Comes the Judge,” is audible: Male voice: “The defense rests.” Female voice: “Not tonight. Now hand over those briefs.” The next scene shows the lawyer waking up and realizing that the adult channel continued to play while he slept. Remaining scenes contain jokes about his watching adult entertainment all night, to wit: Adam: “What’s [my boss] going to say when he finds out I spent nine of my 16 hours here in Arizona watching porn?” Clerk: “You’re a sad, lonely man with remarkable stamina.” Another scene depicts a woman asking Adam if “he’s decent,” and he remarks: “I’m buttered from the waist down.” Another scene has a character listing the movies Adam paid for: “Jurassic Pork, Laid in Manhattan, Catch Me in the Can.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

c. Night of Too Many Stars,” May 31, 2003, 8 p.m. EDT: comedian Dana Carvey,
reprising his role as the Saturday Night Live character, “Church Lady,” says to the actor Macaulay Culkin: “…then we jumped on the puberty train and got all tingly . . . we want to fornicate, so we thought it would be nifty to get married when we were twelve.” Dana Carvey later discusses Michael Jackson and says of him: “Did he ever dangle anything in front of you at the sleepovers? . . . Say, his happy man-loaf? . . . When he moon walked, he didn’t moon you as he walked, did he? . . . Did he ever get into Billy’s jeans?” Another character asks whether “his [Jackson’s] shalonthaz [sic] ever rose up to salute you? You never played hide the toast?”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

d. “Friends,” October 23, 2003, 8 p.m. EDT: in an apparent mix-up, a bakery inadvertently substitutes a cake shaped like a penis for a child’s birthday cake (the cake is not shown). A female character exclaims, “Ahh! They put my baby’s face on a penis!” A male character replies, “Uhh, is it okay that I still think it looks delicious?” Another male character says: “I am this close to tugging on my testicles again.” When the mix-up is corrected, a male character again comments that the cake “looked more delicious when it was a penis.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

e. “The Next Joe Millionaire,” October 28, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: the complaint alleges that a character says “fuck off.” Based on our review of the tape, however, this description is inaccurate in that no character appears to utter the quoted language.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

f. “One Tree Hill,” October 28, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: one female character is depicted putting her lips to a hose that had been inserted into a gas tank. Seeing this, another female character quips, “Had a lot of practice? Siphoning gas, what’d you think I meant?”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

k. “A Minute with Stan Hooper,” October 29, 2003, 8:30 p.m. EST: The title character interviews two men who are married [to each other] and asks how they decided to use one surname over the other. They respond that, since the surname of one of the pair was Cockburn, they thought that it would be an inappropriate married name for two gay men (the man named Cockburn fans his genital area with his apron).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

l. “Friends,” November 6, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: certain characters use the words “hell,” “damn,” and the phrase “sons of bitches.” There is also a scene in which one character asks a man to guess which person had received a grant, and the man answers, “Well, unless it’s the creepy guy with his hand up his kilt, I’m gonna say congratulations.”39 Later, the character is wondering aloud how he can get someone to issue him a grant, and he asks the man, “Is there anything I can do to butter him up?” The man replies, “He does have a pretty serious latex fetish.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

m. “Will & Grace,” November 6, 2003, 9 p.m. EST: a male character with a very strong attachment to his mother describes the greatest tragedy of his life as “the day they yanked me from the breast of that saint.” A female character, Karen, has a grudge against a woman named Lorraine; when Karen locates her, she says “I could do to her what she did to Stan – have sex with her until she dies. Yep, that’s what I’m gonna do.” She then knocks on a door and says, “Open up, Lorraine, and put on a condom.” There is another scene in which Karen talks about “sex[ing] the life out of” Lorraine. Certain characters say the words “bitch,” “bosom,” and “whore.” The show also contains several scenes in which male characters talk about kissing men and female characters talk about kissing women.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

n. “Scrubs,” November 6, 2003, 9:30 EST: one character says the word “bastards,” and another character describes a woman as having “huge cans.” One scene contains the following dialogue: Dan: “I heard there’s a bed in the on-call room. You ever get hot and heavy in there? JD: “No, I usually am there by myself.” Dan: “So yes.” In another scene, a male character takes a pair of boxer shorts from the freezer, and another male character says “Make sure you’re nice and dry down there. Otherwise, you could get a tongue-on-the-flagpole situation.” There is another scene in which two female characters discuss whether they’ve ever had “phone sex” with their boyfriends. One of the character’s responds that when her boyfriend, Turk, returned home for Thanksgiving, she called and was surprised by how much “Turk’s eleven year-old nephew sounds like him . . . and how worldly he is.” In a later scene, one of the women is shown standing alone in a cornfield, at night, talking on the phone with her boyfriend, and she says: “Hi sweetie – are you naked? OK, um, now imagine me taking off my shirt, kissing down your neck . . . now I am licking your nipples all over. Your nipples.” She is then interrupted by a group of boy scouts hiking through the field and ends her conversation abruptly by saying, “I don’t care how close you are. I’ll call you later.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

o. “Friends,” November 13, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: certain characters use the words “hell,” “crap,” “pissed,” “bastard,” and the phrase “son of a bitch.” One character says he “didn’t say the F-word.” Other characters ponder where a male character may have hidden “porn.” A male character states, “You broke my heart. Do you know how many women I had to sleep with to get over you?”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

p. “The Simpsons,” November 16, 2003, 8 p.m. EST: in this animated program, a scene depicts students carrying picket signs that read “Don’t cut off my pianissimo” and “What would Jesus glue?” A male character says “Well, I guess this story has a happy ending after all. Just like my last massage.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

q. “Run of the House,” November 20, 2003, 9:30 p.m. EST: one character, Kirk, says to a policeman, “Thanks for stopping by, dick.” The policeman remarks that he is a patrolman, not a detective, and asks why Kirk called him a “dick.” Kirk retorts, “you seem like such a dick to me.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

r. “King of the Hill,” November 23, 2003, 7:30 p.m. EST: in this animated program, a cartoon boy is shown about to enter a communal shower at his school. An off-screen voice emanating from the shower asks, “Is that a pimple or another nipple?” As the cartoon boy removes his towel and enters the shower, his buttocks are briefly depicted.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

s. “Scrubs,” December 11, 2003, 9:30 p.m. EST: a female patient emits moans of pleasure while a female doctor gives her a pelvic exam. A male doctor ribs the female doctor by saying, “Don’t be embarrassed. You’re not the first person to give a patient an orgasm during a pelvic exam.” The male doctor fantasizes about the female doctor’s examining an attractive woman wearing a lacey bra. Another doctor comments that the other male doctor “never really satisfied a woman,” to which the doctor responds, “Well, you might want to double check with your mom.”

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Grading on the Bell curve

: The Wall Street Journal has one of those online polls -- no wagering, please, this is only for entertainment -- asking readers to grade Michael Powell's tenure as FCC chairman. Of the 4k+ voting so far: 17% A, 17% B, 13% C, 19% D, 34 % F. You can guess how I voted. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Freedom to Connect (read: After the FCC) : Network visionary David Isenberg has organized a kickass conference in Washington on March 30-31 about the future of networks: technology, regulation, spectrum, freedom of speech. He calls it Freedom to Connect. A short while before he put together the conference, I suggested the need for a conference about life After the FCC. He said let's put them together. The writeup says:

The future of telecommunications starts now; there's a new U.S. Telecom Act in the works, there's unbundling in Europe, fast fiber in Asia, wireless across Africa and networks a-building in cities and villages around the world. Lead the discussion. Shape the debate. Assert your Freedom to Connect.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The need to communicate is primary, like the need to breathe, eat, sleep, reproduce, socialize and learn....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Freedom to Connect belongs with Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Assembly. Each of these freedoms is related to the others and depends on the others, but stands distinct. Freedom to Connect, too, depends on the other four but carries its own meaning. Unlike the others, it does not yet have a body of law and practice surrounding it. There is no Digital Bill of Rights. Freedom to Connect is the place to start....

Speakers and panelists include Vint Cerf, David Weinberger, Susan Crawford, and more. Sign up.
Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Michael Powell out

: Michael Powell is resigning as FCC chairman. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I fear that the future will be only worse. As critical as I have been -- justifiably -- of Powell, I know that in his soul of souls, Powell understands the value of the First Amendment. His successor may not. I fear that the White House and Congress -- from, yes, both parties -- will only amplify the looney voice of a few who would continue to limit our free speech on our airwaves. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here's the Wall Street Journal's assessment of his tenure.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I just did a quickie interview on ABC Radio New on Powell. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Just got email from Jon Bonne at MSNBCi (four chairs to my left):

isn't it amazing that the Powell news broke on the WSJ ed page? the WSJ ed page folks are certainly intrepid journalists in their own right, but i interpret this as a signal from the Bush corps that breaking news can easily be routed around the newsroom and straight to their fellow ideological counterparts. not quite as much as breaking it on a blog, but this has a very different (though not entirely so) resonance as the Juanita Broaddrick episode.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Sponge-bashing

: I love it when religious nutjobs reveal themselves to be ... religious nutjobs. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Today's lesson from the gospel according to the looney is that SpongeBob is trying to seduce young people into the evils of homosexuality. An LA Times editorial summarizes the sermon:

Here's how we learned about SpongeBob.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Does anyone here know SpongeBob?" Dr. James Dobson asked darkly, addressing a black-tie audience at one of Tuesday's inaugural events. Dobson is the founder of Focus on the Family, one of the nation's most outspoken conservative Christian groups. SpongeBob holds hands with his starfish pal Patrick, and likes to watch the imaginary television show "The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy." Evidence enough, to Dobson at any rate, that the guy's a menace.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

SpongeBob's rep is that he's a nice guy — a pushover even — who tries to get along with everyone, even Squidward, his gruff neighbor. The Sponge has indeed become something of a camp figure among gay men. But his nice-guy mien is what prompted an educational-film maker to star SpongeBob in a short video for young children about multiculturalism called "We Are Family." The video promotes a "tolerance pledge" for schoolkids that could extend to sexual identity.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

One person's definition of tolerance is another's "pro-homosexual" agenda. "We see the video … as manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," Dobson's spokesperson told the New York Times on Wednesday. "It's a classic bait and switch."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Chiming in, a homosexuality detection expert at the similarly conservative Family Research Council called words like "tolerance" and "diversity" part of a "coded language that is regularly used by the homosexual community."

They'd be funny if they weren't so filled with hate. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And they're bad for our image, America. Fern papers are delighting in showing what a bunch of red-state religious reactionaries we are. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The voice of SpongeBob speaks:

Let me ask you, who would you rather go bowling with, SpongeBob and his friends or the Rev. James Dobson? Who would you rather go out with and have a few beers? Probably the only common ground I have with the Rev. James Dobson is that I haven't seen the video, and I'll bet he hasn't either.

: Here's a list of news shows stupid enough to have this Dobson clown on the air as if he actually has (1) anything to say, (2) a constituency of size and sanity, (3) a brain. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Here are kiddie movie reviews from Dobson's group. SpongeBob is not reviewed. But Peter Pan is. Hmmmm. I always thought Peter was a little flighty, didn't you?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Gained in translation

: Gotta love it: Now the FCC is mucking up international relations. The Greeks are pissed that the FCC would investigate the decency of the Olympics.

Greece does not wish to be drawn into an American culture war. Yet that is exactly what is happening. The Federal Communications Commission has launched an investigation into the broadcast of the opening ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The first step was taken in December, when the commission demanded that NBC provide it with tapes of the broadcast. This was in response to nine complaints about indecency from U.S. citizens (globally, viewers exceeded 3.9 billion).

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Feeling the chill... in more ways than one

: This is what the FCC's censorship has brought: Rampant stupidity necessitated by stupid government. From the AP:

Fox says it covered up the naked rear end of a cartoon character recently because of nervousness over what the Federal Communications Commission will find objectionable.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The latest example of TV network self-censorship because of FCC concerns came a few weeks ago during a rerun of the "Family Guy" cartoon. Fox blurred out a character's naked butt, even though the image was seen five years ago when the episode originally aired.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"We have to be checking and second-guessing ourselves now, and that's really difficult," Fox entertainment president Gail Berman said Monday. "We have to protect our affiliates." ...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

PBS executives also said this weekend they will edit out a glimpse of a naked woman in a fictional account of a terrorist "dirty bomb" attack that will be aired next month after being shown first on HBO.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Take that, Michael Powell!

: The Smoking Gun puts up some of the 500+ complaints Michael Powell received following the Desperate Housewives promo on Monday Night Football -- complaints aimed not against the promo but against Powell himself for this critique: "I think it's very disappointing. I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Note that that is about 170 times more letters than were penned in complaint against Married by America, yielding the biggest fine in FCC history. By this scale, then, Michael Powell should resign immediately and take the rest of the National Board of Prigs and Prudes with him. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Some of my favorite moments in nanny-bashing from the Powell complaints:

Ok. You boys have waaaay too much time on your hands. The spot was funny. The show, "Desperate Housewives," is funny. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Anyone who says different is obviously very repressed. It's the 21st Century. We should be over this sort of crap.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Straight people! oy! You'll get rankled over anything!

And this:

Does the Radical Right "Born-again" "Christian" crowd have pictures of you in a compromising position with Satan???!!! Quit giving time and attention to the clearly insane, and do the job for which you were appointed (because of your dad.) Sinclair sure seems to fly under your radar; but Janet Jackson's breast and Desperate Housewives require endless attention. Makes me wonder who's REALLY in charge over there.

And this:

I strongly disagree with your reviews of Monday night Football. You act like Americans are sheltered children. Take a deep breath and relax. We dont need you as our mommy. Mommy.

And this:

You must have nothing at all to do at work if you spend even 1 second of your time addressing the MNF Desperate Housewives promo. You are off your rocker and should follow in the footsteps of your kiss-ass father and RESIGN... You speak for only a select few of your fellow insane jesus freaks that are unfortunately in this country. GO AWAY!!!!! JOIN THE TALIBAN IF THATS HOW YOU WANT TO ACT!!!!!

I redacted a few of the exclams in that one. Don't want to go over my quota. More:

It is a shame how people are getting so worked up over this Monday Night Football intro. First off, its opening for a game where men try to bash each others brains out. I played football for 11 years and know about the game. I don't let my 4 year old watch to [sic] much anyway. So maybe more parents should look at themselves first before blaming ABC, NFL, or T.O. The intro was funny as hell, oh wait you might fine me, funny as HECK!!!

My favorite:

A woman's bare back! My god what has the world come to? Imagine the long lasting effects the sight of a woman's bare back will have on the psyche of America's children. I for one am appalled. As I am sure you agree, a woman should never reveal more than an ankle. TO suggest otherwise is simply vile and goes against the Puritan beliefs that founded this great country...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

These left wing liberal corrupters need to face facts: children are stupid. Every single child in this country is two [sic] shades above retarded. That is why we need to protect them. We cannot expect our "special" young ones to understand that Nicolette Sheridan and Terrell Owens aren't going to bang like bunnies when the commercial changes. We can't expect them to understand that playing football will not equate to sexual favors from loose blonde women. They are stupid, stupid little creatures and we must protect them. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I would like to thank you Mr. Powell. Your unrelenting tunnel vision and suffocating moral beliefs are just what American [sic] and its dumbass kids need in these trying times. Thank you Sir!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

(I understand that you see the world in black and white Mr. Powell, but just to clarify the above letter is an example of Satire. You see by pretending to agree with you I am actually whole-heartedly disagreeing with you. I realize that this requires more mental aerobics than you are accustomed to, but please try to get your head around it.)

: I also just got an official reply to my FOIA request for the complaints against the Olympics. As I reported here, the FCC cut us off at the pass and posted the complaints on the web. The official letter from FCC attorney Judy Lancaster of the ominous sounding Enforcement Bureau says:

Please be advised that copies of such complaints are routinely available to the public. You may access them on the FCC's website at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/Plead.html.

Sorry to tell you, Ms. Lancaster, but that's a bald-faced lie. The only complaints you put up there are the ones the folks like me ask for: You put up the complaints against Married by America and now Monday Night Football and that's it. So I sent this email back to Ms. Lancaster:

Ms. Lancaster:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Thanks for your reply.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But you are wrong when you say that "copies of such complaints are routinely available to the public. You may access them on the FCC's website..." Please go to that page and you will find the only public complaints posted there are those against Married by America and the NBC Olympics coverage (both of which I asked for via FOIA requests).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

However, I think it is a marvelous policy to put up all complaints so the public can judge the basis upon which the FCC launches investigations and applies notices of apparent liability.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So I now formally ask the FCC -- under the Freedom of Information Act -- to follow what you tell me is Commission policy and post all indecency and obscenity complaints received against any and all shows.

And I'll bet if they do it, we'll see many complaints like the ones quoted above from people who are more fed up with the FCC and Nanny Powell than they are with our pop culture and free speech. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: More posts on all this here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern exported

: The Sunday Times of London writes about Howard Stern's move to satellite.

With so much pornography entering mainstream culture via the internet, Stern’s rude remarks barely raise a blush. But defenders of the First Amendment are concerned that free speech is being “privatised”, marking a victory for the moral values brigade from Bush-voting red states. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

“It’s so un-American. The prudes are only a small minority but they have a loud voice and they can force free speech into a pay form,” said Jeff Jarvis, a media critic. “They are setting the stage for things that are edgier and more creative to go into a pay world.”

I also said it wasn't a red-state thing. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Michael Powell, earthbound

: I actually believe that in his heart of hearts, Michael Powell -- once a friend of the First Amendment -- is embarrassed that he turned himself into the national nanny for cheap political gain. Call me an optimist. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

At CES, Powell gave a Q&A and said again he'd keep his hands off satellite.

Michael Powell had a rare bit of good news Thursday for shock jock Howard Stern, saying the government had no interest in censoring satellite radio.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Engaging in a question-and-answer session at the Consumer Electronics Show, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission dismissed notions that broadcast radio operators will suffer unless the growing satellite radio business is subjected to the same content restrictions that forbid "the seven dirty words."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"I think it's a dangerous thing to start talking about extending government oversight of content to other media just to level the playing field," Powell said....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Broadcast radio operators have made several unsuccessful attempts to restrict satellite radio content. But Powell said the merging of media formats and the Internet and changing attitudes favor minimal oversight.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"At the end of the day, I think we're going to move in the direction of the Jeffersonian free-speech tradition," he said.

At the end of the day. Which day?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern's C in FCC

: Fredericksburg.com does a feature on the guy who taught Howard Stern for his radio license. He got a C. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Reporting on XM and Howard Stern

: Engadget's Pete Rojas is in Vegas covering CES and he asks the head of XM whether he wanted Howard Stern. The answer -- in video -- is that, yes, they spoke for years; the move is good for satellite; and whether it's a good business decision "time will tell."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Kill the FCC

: At Wired.com, Adam Penenberg explores the prospect of killing the FCC, which, of course, I've advocated more than once. I've suggested a gettogether of smart folks to talk about life after the FCC ... and it might just happen (more later).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Mr. Stern calling

: Had a nice chat with Howard this morning. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

He had asked me to file another Freedom of Information Act request with the FCC to find out what the FCC had proving that Viacom executives knew about Janet Jackson's entertainment malfunction before it happened. He asked me to report back, so yesterday, I sent email to Gary Dell'Abate offering to call. This morning, Will from the show called me in the car. Howard hates talking to people on cell phones, so I said I'd call as soon as I got to the office. But suddenly, I hear Howard reading my email on the air. My phone rings and I accidentally hang it up. Damn. I pull over on the worst possible spot on the interstate, call back, and get on the air as trucks and buses are speeding six inches to my left me at 80 mph. I think this would be a most ignominious way to die: hit by a speeding bus while talking to Howard Stern. That's one sure way to make sure your obit gets carried by the New York Post. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So we talked about the Janet Jackson FOIA I filed and how the FCC ducked. Details here. And we talked about the other FOIAs, including this one with Air America's Morning Sedition. And, of course, we talked about how the FCC is kneecapping the First Amendment. For more of my posts on the topics, click here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We talk for awhile and after I hang up, I get to hear the last half of the conversation, the delay is so long. Then Robin says it's good someone is looking into Michael Powell and the FCC. Howard says no one is looking into it but "us and [ironic pause] a blogger." This becomes a blogging discussion as Robin says they're gettin more popular but Howard says most of them (present company excepted, of course) are just diaries: "Everyone wants to have some sort of show." Artie says, "So any idiot can start a blog... I'm going to start a blog."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Viacom deep throat, please

: Howard Stern said this morning that everyone on his show had received a 56-page memo outlining what can't be said on Viacom in the wake of the company's ridiculous consent decree signed with the FCC, which requires this memo and training in indecency for employees, who also received an email quiz on do's and don't's. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Hello Viacom employees: Will one of you please send me the memo and the quiz? I won't reveal your identity, even if the FCC puts me in thumbscrews and makes me watch Pat Robertson. Email me, please. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here's a CNN story on the memo.

But in two live broadcasts since returning Jan. 3 from a two-week vacation, Stern has been just as feisty as before. In addition to the employee quiz, he detailed a company description of the words and sounds that might run afoul of FCC rules. Stern said possible profanity includes 'go to hell,' 'goddamn you,' and any "personally reviling epithets."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

As for sounds, Stern said banned intonations include flatulence and heavy breathing. His staff then played a few examples....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern's overall take on the matter? "I would so love to be thrown off the air for saying 'go to hell,'" he told listeners.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC follies

: The FCC launches a federal investigation of Jay Leno's New Year's Eve show, in which Motley Crue’s Vince Neil wished Tommy Lee a "happy fucking New Year." Why didn't NBC bleep it? Well, it was live. Which means that in the future, no doubt, NBC will put a tape delay on even Leno ... and New Year's will come at 12:05. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Rerun: Two of my favorites

: Howard Stern's recent appearance on David Letterman's show is rerun tonight. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC follies: The Olympics complaints

: The FCC quietly posted to its web site the nine complaints that triggered a Commission investigation of the Olympics.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'm betting that many if not most of them are the fine work of fans of Howard Stern and the First Amendment who have a well-developed sense of comic absurdity and enjoy painting the FCC into a corner: Hey, suckas, if you're going to censor Stern and Jackson and Bono, then censor this! One clue: A complainer says the FCC should go after Oprah Winfrey (a rallying cry for us Stern fans; she did exactly what got Stern a huge fine but she's skating so far). Another clue: They argue that commercials for Father of the Pride -- a cartoon; it tried and failed to be a little sophisticated but it was still just a cartoon -- and The Exorcist are indecent. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Why did the FCC put this up now? It could be because they wanted to cut off my Freedom of Information Act request at the pass (I filed it with Air America's Morning Sedition and the FCC wouldn't want either of us to have a good story). It could also be that there is some sane soul in the FCC who's glad to have this absurdity exposed. I doubt that. But a citizen can hope, can't he?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here is my forensic analysis of the nine complaints. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

My favorite goes after a profile of Amanda Beard:

In one of their athlete profiles they described her as the sex symbol of the Olympics, and showing some incredibly inappropriate images of her to prove their point.

Anybody have a copy? Please?

This happened during prime time, when children could be watching. Instead of celebrating the greatness of mankind as represented by the Olympic spirit, they showed pictures designed to incite lust and immorality -- roots of many of the social ills facing our nation today.

This is either a brilliant Stern prankster or someone who badly needs a dose of Viagra. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Two complain about the opening ceremonies, an event so dull only people without lives could stay awake to watch for nasties. One of them whines:

How could NBC be allowed to show the male genitalia on national television, especially during prime time, in their coverage of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. This was suppose [sic] to be family viewing time. There were children watching. I am referring to when the giant white mask that broke apart into a statue of a nude man. First we had to be subjected to the breast of Janet Jackson in the Superbowl, an [sic] now an even more gratuitous display of pornography and indecency during what was suppose [sic] to be another family viewing event.

The Washington Post gets to the bottom of this cultural scandal, reporting:

Actually, the writer is referring to the gigantic replica of a Cycladic head, so popular around 2700 B.C., that broke apart to reveal a replica of a Kouros sculpture, all the rage around the 6th century B.C.

Another complained:

To sit there with my kids and watch a guy basically rip off a girls [sic] clothes while appearing to have sex, has nothing to do with the Olympic tradition.

The Post interprets:

We believe this writer is referring to that happy couple seen frolicking -- and losing some clothing as sometimes happens when one frolics -- in the world's largest puddle, during the artsy-craftsy part of the ceremonies.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FYI, that was right around the time that puddle-wading pregnant chick with the glowing belly showed up. We have been told on good authority that she was supposed to represent Leto, aka Latona, the Titans' daughter, who, I'm here to tell you, was one skeevy chick.

Four of them complain that they heard the word "fuck" during women's beach volley ball. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And two of them complained about commercials for curing erectile dysfunction or entertainment (which are, after all, pretty much the same thing):

While watching the Olympics women's volleyball game, USA v. China, on Saturday 8/14, an advertisement for THE EXORCIST came on. We parents shouldn't have to sit on a Saturday afternoon and worry what kind of messages our children might receive while watching an Olympic event. That advertisement was completely inappropriate and I found myself scrambling to keep my kids from watching that violence.

Yes, their heads started spinning and they began spewing pea soup! You'd think that these folks would like The Exorcist; the devil loses, you know. This correspondent also complains about a Cialis commercial and adds:

Is there no time at all that we can peacefully watch television. You're so worried about Janet Jackson's breast yet you let this kind of advertising just slide. Do your job.

Yes, let's not be sexist! Another letter complains about Father of the Pride promos. Well, there was a lot to complain about with that turkey but not this:

I am not a prude, but subject matter shown in these commercials is not fit for family viewing.

Heh. This correspondent this goes on to describe the Viagra and Cialis commercials in detail.

We all know they are marketing to people who use the drug to enhance performance, not just to treat disfunction.

If they, instead, treated the limp like Jerry's Kids, I assume there'd no problem. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Because of these patently if not purposely absurd letters, government lawyers and sleuths are now investigating the Olympics to see whether sex, drugs, and kids cartoons are ruining the nation's soul. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I could argue that doping and greed are doing that. But, hey, then you'd have to ban baseball... and football... and....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: MORE: The NY Times goes to too great a length to try to analyze FCC Chairman Michael Powell's cynical hypocrisy on the First Amendment. They note (as I did in my Nation story on this) that Powell once defending the First Amendment and even won an award because of it; now he is the national nanny. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Odd that The Times says the FCC would not characterize the complaints regarding that Olympics yet the FCC put the complaints themselves online three days ago. The FCC is gaming us. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC dodges

: I just got a reply, of sorts, to the Freedom of Information request I filed with the FCC asking for all documents "that contend or support the contention that Viacom and any of its subsidiaries -- including but not limited to CBS and MTV -- or executivesa were in any way aware before the fact that Janet Jackson's breast would be exposed on the Super Bowl telecast." The FCC said the exposure was the only illegal act and the company was the only guilty party -- Jackson and Timberlake were not fined -- and so I wanted to see what evidence they had the Viacom was directly responsible for the incident. My bet is that they have none and that will come out in court. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC produced nothing in its reponse. Its letter says (leaving out the typographical omelet of the legal citations):

It would be inappropriate for us to characterize any evidence before us in the manner that you suggest because the Commission has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) concerning the halftime entertainment show of the National Football League's Super Bowl XXXVIII and the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FOIA requires a reasonable description of the records sought. If, upon review of the NAL, you determine there are specific records you would like to obtain, you may file a new FOIA request with a better description of the documents you seek...."

I thought I was quite clear. Perhaps an attorney out there could give me better language to file this again. I want to see any interviews with the parties or documents from the parties related to Viacom and company's foreknowledge of this event. From this letter, I'm not sure whether they're saying I did not describe the documents properly or they shouldn't discuss the case while it is active or both or neither. In any case, they dodged the question. So the only thing to do in dodgeball is to pick it up and throw it again. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The other way to go is for me to call the PR department but I think I'll stay with this one more round as I also await my other FOIAs.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The complaint factory

: CNN/Money's site has a year-end piece on the indecency kerfluffle this year and with it came this chart demonstrating nothing more than the efficiency of the so-called Parents Television Councils' complaint factory and certainly not any change in the essence of pop culture or American values. It's simple testimony to the easy of clicking the "send" button. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'd make a lousy Church Lady

: Eric Berlin took the so-called Parents Television Council so-called report on the treatment of religion in the devil's workshop otherwise known as Hollywood and turned it into a quiz. Could you be a PTC censor?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The latest FCC FOIAs

: I just filed more Freedom of Information Act requests with the FCC (one of the latest filed with Air America's Morning Sedition). Now I have four in the works:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I'm asking for any evidence the FCC has that any Viacom companies and executives knew of Janet Jackson's breast-baring before it happend. That is, if they were fined and Jackson was not and if the breast-baring was the only crime, then I want to see the evidence that ties Viacom directly to the crime. Due process, you know. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I asked to see "any documents relating to how the FCC determines the 'community standards' it uses as its guideline in determining indecency and profanity complaints against broadcast media -- including, but not limited to any surveys, focus group results, research, reports, data or other material." The FCC says it enforces "community standards." OK, then how does it know what the community's standards are? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I asked to see the nine complaints that triggered the indecency investigation of NBC's coverage of the Olympics. This was Air America's suggestion.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: I asked to see any correspondence between Brent Bozell and the Parents Television Council and any of the FCC Commissioners (other than any of the thousands of replies to their thousands of manufactured complaints). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You'll be the first to know what happens. And if you have any more ideas, let me know. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Does God have a sense of humor?

: The LA Times writes that the so-called Parents Television Council released a "study" purporting to show that TV and heathen Hollywood are hostile to religion. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I talked to the reporter and said: First, Brent Bozell's group does not speak for America. Second, so what if there are shows with negative views of religion? There's no rule against that. That's what we call free speech. Those points were quoted in the article. I also said that it is ludicrous to think that entertainment should be created by quota; writers do not and cannot sit down and say that they have to have something nice to say about religion (or whatever your cause is) today; it's their job to entertain, not to preach the PTC gospel. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'm glad the LA Times reporter, Lynne Smith, took the time to call two critics of the PTC to get another perspective. Others did not. And so, once again, media is swallowing the PTC's nonstory without questioning it. Thus, an impression is created that, first, TV is anti-religion and, second, that there's some movement out there determined to do something about it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Even PTC's own numbers don't tell the story they want to tell: Of references to religion they found, "22.1 percent were positive, 24.4 percent negative." I wouldn't call that a heathen conspiracy. And what PTC calls negative is often laughable. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Let's look at what the PTC thinks are negative references to religion on TV. The real finding of this study is that the PTC has no sense of humor or irony:

On the 31st American Music Awards, November 16, host Jimmy Kimmel gives his audience a brief list of rules, which concludes, “And finally, and this is a personal thing, no thanking God. God does not watch television. And if He did, He would not be watching this show. He would be watching Tarzan on the WB.”

Whoo, boy, God sure is going to bring a plague of locusts onto the earth because of that. You know, I have more faith in God than that -- faith that He can laugh even at Himself. More:

Lauren asks her mother what Mass is on the February 3 Judging Amy. Amy replies, “It’s what Catholics call church so they can feel more guilty about it when they miss it.” Bruce replies, “Hey!” To which Amy says, “Hey, it’s my dinner party, I’ll cast disparaging remarks if I want to.” (CBS)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

On the February 10 Will and Grace, Karen, in an attempt to cheer Grace up, remarks, “Let’s go buy that historic church and turn it into a gay bar.” (NBC)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

On the January 15 episode of The Simpsons, Lisa tells Bart, “The Mount Builders worshipped turtles as well as badgers, snakes, and other animals.” Bart replies, “Thank God we’ve come to our senses and worship some carpenter that lived 2,000 years ago.” (Fox) Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A senator whose platform is morality and virtue arrives at the casino on the September 29 episode of Las Vegas. Danny says to Ed that the Senator is a hypocrite: “He stands in front of the cameras every chance he gets spouting morals and virtues, meanwhile he’s here once a month, indulging in every one of the seven deadly sins. Oh, and I think he’s up to number nine on the Ten Commandments list, too.” (NBC)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A priest on the October 2 episode of Without a Trace is found in a hotel room with a woman. Only sheets cover the couple, implying a sexual affair. (CBS)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

On the April 27 episode of Judging Amy, Bruce’s friend, a priest named Father Ted, has come to town to visit. When Bruce sees Ted, Ted is wearing a dress, wig, and pearls and says he is Theresa now. (CBS)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

May 4, on Less Than Perfect, Lydia tells Jeb that she thinks Kip is going insane. Jeb replies, “Well, it may be time for the same conversation that I had with Grandma. I just hope that Kip hasn’t already given all of his money to the 700 Club.” (ABC)

I find all those to be not only harmless but not hostile to religion. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But here you have Bozell's partner in this "study" trying to make it look as if heathen Hollywood is running a fascist campaign against God:

Even so, Frank Wright, president of the NRB, called the negative portrayals "dehumanizing" and compared them to representations of Jews prior to the Holocaust, and blacks in the era of slavery. "Systematic negative portrayals of groups of people are always disturbing," he said.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"They produce the potting soil that leads to persecution."

I have one bit of advice to Bozell and Wright and their coreligionists:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Lighten up.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern, the person

: USA Today does a People story on Howard Stern today. They should have done a Money story, for that's where the action is. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Moneychanger in the temple

: Just saw a frightening commercial, a mininfomercial, on FoxNews with Pat Boone "interviewing" Brent Bozell about his book to sell it. Go to one of Bozell's sites and you'll find him hawking now only his books -- in $50 gift bundles -- but also "Don't Believe the Liberal Media" bumperstickers and Christmas-tree ornaments. Go to his other site, and he's begging for donations. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'm all for the guy having opinions (so long as he doesn't try to force them down my throat). And I'm all for him making money (hey, it's America).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But every time a news organization invites this guy on TV, they should realize that they're not only feeding his apparent agenda -- censoring our popular culture according to his right-wing religious priggish views -- but also stuffing his pockets. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And that's why I'm a bit surprised to see some of the names on this list people helping Bozell "judge" a list of quotes of the year. There are a fair number of journalists listed -- some you know. Aren't they just furthering Bozell's own agenda (and business)?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Winning one

: Even the FCC sees that it can't regulate speech on satellite. A dork broadcaster filed a letter with the FCC asking to extend its censorship to satellite, just to be fair to broadcast (rather than the proper request, which is to end censorship). W. Kenneth Ferree, chief of the Media Bureau, just replied.

The Commission has previously ruled that “subscription-based services do not call into play the issue of indecency” ... and that “[c]onsistent with existing case law, the Commission does not impose regulations regarding indecency on services lacking the indiscriminate access to children that characterizes broadcasting.” ...

Even the FCC isn't that dumb. That's not to say that there aren't lawmakers dumb enough to try this but courts would have to shoot them down and protect the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

As we expose the Parents Television Council and its henchmen at the FCC as censors trying to foist their unconstitutional religious agenda on the rest of America, I hope we can stem the post-titgate tide of censorship and once again stand behind our First Amendment. I emphasize "hope." [via Carl Frank]Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Freedom blog

: Steve Safran suggests that someone should blog free speech. I try but we need more. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The price of fame

: Howard Stern said this morning that with all his year-end Christmas bonuses and gifts -- he gives something even to the guy who makes his egg-white omelets in the deli downstairs, whom he never sees, mainly out of fear that the guy could accuse him of being a cheap bastard -- the total cost is well into the six figures. He held up fingers in the studio to say how many hundred K he spends but we couldn't see that. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC follies

: Just did an interview for ABC Radio on the absurd investigation of alleged indecency in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (which I blogged here). Today, the NY Post reports that this came because of nine complaints.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I have a fantasy that we're going to find out those nine complaints came from a guerrilla comedy troupe. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: If the so-called Parents Television Council can game the system, why can't the rest of us? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Atrios suggests that we should all complain to the FCC about Rush Limbaugh using the word "dick."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Let's make the FCC head spin (instead of the other way around).Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Secretary of Inconsistency

: National Nanny Michael Powell says he doesn't want the FCC to fine stations for airing the F word on Saving Private Ryan. This from the head of the very same FCC that only a few months ago ruled:

We conclude, therefore, that NBC and other licensees that broadcast Bono’s use of the “F-Word” during the live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards violated 18 U.S.C. § 1464.43 By our action today, broadcasters are on clear notice that, in the future, they will be subject to potential enforcement action for any broadcast of the “F-Word” or a variation thereof in situations such as that here. We also take this opportunity to reiterate our recent admonition (which took place after the behavior at issue here) that serious multiple violations of our indecency rule by broadcasters may well lead to the commencement of license revocation proceedings, and that we may issue forfeitures for each indecent utterance in a particular broadcast.

Couldn't be clearer: Use the F word, get fined, risk losing your license. Unless Michael Powell doesn't feel like it today. Yup, that's how our laws work. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The San Francisco Chronicle's Tim Goodman says: Write to the FCC and tell them to lay off. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

No sex, please, we're American

: Frank Rich has another good column on the prigs' and prudes' war on sex and popular culture -- and free speech and the First Amendment and the Constitution and democracy, while they're at it.

No matter what the censors may accomplish elsewhere, the pop culture revolution since Kinsey's era is in little jeopardy: in a nation of "Desperate Housewives," "Too Darn Hot" has become the national anthem. A movie like "Kinsey" will do just fine; the more protests, the more publicity and the larger the box office. But if Hollywood will always survive, off-screen Americans are being damaged by the cultural war over sex that is being played out in real life. You see that when struggling kids are denied the same information about sexuality that was kept from their antecedents in the pre-Kinsey era; you see that when pharmacists in more and more states enforce their own "moral values" by refusing to fill women's contraceptive prescriptions and do so with the tacit or official approval of local officials; you see it when basic information that might prevent the spread of lethal diseases is suppressed by the government because it favors political pandering over scientific fact.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC vs. scantily clad Greeks and jocks

: NBC has had to hand over a tape of the Greek Olympics opening ceremony because of a complaint. It keeps getting ridiculouser and ridiculouser. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Free speech ain't free anymore

: When Viacom spinelessly settled with the FCC, they agreed to suspend personalities if the FCC filed a complaint against them. I knew this would cause storms in the company. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This morning, Howard Stern says that when they told him he could be suspended or fired if the FCC merely complained (without the slightest due process), he demanded to know what the rules are. "What's the wrong thing?" he asked. "You know what the wrong thing is," the executives said. The FCC, of course, has unconstitutionally vague rules they inconsistently enforce and so no one knows what wrong is. Only some biddy working for King Prig knows, apparently (see the link to the story about Brent Bozell below). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Stern demanded that they who hit the dump button also get suspended or fired. They won't do that. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They told Stern that he should do a show with no mention of sex. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So he said then you're telling me I should play German chamber music. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, then, the execs said, then you would not be performing your show the way it should be performed. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, said Howard, I can't perform the show the way it should be performed because you and the FCC won't let me.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Welcome to Orwell's world, folks. This is what happens when speech is chilled: Everybody is afraid to say anything so they say nothing.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Tom the general manager comes in and they talk about a particular segment. Tom says it's OK. But Howard says, if the FCC complains, will you suspend or fire me? Well, yes. So Tom said it was OK but if the FCC says it's not OK, Howard takes the fall. "You didn't hit the button and so why am I being suspended or fired?" Howard asks. "Can't answer that," says the boss. Right. "It's not fair. It's not honest. It's wrong," Howard says. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Yes, Orwell's in charge now.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fuck the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

How long will it be before I'm fined for saying that?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: CNN's report here.
: Stern says he doesn't want to leave Viacom early. Viacom says, publicly, they don't want him to go early. But if he is at risk, he'll play music. Then Viacom will say that's not his show. Then negotiations will begin. And now Sirius now says they'd take Stern early. Here, Viacom says they are "feverishly" looking for a replacement. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Meet your censor

: The Washington Post went into the bowels of the Parents Television Council to meet the censors who sit there watching TV all day so they can try to decide what you should not watch. You see, this isn't at all about Americans outraged at smut. That's a fraud. This is about Brent Bozell's agenda to censor our free speech. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Separately, see David Weinberger joining in the conversation about the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Media on media

: Just got a call to be on Anderson Cooper's show tonight to talk about the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fox fights back

: I just got a copy of Fox Broadcasting's rebuttal to the FCC's record fine against Married by America. It is a great document. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'll proudly note first that I am a footnote for my reporting (complete with permalink).

Mr. Jarvis concludes that the "latest big fine by the FCC against a TV network . . . was brought about by a mere three people who actually composed letters of complaint. Yes, just three people." Id. Mr. Jarvis further complains that "[i]t is Constitutionally abhorrent that only three people can cause the government to abuse the First Amendment and attempt to censor and chill speech." Id.

I am honored to officially stand between the FCC and the First Amendment, even if only in a minor supporting role. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fox added an important observation -- as Mediaweek did yesterday -- about the tactics of the Bozell complaint factory: "Only one complainant professed even to have watched the program." Exactly. The FCC does nothing to confirm that these alleged complaints come from citizens or that they watched the show. Bozell apparently pays lackeys to ferret out "filth" and then uses his cult members and his FCC bitches to do is bidding. And media follow right along without asking the right questions. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Also, I never reported the audience size for this allegedly indecent show before. Fox says that 5.1 million households watched (which means more viewers than that). So it's 5.1 million vs. 3. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Whose community standards is the FCC enforcing? Not my community's. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And that raises another point that is the subject of my next FOIA request: The FCC, according to Fox, does nothing to discover and discern community standards. I'm going to ask to see any and all surveys, focus groups, and studies of the community and its standards used by the FCC in its enforcement of those standards. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fox makes a number of good arguments in its 77-page filing against the FCC's continued censorship. Among them:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The FCC is enforcing an indecency standard that the Supreme Court specifically rejected in the Communications Decency Act.

... the Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLU ruled that the indecency standard that Congress proposed for the Internet in the Communications Decency Act ("CDA") was unconstitutional. The CDA's definition of indecency was nearly identical to the broadcast standard – the only difference between the two definitions was the phrase "for the broadcast medium," which modifies contemporary community standards. The Court's conclusion that the Internet standard was unconstitutionally vague applies with equal force to the Commission's broadcast indecency standard...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Reno Court found that the failure of the CDA to explain key terms in the definition of indecency would "provoke uncertainty among speakers" and prevent them from divining what speech violated the statute.The vagueness was especially troubling because the regulation of indecency is inherently a content-based regulation of speech. "The vagueness of such a regulation rasies special First Amendment concerns because of its obvious chilling effect on free speech."

Case in point: Saving Private Ryan, which Fox also cites.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The FCC is attempting here to expand its own definition of indecency. The show depicted no nudity and no sexual activity and so the FCC went after the show's "sexual nature." That is new.

Without discussion or analysis, the Commission apparently has expanded its definition of indecency to provide that any scene of a "sexual nature" depicts "sexual activity." "Sexual nature" is found nowhere in the Commission's Indecency Policy Statement nor in its rules, nor are we aware of any previous case relying on this legal standard to find that broadcast material violates the Commission's threshold requirements for an indecency violation....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Television programs too numerous to name and fitting into widely divergent genres – from Friends to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – involve some scenes that could be described as "sexual in nature" and occasionally rely on "sexually compromising situations" to develop the plot and intensify the drama or comedy for viewers. The Commission's new legal standard, "sexual nature," not only represents a sudden departure from precedent with no apparent legal basis whatsoever but also is so overbroad that it threatens to implicate the day-time and prime-time line-ups for nearly all broadcast television.

This follows the FCC's expansionist efforts in declaring that Bono's F word was profane -- the first time it had found anything profane. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And so it is not hard to see that the FCC could expand this "sexual nature" rule into other forms of speech. If Fox can be fined for suggesting sex and pixelating it, can a radio station be fined for bleeping the F word if we know what it is (as we always do) because that station is giving us speech of a profane nature?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The supposedly indecent programming lasted for only 105 seconds (which may seem like an eternity vs. the 19/32nds of a second that Janet Jackson's breast felt fresh air but it's a blink in any case). The FCC is supposed to go after content that "deslls on or repeats at length" indecent material. I don't call 105 seconds dwelling. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The content of the allegedly offending segment was not only relevant to the show, it bolstered the moral message of the show: "Indeed, the contestants who exhibited the most discomfort at their bachelor and bachelorette parties were the same contestants chosen by viewers in the final audience vote." So the moral side won. Give credit to the American people; they will chose the right way; they don't need government to choose it for them!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fox continues: "The Commission ignores these facts, choosing instead to insert itself into the creative process...." Right. That is precisely the problem with government acting as censor. Government inevitably then acts as editor and producer. That is not and should never be government's role. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The FCC's rules are unconstitutionally vague.

the Commission's definition of indecency is unconstitutionally vague, providing broadcasters with no reliable guidelines to discern which content is lawful in the eyes of the Commission. Moreover, the definition incorporates the concept of a national community standard for the broadcast medium, but the Commission has never defined that standard with any degree of precision, let alone the kind of precision necessary to survive a constitutional review.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The governmnent "has never demonstrated that indecent material is harmful to children, and for that reason as well, teh Commission's rules cannot survive strict constitutional scrutiny."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Broadcast should no longer be singled out for censorship.

Given the tremendous technological changes that have transformed the modern media environment, the Commission's indecency regulations no longer can withstand constitutional scrutiny. The massive expansion of cable and satellite video programming, together with the advent of the Internet, renders obsolete the second-class treatment that broadcasters are being subjected to under the First Amendment. ...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In any event, the "special justifications" for lesser First Amendment protection of broadcasting (including its "invasive nature," "the scarcity of available frequencies at its inception," and a "history of extensive government regulation") clearly no longer support disparate constitutional treatment.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The Commission itself speaks with forked tongue on the question of broadcast's special role -- in the case of censorship, arguing still that TV is uniquely pervasive while in the case of its technology regulation, arguing that, in the FCC's own words:

"Today we can access news, information, and entertainment in many enhanced and non-traditional ways via: cable and satellite television, digital transmission, personal and portable recording and playback devices, handheld wireless devices, and perhaps the most extraordinary communications development, the Internet. In short, the number of outlets for national and local news, information, and entertainment is large and growing."

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: There are now other means to regulate what comes into the home -- such as the V chip. The Supreme Court, in its close decision on Carlin's seven dirty words -- the decision that empowers to the FCC -- said that the agency should find the least restrictive way to deal with indecency. It is not.

In contrast to a total ban on protected speech, technology, particularly the V-Chip, povides the government with a far less restrictive means of protecting children from the purported harm of indecent material: Parents can simply disable television sets from receiving objectionable content....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

While at the time of Pacifica it may not have been possible to keep the pig out of the parlor, today, the VChip and other blocking technologies enable individual citizens to make sure that the pig stays in the barnyard.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The FCC is being inconsistent in fining the Fox affiliates while not finding CBS affiliates. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And on and on. It is a good thing that the First Amendment will again have its day in court against the jihad of the cult and the Commission. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC -- and media -- duped by Brent Bozell's complaint factory

: First I revealed that the FCC's largest fine in history was based on only three original letters and now Mediaweek has a great story revealing that up to 99.9 percent of complaints to the FCC come straight from King Prig Brent Bozell's self-annointed Parents Television Council. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It's shocking enough that the FCC has not revealed this on its own and it took a bloggers' FOIA request to start to reveal the lie. To me, that indicates that the FCC was a knowing accomplice in this; they went along with Bozell's shock troops because they wanted to. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But here's the real shocker:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Now go back to every single news story that "reported" floods of outrage and complaint about everything from Janet Jackson's breast to Howard Stern's farts to Fox's whipped cream and discount that by 99+ percent. And now tell me whether that's a flood of outrage. And, more important, all you news commentators who pontificated about an upsurge of moral values and a shift to cultural conservatism in America, tell me whether you're going to reexamine the conclusions you jumped to and correct yourselves. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

As I said in my original post about the three letters to the FCC, this is like an old Foreign Legion movie in which three soldiers act like three hundred by putting helmets on sticks over the fort's walls. Only stupid foes fall for that. The FCC and reporters are the stupid foes here. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here's what Todd Shields reports in Mediaweek:

In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell laid some startling statistics on U.S. senators.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The number of indecency complaints had soared dramatically to more than 240,000 in the previous year, Powell said. The figure was up from roughly 14,000 in 2002, and from fewer than 350 in each of the two previous years. There was, Powell said, “a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.”Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

What Powell did not reveal—apparently because he was unaware—was the source of the complaints.

I don't know why Shields says Powell was unaware but I doubt that. When I reported my story on the FCC for The Nation, the FCC flack wouldn't let me quote him but he fully acknowledged that the vast majority of complaints came from a factory.

According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003—99.8 percent—were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This year, the trend has continued, and perhaps intensified.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency complaints—aside from those concerning the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBS— were brought by the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767 complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year; the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000, according to commissioners’ statements.)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The prominent role played by the PTC has raised concerns among critics of the FCC’s crackdown on indecency. “It means that really a tiny minority with a very focused political agenda is trying to censor American television and radio,” said Jonathan Rintels, president and executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, an artists’ advocacy group....

Wake up, reporters. Do the real story. A tiny fringe group and the FCC are trying to censor our media and cripple the First Amendment and lazy reporters are swallowing their garbage as they draw grand conclusions about the state of debate in America. It's time to tell the real story. It's time to stop them. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The First Amendment gets its day in court

: Fox -- bless 'em -- has decided to fight the FCC's record fine against its Married by America, getting the first court test of the FCC's censorship in more than 25 years.

Fox Broadcasting Co. is appealing a record-setting $1.18 million fine for airing racy fare on a show called "Married by America," saying the government's indecency rules for broadcast television are unconstitutional because they don't apply to cable and satellite television.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fox said the show was not indecent, and it argues that over-the-air broadcasters are now treated as "second-class citizens" by a Federal Communications Commission that unfairly holds them but not their rivals to decency standards. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

If the FCC upholds the fine, Fox could take the case to court, creating the first test case against federal indecency standards in a quarter of a century, media lawyers said. The indecency rules are based on a Supreme Court ruling made in 1978 -- well before the widespread use of cable and satellite radio and television, the Internet and technologies that allow parents to block objectionable material. Even some within the FCC have said that the rules are ripe for legal challenge.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"First and foremost, the commission's indecency regulations no longer can withstand constitutional scrutiny," Fox's filing to the FCC reads. "Given the tremendous technological changes that have transformed the modern media environment, the commission simply cannot justify an intrusive, content-specific regulation of broadcasters." ...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

If Congress attempted to extend broadcast indecency standards to cable and satellite, lawmakers would face several First Amendment obstacles, media lawyers say. If, on the other hand, Congress attempted to roll back decency standards on broadcast, they likely would face significant political pressure from parents groups and socially conservative organizations....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Indeed, the massive expansion of cable and satellite video programming, together with the advent of the Internet, renders obsolete the second-class treatment of broadcasters under the First Amendment," the Fox filing reads. "These technological and marketplace changes make clear that regulation of indecency, which the commission itself recognizes is constitutionally protected speech, cannot possibly survive strict scrutiny review."

: Note, too, that the chill has hit political speech. I've used the example often that if a newsmaker says "F--- Bush" on the air, he could be fined, under new legislation, $500,000. Here's the story of a radio commentator who used the F word in a political discussion and was fired because of fear of the FCC. Now, of course, the station could chose to fire him for using the word no matter what; that is its prerogative. But who knows whether he would have been fired before the Bono ruling. And in any case, the speech that was silenced was not sexual but was political. And the government had a role in silencing it. That is dangerous. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Also, separately, here's a write-up of the Jake Tapper ABC World News Tonight piece on the Fox fine. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: UPDATE: I wonder whether the FCC would have the balls to reverse itself on Married by America -- since that's the first stop on this train -- to block a court challenge. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

King Prig

: Well, well, what a banner week: First Michael Powell feels compelled to defend himself against the rising storm of criticism of his censorship and unconstitutional actions. Now his puppetmaster, the most frightening man in America, the prude of prudes, King Prig, L. Brent Bozell III, feels compelled to launch a personal attack on little old me. I guess we must be doing something right, eh?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Bozell is the self-appointed head of the self-created Parents Television Council -- the proof that you can print a letterhead and end up as a spokesman for anything on cable news -- and the guy who wants to singlehandedly censor all media in America to his lowest denominator. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But let me tell you something, Mr. Bozell:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I am a parent and you do not speak for me.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I am a Christian and you do not speak for me. Let me really scare you and tell you that I not only got to church every Sunday, I sing in the choir, I serve as a head of the church's organizing body, I preach sermons, I teach Sunday school. But I also like Howard Stern and Desperate Housewives. Pardon me while I dodge the lightning bolts. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And I am an American but you do not speak for me. This is a nation built on free speech and a belief in tolerance and the value of the marketplace of ideas and the blessing of diversity. You are against all that. You try to stop the rest of us from watching what you think we should not watch. You disdain and condemn your fellow Americans and our culture because it does not match your idea of what it should be. That, sir, seems distinctly unAmerican to me. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You think you have some God-given right to tell us what we should and should not do. You do not. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But you know what? I think you should be able to watch whatever you want to watch, even if it is the 700 Club with its hate and homophobia. I would not presume to try to get it taken off the air for hate speech. I simply turn the channel. You should do the same. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And so now I'll get to the second fisking in two days (that's fisking not fisting, sir, a bloggers' word; please call off your complaint factory) with my response to King Prig. Note that I cannot do this on Bozell's site because he does not allow comments. I've already had a dialogue with one of his people in my comments and I continue that here because, Bozell, I'm an American and I believe in the free marketplace of ideas. So, to Bozell's "column":

Ever since exit-pollsters discovered a significant chunk of voters were casting their ballots based on which candidate stood for moral values - and most of those who chose that reason for their vote said they picked Republicans - the Hollywood crowd has tried to pick the idea apart, as conflicted, even ridiculous.

This is fun already. First, you know damned well -- oops, goshdarned well -- that exit poll in question was full of crap. In fact, you know what should really scare you (based on your own skewed mathematical analysis below): It should scare you that 100 percent of voters did not say they valued moral values. What about those other 78 percent, Brent? Are they all Democrats? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But, of course, the real truth is that all 100 percent of those voters do have moral values and value morals; they simply don't all have your moral values. And that is what makes America great. That is why this country was founded. That is the essence of America. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For you to say as you do here that morality = GOP is the clearest indication of your true agenda.

The anything-goes gang is suggesting we live in a pretty hypocritical country if we can profess our desire for moral leadership and make our number-one smash on television the ABC smut soap "Desperate Housewives."

You call it a smut soap. I call it a fun show. Fine. You change the channel and I won't. That's why we have tons of channels now. Go enjoy something else. Watch Bambi. I'll watch Desperate Housewives. Just leave me alone and we're both happy. Oh, but you don't want to leave me alone. You want to tell me what I can and cannot watch. I keep forgetting. You're our self-appointed censor. The unAmerican.

When the red states profess a great concern for moral values and then embrace sleazy shows, that's hypocrisy, is it not? No, it's not. The argument is disingenuous. Television today is so splintered, with so many choices, that a hit show - even a number one show - doesn't translate into broad (and never mind majority) appeal. "Desperate Housewives" attracts less than 25 million viewers a week. Out of an estimated U.S. population of 290 million people, that's less than one in ten Americans that cares for this allegedly massive hit show.

Oh, this keeps getting more fun. So you want to play a numbers game? You want to say that 25 million people don't matter? Then how about your three people, Brent? Or your 23? Or your 4,003? If you want to play a numbers game, you'll lose. A helluva -- oops, heckuva -- lot more people watch and enjoy Desperate Housewives than give a rat's rump about your weltanschauung or come to your complaint factory. But, of course, that's not the point. The point is that we all should get to chose what we want to watch -- if you and your FCC henchmen will let us.

That fraction of the country is a very lucrative fraction for ABC and its advertisers, but political and pop-culture theorists are drawing wild conclusions about an America riddled with hypocrisy with some rather addled mathematics.

No, sir, that is called capitalism. Here in America, we value capitalism. We value the marketplace. We respect it. But, of course, being unAmerican, you would not understand that. Yes, there are more than enough millions of Americans who enjoy watching Desperate Housewives and more than enough marketers who want to reach those smart and good citizens of this great country of ours that it is lucrative. And you presume to want to stop them. You presume to think you're better than all 25 million of them. You want to insult and reject them. Who died and made you God?

By the same token, a show like NBC's "Will and Grace" is ranked 20th so far this season, averaging about 15 million viewers. That's very good ratings for a TV show these days, but it's awfully flimsy to take those 15 million Americans - five percent of the population -- and say, voila, America favors gay marriage.

No, buddy boy -- oops, pardon me for being so familiar; I hope you're secure enough in your manhood to allow me that intimacy -- all this shows is that (1) many more millions of people have a sense of humor than belong to your made-up organization and (2) we are a tolerant country, an open country, a country that accepts and, yes, celebrates the differences in people that make this country great. Oh, but I keep forgetting, you are unAmerican. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Yes, we know what you think of gay people. Here's a quote from one of your columns: "The producers of 'The Reagans' are Craig Zadan and Neal Meron, who’ve been instrumental in bringing TV revivals of classic musicals to television for Disney. They are also openly gay activists...." Uh-oh, are you going to go after musicals next, Brent? Are they just too gay for you to bear? Warn me first so I can go out and buy up Sondheim, OK? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And there's this from you: "Remember that when next your children turn on the television. If you are trying to teach them that the homosexual lifestyle is decadent and immoral, understand that television is telling them just the opposite -- and telling you to go fly a kite." But you see, Brent, I try to teach my children that all people -- gay or straight, Christian or Jew, fundamentalist or reformed, black or white, male or female, American or not -- are God's children. Don't you teach your children that? What kind of parents are in the Parents Television Council, anyway? Do you teach them intolerance and hate instead? Jeesh, Brent, if I were to judge you as you presume to judge me and the rest of America, I'd say that's both unAmerican and unChristian. I don't want my children anywhere near your Sunday School, thank you.

Hollywood can write a saucy show with all of its creativity aimed at the collective crotch, and make buckets of money.

I don't much like your language, guy. Midsection, please, midsection.

But the numbers prove that a vast majority of the public does not applaud when they push every envelope, erode every decency, mock every moral standard.

No, the numbers don't prove that at all. Basic lesson in mass media in the new century: There are now hundreds of channels and hundreds of choice and we're all watching what we want to watch, no thanks to you. Shall we talk about how many people do not listen to you? Shall we talk about how many people do not go to church? Shall we talk about how many people commit sins? The numbers game isn't working for you, guy.

Hollywood, unfortunately, couldn't care less. Millions can write and call Hollywood in opposition, and nothing happens.

Millions? And what about the millions upon millions who watch those shows you don't like? Those millions don't count?

Hollywood has made it clear that their La La Land hot-tub programming tastes are not up for debate.

Well, Bozell, so have you!

Like it, or lump it, but the sleaze parade will continue, so long as a buck can be made.

Like it or lump it, the prudery parade will continue, too, apparently. But I really don't mind, as long as you leave me alone. Parade all you want. Do it in high heels, for all I care. Oops, sorry.

So those millions have learned to send their letters and calls instead to Washington, which seems to be the only way to get Hollywood's attention.

Millions? Again?

Now the defenders of sleaze are trying to manufacture the mathematics in Washington, too. The fashionable pundit on all this right now - recited by every libertine columnist from the New York Times to Newsweek - is the former TV Guide critic Jeff Jarvis, now fulminating on a web site called Buzzmachine.com.

Well, shucks, thanks, Brent ol' boy: I'm a fashionable pundit now, am I? Jealous? Have I stolen some of your air time? No, sir, I merely exposed your shell game for what it is.

Jarvis tried to earn his math spurs this fall by asserting that he filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FCC on the fined Fox show "Married by America." Of the 159 complaints he said he was sent, only three count - because there were two original letter writers and the rest followed the form of a complaint from the Parents Television Council.

Well, you got that right. But I did not know that it was a form from you, to be clear, until ABC News' Jake Tapper found and showed me the page.

Perhaps Mr. Jarvis doesn't know this, but I know this, and will charge here publicly: the FCC is lying in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. There were not just 159 complaints on this very smutty Fox show that featured simulated oral sex, breast-kissing, and other sexual antics on prime time broadcast television. The FCC has been awash in thousands of complaints, in faxes, e-mails, phone calls.
How do I know this? Because I know of over 4,000 PTC members who filed formal complaints on this program. Because I can assume many more non-PTC members complained. And because sources inside the FCC itself have confirmed this to me.

Well, then, your complaint -- and you do love complaints, don't you? -- is with the FCC, it would seem. I reported what I found from my FOIA request. And your follower tried to argue in the comments on this blog -- comments such as you will not allow, for fear of actual free speech -- that I should have called you to find out how many you said were sent, though, again, you didn't really admit that the factory had produced all those letters. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And isn't it funny that we didn't hear this complaint when the FCC filed its case against Fox saying it was based on 159 complaints? You registered no such whining here. And we didn't hear it anytime in the last two weeks, since I revealed the truth of what made the FCC act. We're hearing this spin only now. Hmmmmm. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC not doing your bidding as you'd like? What happened to your puppet strings over Michael Powell?

The FCC is saying officially that if an organization mobilizes its members to complain, and ten, or 100, or 10,000 people complain, it is only one complaint. FCC boss Michael Powell earlier this year issued the greatest insult of all when he labeled those who file grievances - the very taxpayers who pay his salary - as producers of "spam."

Well thank you and thank God: I finally see something about which I heartily agree with Chairman Powell. Thank you for bringing us together. Yes, I like that. Thank you, Chairman Powell. Yes, what you produce is cultural spam.

Congress needs to step in, exercising its oversight responsibilities to investigate a federal agency that is complicit in an effort to thwart the public will.

No, Congress needs to leave the First Amendment alone and the citizenry alone, thank you very much.

But I suspect Mr. Jarvis knows this.

Are you making an accusation, sir?

And Mr. Jarvis knows this, too: the networks have a legal obligation to conform to community standards.

And that is not a community of your three or 23 or even 4003. It is the community of the typical American. I hate to break it to you, but you sure ain't typical. I will quote again from the FCC's own rules: "Rather, the standard is that of an average broadcast viewer or listener and not the sensibilities of any individual complainant." Or three.

There is not a single, solitary community in America today that countenances as acceptable placing sexual raunch like that found in "Married by America" in front of children in prime time.

And guess what, Mr. Bozell, the marketplace agreed and the show was canceled; the marketplace -- the citizenry, the country, America -- is smart and you need to give us the credit for that. We don't need you to tell us what we watch. But you weren't satisfied with that. You, like the mullahs of Iran, wanted to impose your government censure and censorship.

It is a reason why many people stated on November 2 that their greatest concern was the assault on moral values.

I'd say most of them said their greatest concern was the assault on American lives and the American way of life and our very security and what this country truly stands for by the sort of people who want to impose their narrow view of morality on the rest of the world.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Mr. Bozell: I am quite happy to live and let live: You watch what you want to watch and I will watch what I want to watch. I won't try to represent you if you stop trying to represent me. It is a big, grand, wonderful land, our America. There's room for both of us. If you stay off my yard. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So back off, Bozell. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Fisking our National Nanny

: Michael Powell, our censor-in-chief, writes an op-ed in today's New York Times defending himself -- and that's good news, for he clearly feels the need to defend his outrageous, unconstitutional, and above all hypocritical behavior against the heat of true public outrage that is beginning to rise in defense of our First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But his attitude is horribly condescending, like a Continental airline clerk who abides a customer's righteous anger over bad service and eight-hour delays and lies on a microphone and then, with pursed lips, says, "Are you done now, sir?" You want to just slap him. Powell's self-defense begins:

Time to take a deep breath.

Don't tell me what to do, Powell. Oh, that's right, you relish telling us all what to do. Well, when it comes to free speech, this is not a time for any damned deep breath. This is a time to shout with outrage at your censorship. How presumptuous that you would start by telling us to take a deep breath. But it's just like you.

The high pitch at which many are discussing the enforcement of rules against indecency on television and radio is enough to pop an eardrum.

And for good reason. You supposedly listen to the outrage of the public, well start hearing outrage from the other side, the side you don't want to hear.

It is no surprise that those who make a handsome living by selling saucy fare rant the loudest - it drives up the ratings.

How dare you? There are plenty of citizens out here who are ranting loudly against your actions and it's because we believe in the First Amendment and the Constitution -- as you once did. How dare you impugn the motives and message of good citizens in such a way? You prove just how deaf you really are, Powell.

The news media further fan the flames, obsessed with "culture war" stories that slot Americans into blue-state and red-state camps.

Well, yes, the media fan those flames of politics. But that's not the flame at issue. The flame I'm worried about is the match you put to the Constitution.

Overheated words, however, obscure what should be an important debate over two American values that are, at times, in tension. As one deeply suspicious of government involvement in the regulation of content, I understand and often agree with those who stand up for the cherished value of free speech. But as a parent, I respect the desire of the American people for a minimum level of decency on the public airwaves - particularly where their children are concerned. The often unenviable task of striking a balance between these two competing values falls to the Federal Communications Commission.

You often agree with those who stand up for free speech? Prove it, Powell.

Broadcasters have always had the responsibility of making decisions about what programs are appropriate. The majority have done well. In the history of broadcast television, there have been only four indecency fines.

You have levied far more fines than that but you have used the blackmail power of the FCC to bring those to settlement. Another of your lies.

Yet when certain broadcasters trade responsible restraint for torrid sensationalism in the relentless race for ratings, it should come as no surprise that escalating calls for the government to enforce indecency laws aggressively are the result.

Here is your big lie, Powell. You know damned well that these alleged "escalating calls" are the Xeroxes of the few. Milllions upon millions watch and listen the shows you censor. Yet, as I proved, only three prigs like you bothered to write letters complaining about a show that you found to be the most indecent in history, since you brought the biggest fine in history against it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

You are supposed to be judging all this according to community standards, according to the average citizen. I quote from your own rules:

The determination as to whether certain programming is patently offensive is not a local one and does not encompass any particular geographic area. Rather, the standard is that of an average broadcast viewer or listener and not the sensibilities of any individual complainant.

But, instead, you are censoring according to the dogma of the few, the three. You are no different in that respect, as the editorial below says, from an Iranian mullah.

The F.C.C.'s job of regulating indecent content on the airwaves is not optional; it has been required ever since Congress first made the broadcast of obscene, indecent and profane material illegal more than 70 years ago. The law continues to enjoy strong bipartisan support.

Yes, Democrat Commission Michael Copps is even scarier than you. He doesn't know better. You at least once defended the First Amendment. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And as for saying this is "required..." Well, that makes it sound as if there is a clear rule and an absolute line you defend. You know damned well that you have inconsistent rules inconsistently enforced according to whim and politics.

Even so, there are important limits placed on the F.C.C. Our rules do not ban indecent content entirely; they merely restrict its broadcast during times in which children are likely to be in the audience, namely from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Courts have consistently held these rules constitutional, accepting that the government has a compelling interest in protecting children from inappropriate material.

And it is high time for a court test of that. But you won't allow it, for you use your blackmail power to keep broadcasters from going to court by threatening their licenses and businesses.

For material to be indecent in the legal sense it must be of a sexual or excretory nature and it must be patently offensive. Mere bad taste is not actionable. Context remains the critical factor in determining if content is legally indecent. Words or actions might be acceptable as part of a news program, or as an indispensable component of a dramatic film, but be nothing more than sexual pandering in another context. That context and the specific facts of each program are reasons the government can't devise a book of rules listing all the bad stuff. In 2001, however, the agency issued policy guidelines summarizing the case law on indecency, and each new ruling since then clarifies what is prohibited.

I have read those rules and will be commenting on them soon. It is a laughable document but, even so, you're not following it.

But we are not the federal Bureau of Indecency. We do not watch or listen to programs hoping to catch purveyors of dirty broadcasts. Instead, we rely on public complaints to point out potentially indecent shows. In recent years, complaints about television and radio broadcasts have skyrocketed, and the F.C.C. has stepped up its enforcement in response.

You say that the number of complaints doesn't matter, out of one side of your mouth, and then you justify your actions by those numbers out of the other side of your mouth. And you know damned well -- your people have admitted it to me and I've proven it -- that the numbers are a lie. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And where, sir, do you count the millions and millions of Americans who watch the shows you say we should not watch? If it is a matter of numbers, then how do the rest of us count? How does the vast majority count?

Advocacy groups do generate many complaints, as our critics note, but that's not unusual in today's Internet world. We are very familiar with organized protests when it comes to media issues, but that fact does not minimize the merits of the groups' concerns.

Just because any group Xeroxes complaints, you have to listen? What happens, Mr. Powell, when an Islamic society of America objects to showing women's faces? Under their beliefs, they have a legitimate concern. They would say displays of flesh are all sexual. Will you hand out the burkahs then? This logic falls apart an inch away from your lips.

Under the law, we must independently evaluate whether a program violates the standard, no matter whether the program in question generates a single complaint or thousands.

But, again, you are required by law to judge that against community standards, by the average person, not the fringee. But you pander to the fringe.

When the commission makes the determination that a program is indecent, we typically fine the licensee that broadcast it. Although the commission has the authority to fine an artist personally, we have never done so nor do I support doing so.

I didn't hear you objecting to the indecent indecency law that will allow you to bankrupt anyone who appears on the airwaves. Show me the testimony before congress airing this objection, please.

Over the years, fines had become trivial. A routine violation generally received a paltry $7,000 fine, with the maximum fine being $27,500. The agency has increased penalties significantly, recognizing that they must be large enough for billion-dollar media companies to stop treating fines as a minor cost of doing business.

And, again, Congress is raising those fines to $500k per incident and up to $3 million per day on both broadcasters and individuals. The Vice President, had he uttered his F word on broadcast, could be fined $500k. Oh, but he's one of the few who wouldn't be bankrupted by that.

Some have also questioned why the commission is unwilling to issue rulings before a broadcast, as was the case with the recent network showing of "Saving Private Ryan," a film the commission had previously held was not indecent. While ABC and its affiliates understandably would have liked to know the program was in bounds before proceeding, the precedent of submitting programming or scripts for government review borders dangerously on censorship. The Communications Act expressly forbids the F.C.C. from banning a program before broadcast, and any such effort might very well run afoul of the First Amendment. This is a step I do not want to take.

Utter crap, sir. They asked for a clarification of your very fuzzy rule. Yes, Private Ryan was aired before without fine -- but that was before you, sir, decreed that the F word -- uttered under any circumstances -- was profane and illegal. And you know that damned well. Another lie.

The commission's indecency rules apply to broadcast television and radio but not to cable, newspapers or the Internet because the Supreme Court interprets the First Amendment in a way that affords stronger constitutional protection to these sources than to broadcasting. The argument goes that broadcasting is different because it is uniquely pervasive, with children having easy access.

Broadcast is no longer "unique pervasive." Only 11 percent of America, as you well know, gets TV from rabbit ears (and they're probably mostly old people without children or the desire for cable). That rationale is outdated and moot.

Government can limit content in the public interest because broadcasters use a public resource, the airwaves.

And they are my airwaves, too. They do not belong just the the tyranny of the few. They belong to everyone.

Yes, it is strange that First Amendment protections are weaker or stronger depending on what channel you are watching, but under current Supreme Court precedent that's the way it is.

That's still current because you have prevented court challenges by your blackmail.

And I believe that any effort to extend regulation of content to other media would be contrary to the Constitution.

Well, thank heaven for small favors. I am grateful for that. Unfortunately, though, it's not up to you. There are those in Congress who have tried to extend censorship to cable; there is a petition before the FCC to extend it to satellite; I am sure the internet will be the next target. The horrid Mr. Copps has also said he wants to extend this to cable. You can stand there and act pure and others will try to do the dirty work.

We take all these limitations seriously and believe we have acted in a balanced manner.

Ha.

If one slices through the rhetoric, you'll find that most opponents of the agency's strong enforcement efforts believe that the government simply should not impose any decency standard at all.

Shall we read the First Amendment together? Congress shall make now law... abridging freedom of speech. Yes, I do not want government -- you -- abridging speech in any way. Neither did our founding fathers. I trust the marketplace, the citizenry, the people. So did our founders. You do not.

Berating citizens who believe in values and reasonable limits is insulting and polarizing and distracts from the legitimate issues of this policy debate.

And ignoring and condescending to those who are criticizing you is no better.

Critics of the law should instead focus their efforts on changing the law, if that's what they want.

I am eager to see the day that happens in court.... if you let it happen.

Until then, the American people have a right to expect that the F.C.C. will continue to fulfill its duty of upholding the law, while being fully cognizant of the delicate First Amendment balance that must be struck.

Until then, expect more and more American people to rise up against your censorship. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The First Amendment is not delicate, sir. The First Amendment is bedrock, firm and solid, the very foundation of our nation and everything it holds holy. The First Amendment is "delicate" only in the minds of those who want it to be, those who would attack it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

For the cause

: Stephen Waters writes an excellent editorial in the Rome (NY) Sentinal supporting free speech against the FCC. The New York Times should editorialize half as well:

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has acted just as dangerously towards freedom as the Iranian mullahs who, according to Reporters Without Borders, have arrested the fifth Iranian Internet writer in two months. Following their belief of decency, mullahs can demand women cover-up with chadors or burqas the same way the FCC can demand broadcast media cover up. The FCC censors according to its beliefs, but they are poor surrogates for your own judgment. There are other tools, all of which are more certain and Constitutionally safe. And they are in your hands: Turn it off.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Refuse to buy the sponsor's product.
: Complain to friends and neighbors.
: Complain to the network.
: Express your distaste.
: Censure.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Censure is a personal choice. Under censorship, you risk damage when censors turn around on you. Censoring opens the door for the few to impose their views on everyone else.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Find your balls, broadcasters

: I found a shocking fact in this week's Mediaweek: "The last time a broadcaster refused to pay an indecency penalty sought by the Federal Communications Commission," the magazine says, was in 1994. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

That is to say that the last time a broadcaster had the balls to take the Federal Censorship Commission to court to fight for the First Amendment was a friggin' (no, fucking) decade ago!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Why? Well, because the FCC holds the broadcasters by their shrunken balls. The FCC holds it in its power to not only fine them but revoke their licenses and shut down their businesses -- as the FCC warned it would do in its Bono F-word decision. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely why 66 stations in this great nation refused to air Saving Private Ryan: They had been told by the FCC that airing the F word was illegal and could cost them their businesses. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is also why Viacom just castrated itself by paying a $3.5 million consent decree with the FCC that includes all kinds of onorous clauses and why the dickless Clear Channel settled its fines ... and why every broadcaster has settled every fine for a damned decade. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Thus, the First Amendment never gets its day in court. Thus, the fined broadcasters -- not to mention we, the people -- never get the chance to test the constitutionality of what the FCC is doing to free speech in this nation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

MediaWeek (no direct link available, damn them) says that at long lost, broadcasters are getting ready to fight: Viacom did not settle the Janet Jackson case; NBC wants to argue the Bono F word; Fox will decide this week whether to fight its $1.2 million fine brought about by three prigs and prudes. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I fear it's too little, way too late. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In those 10 years, the FCC has ramped up its war against free speech and Congress has joined in with its indecent indecency legislation. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It is time for broadcasters to fight back! Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I met yesterday -- on other matters -- with some good people running TV stations in this country. They didn't air Private Ryan for just the reason I said above. They're pissed at the FCC. I felt like I was inciting a riota and throwing beer on them from the bleachers as I beseeched: Fight the FCC!Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I told them about plans for an After The FCC conference that are actually moving ahead, thanks to David Isenberg's brilliance, passion, and energy. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I said that they should be doing more than writing a few letters or appearing before a few legislators. They should be going public and defending our free speech on our airwaves.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But in all fairness, it's not just the broadcasters who should be fighting. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Newspaper editorialists should have been defending the First Amendment when the FCC was going after Howard Stern. They didn't. They waited until they went after Private Ryan.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We on the internet should be fighting the FCC -- for they'll come after us next. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

There is still a chance. Only 22 members of the House had the balls to vote for free speech and against the indecent indecency bill. The rest sang soprano because they didn't want to go home and be accused of voting for smut. Well, we need to give them cover. We need to pressure them to vote for free speech and the First Amendment and the Constitution and everything America holds holy. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So let's hear it, TV and radio executives and personalities. Let's hear it, editorialists. Let's hear it, journalists. Let's hear it, cable executives (they want to get you, too). Let's hear it, satellite executives (they want to get you, too). Let's hear it, internet executives. Let's hear it, bloggers. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It's time to fight back. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter, here's a link to the Mediaweek story, which is online. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Now they're bleeping Jesus

: My sister, the Rev. Jarvis, sent me this outrageous news: CBS and NBC have refused to air a commercial from the United Church of Christ because it's "too controversial." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Go here to watch the ad; it merely says that "Jesus did not turn people away. Neither do we." It is about welcoming all people to worship God.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

That is controversial?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Well, the commercial says it's OK for gays and lesbians and people of color to worship. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

If you think that is controversial, then -- logically -- that means that you don't think that gays and lesbians and people of color are God's children. That means, CBS and NBC, that you're a bunch of homophobic bigots. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'd call that indecent. But, of course, the FCC wouldn't. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The UCC announcement says:

The ad, part of the denomination's new, broad identity campaign set to begin airing nationwide on Dec. 1, states that -- like Jesus -- the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples -- among other minority constituencies -- and is, therefore, too "controversial."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot "too controversial."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

"It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial," says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president. "What's going on here?"Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Negotiations between network officials and the church's representatives broke down today (Nov. 30), on the day before the ad campaign was set to begin airing nationwide on a combination of broadcast and cable networks. The ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, among others.

Is this America?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

First they came for Howard Stern... and then they came for you

: Few were standing up protesting when the FCC went after Howard Stern.... Few were yelling about the slippery slope of government censorship.... Until it put a chill on airing Saving Private Ryan. Then the newspaper editorials finally started to act alarmed, as well they should. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Here are two more that should alarm you: Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

First, here's a Billboard story saying that the FCC will go after satellite next:

With envelope-pushing air talent like Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony flocking to the less-restricted refuge of satellite radio, could the Federal Communications Commission be far behind?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Specifically, could the FCC enforce its indecency rules -- which Stern claims drove him away from terrestrial radio -- on satellite radio too?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

That's exactly what Saul Levine is hoping for. On Oct. 29, Levine, the president of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, filed a Petition for Rulemaking to amend Part 25 of the FCC's pending satellite radio rules to include an indecency provision.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

While legal experts say subscription radio enjoys deeper First Amendment protections than free radio, Levine's petition argues that the FCC is, in fact, empowered to enforce indecency rules on satellite radio and asks the commission to "level (the) playing field." ...Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

According to Levine's petition, the FCC already has subjected satellite radio to Equal Employment Opportunity and political broadcasting rules and policies. What's more, the petition says, the type of radio service (i.e., broadcast, common carrier, etc.) "is not a relevant consideration" in the imposition of programing or public-interest rules, nor is whether satellite radio operates as a broadcast or subscription service. In fact, the FCC put satcasters on notice in 1997 that it "may adopt additional public-interest requirements at a later date."

An unnamed Senate staffer and First Amendment attorney Robert Corn-Revere also say in that story that this won't work because satellite is a paid service you choose to get and because the First Amendment won't allow it. But that won't stop them from trying. Just watch. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The second story is in today's Wall Street Journal arguing that computers and the internet are the next target of the prudes, prigs, and self-appointed national nannies:

If America gets serious about doing battle over "values," will the Internet-enabled personal computer be able to stay out of the crosshairs?Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It's a wonder that no one has yet run for office by campaigning against the computer. After all, you couldn't ask for a better sin-delivery system than a PC with a fast Web connection....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

According to their stereotypes, conservatives worry about sex while liberals worry about violence, and the world according to the personal computer provides a lot about which both sides can fret....

If you don't protect Howard Stern's speech from government censorship, yours is not far behind. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The national nanny

: In a National Post piece about Michael Powell as the new darling of religious nutjobs, there's this quote I like:

Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic congressman from New York and ranking member of the House constitution subcommittee, says Powell's complaints against ABC and Monday Night Football "make it abundantly clear that he is less interested in doing his job than he is in becoming the country's chief censor."

Good for you, Congressman. And how did you vote on the indecent indecency bill? The right way. Thank you. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: UPDATE: I didn't make it clear enough that Nadler voted against the indecency indecency bill; I just added that clarification above. Others who had the courage to vote for free speech (even if accused of voting for smut):

Only 22 members, including Paul and Ackerman, had the courage to actually vote "no," with most of them voicing free speech concerns. Another 20 members voted "present" or simply did not vote at all. Among those voting "no" were many of the House's most progressive members, including California Democrats Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren and Pete Stark, as well as New Yorkers Jerry Nadler and Jose Serrano. Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, also voted "no," as did Georgia Democrat John Lewis, the veteran civil rights activist. Michigan Democrat John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was among the members who did not vote.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Half of 15 minutes

: The good news: I was on World News Tonight in Jake Tapper's story about the FCC and the jihad against free speech. The bad news: Because of college football, it appeared only on the West Coast. So it wasn't seen where it matters: Washington. And I haven't seen it yet either. Oh, well, those are the breaks. Now I'll start ranting about America's jock jihad. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The great indecency hoax: We are not a nation of prudes

: In his upcoming Sunday column, Frank Rich makes the argument I've been making for months and I'm damned glad to have company with influence: He says that Americans are not, in fact, storming the FCC demanding a crackdown on indecency; that's all just a hoax perpetrated by a few well-organized religous nutjobs and a few political cynics at the FCC. Rich is also generous enough to point to my little FCC scoop.

Ever since 22 percent of the country's voters said on Nov. 2 that they cared most about "moral values," opportunistic ayatollahs on the right have been working overtime to inflate this nonmandate into a landslide by ginning up cultural controversies that might induce censorship by a compliant F.C.C. and, failing that, self-censorship by TV networks. Seizing on a single overhyped poll result, they exaggerate their clout, hoping to grab power over the culture. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The mainstream press, itself in love with the "moral values" story line and traumatized by the visual exaggerations of the red-blue map, is too cowed to challenge the likes of the American Family Association. So are politicians of both parties.

But Rich puts forth lots of facts and ratings showing that, in fact, we love Desperate Housewives in blue states and red; we are not prudes; we are being misrepresented by the prim ayatollahs and exploitive bureaucrats and lazy reporters and pundits. He ends here:

Those who cherish the First Amendment can only hope that the Traditional Values Coalition, OneMillionMoms.com, OneMillionDads .com and all the rest send every e-mail they can to the F.C.C. demanding punitive action against the stations that broadcast "Desperate Housewives." A "moral values" crusade that stands between a TV show this popular and its audience will quickly learn the limits of its power in a country where entertainment is god.

I don't always agree with Rich but you know that I love this column. I'm delighted that Frank Rich in The New York Times and Tom Shales in the Washington Post and Jonathan Alter in Newsweek are using their powerful platforms to question, not to just spread, the too-quickly swallowed conventional wisdom that we are a ntion of prudes. We are not. So here's hoping that Rich is right and whether it is putting the chill on Saving Private Ryan and driving Howard Stern to satellite or gasping over a harmless if dumb network promotion or whatever comes next, the nannies will go too far and we will finally stand up as one and tell them to put a sock in it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The next FCC FOIA

: I just filed the next FCC Freedom of Information Act request. I had suggested that a reporter should do this; when I talked with Howard Stern, he said I should do it. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The question: What evidence does the FCC have that any Viacom executive knew that Janet Jackson would bare her breast and thus should be fined $550,000 for the crime? Jackson said no one knew. Timberlake said no one knew. But in its complaint against CBS et al, the only thing the FCC says was a violation of the law was 19/32 of a second -- let's repeat that: 19/32 of a second -- during which Jackson's titanium-tipped tit was exposed to the air and airwaves. Says the commission:

Based upon the preceding analysis, we find, in context, that the exposure of Ms. Jackson’s breast was apparently indecent, and, therefore, is legally actionable.

They may whine about other things being "crude" or "inappropriate" but those are critical, not legal judgments. The only illegal thing, they say, was the exposed breast. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

They don't fine Jackson or Timberlake, as the law allows (and, if you buy the argument that the FCC is only doing its duty, which Michael Powell regularly makes, then you'd have to argue that they must fine the performers.... but they don't). They fine CBS/MTV/Viacom because the FCC holds them responsible. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

But on what basis? That is the essence of my FOIA request. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC almost acknowledges that it has no evidence of the crime:

In sum, even assuming that neither CBS nor MTV had advance knowledge that Ms. Jackson’s breast would be exposed during her broadcast performance, the record clearly establishes that officials of CBS and MTV did have prior knowledge of, indeed were intricately involved in the planning process for, and tacitly approved, the sexually provocative nature of the Jackson/Timberlake segment. Moreover, they extensively promoted this aspect of the broadcast in a manner designed to pander, titillate and shock. Viacom made a calculated and deliberate decision to air the Jackson/Timberlake segment containing material that would shock Super Bowl viewers, and to accurately promote it as such.

Ah, but it's not illegal -- yet -- to be provocative or shocking. The only allegedly illegal act here was the baring of the breast. But the FCC does not link CBS directly to that act. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

So I want to see the evidence they have. My FOIA request:

In regard to FCC 04-209 (Super Bowl/Viacom/Janet Jackson), I request any documents from the Commission investigation -- including but not limited to notes, interviews, quotes, research, memoes, and analyses, external or internal to the FCC -- that contend or support the contention that Viacom and any of its subsidiaries -- including but not limited to CBS and MTV -- or executives were in any way aware before the fact that Janet Jackson's breast would be exposed on the Super Bowl telecast.

My guess is that this well is come up dry. They don't have any evidence. And if that's the case, the FCC would be going after Viacom only for vindictiveness -- and to impose a chill -- not because they did anything illegal. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

It's bad enough that the law is unconstitutional. It's worse that the enforcement of it is unconstitutional, too. Since when can government fine us for not breaking the law. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The FCC has to respond within 20 days. I'll keep you informed. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Remember that you, too, can file FOIA requests. Here's where you file them with the FCC. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: By the way, the previous FOIA scoop got mentions in Newsweek via Jonathan Alter and the Plain Dealer via Tom Feran plus Daily Variety Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The Viacom settlement

: The Viacom settlement with the FCC didn't make clear what it covered -- other than that it erased everything except the ongoing battle over Janet Jackson and the death of civilization. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The company agreed to a record $3.5 million settlement to expunge all but one pending indecency complaint.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The payment will cover five outstanding fines totaling $440,500 involving radio programs. It also will settle numerous other incidents under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission that could have led to millions of dollars in additional penalties. Among them was an expected fine of nearly $1.5 million related to shock jock Howard Stern's raunchy on-air antics, as well as complaints involving television shows on CBS and UPN including "Cold Case," "CSI" and the Victoria's Secret annual fashion show, say people familiar with the situation.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Still, Viacom executives were quick to note that the company plans to continue to fight a proposed $550,000 fine by the FCC related to its airing of the Super Bowl half-time show in February.

I'm disappointed that all this will not be going to court. But that is the FCC's strategy of blackmail. Part of the settlement says that the FCC can't use any this in license renewals or applications. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Somebody needs to have the balls to fight the FCC in court and take it to the Supreme Court. Howard Stern complains that he never got his day in court because of FCC blackmail. He still won't. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

FCC follies

: The FCC have been quite the busy little beavers. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Live is dead. As a result of a $3.5 million consent decree agreement with Viacom to settle all its indecency complaints -- except for Janet Jackson -- the company will now put delay equipment on all its TV and radio shows. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

More fun: The company must provide indecency training for all on-air personnel within 30 days. That means they're going to give Howard Stern potty training. I wonder whether they will have to give Dan Rather potty training, too. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

If the FCC finds against an a Viacom station in the future, the company must suspend all employees involved pending an investigation. So, folks, when the FCC decides to bring its latest fine against Stern next month, he would be suspended. Say hello to satellite. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The pig spit commissioners Michael Copps and Kevin Martin don't think it goes far enough. If any bloggers ever see either of these guys in a porn store, please take a picture of them and forward it, please. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The FCC oh so generously decided not to fine three shows that had received complaints. Compare these, if you will, to other shows that have gotten complaints recently. Farts and whipped cream got complaints. These did not:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: Keen Eddie did not get fined for having a whore sexually excite a horse. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy and Jonathan Adelstein concur but with skewed logic. The entire rationale behind the FCC's authority is to protect children from nastiness, yet they say: "... whether a program is suitable for our children is not the standard that as Commissioners of this agency we must apply...."Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Getaloada this high-horse moment: ":We are, however, compelled by the Constitution not to overreach our limited authority in this area and impose our taste and personal judgments on the rest of America. If we overstep our authority, we run the risk of having our limited authority curtailed forever." As well you should, you fools. What are you doing but imposing your taste and personal judgments on the rest of America? What are you doing but that? You damned well should have your authority curtailed forever. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The horrid Kevin Martin dissents with this gem: "Yet, the majority concludes that the program, in which a prostitute is hired to sexually arouse a horse by removing her blouse and to 'extract' semen from the horse, is not indecent because the prostitute is 'never seen actually touching' the horse. Despite my colleagues’ assurance that there appeared to be a safe distance between the prostitute and the horse, I remain uncomfortable." Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We're all uncomfortable when you talk about semen, Kev. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: The commissioners don't fine the canceled Coupling -- though they are "troubled."

The episodes in question do not explicitly depict sexual activities or organs (other than kissing). Rather, the characters’ conversations together with the set-up of the scenes make clear that sexual activity has occurred. Further, despite repeated references to sexual activities and organs, which we find troubling, none of the episodes contains graphic descriptions of sexual activities and organs or uses language that is so graphic as to qualify as indecent or profane.

They sound so damned disappointed.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: They are similarly disappointed when they reject another Parents Television Council (read: Prudes Television Council) complaint against Off Centre for talk about a stuffed toilet. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I hear they're going to go after This Old House, though.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Ah, but Kev Martin finds that the FCC's action is inconsistent. Sounds like ground for appeal to me:

The Order similarly acknowledges that another show contains “sustained and repeated references” to sexual organs, and that “the cumulative effect of such repeated references appears to pander to a vulgar interest.” Yet, the Order concludes neither show is indecent. This decision appears to be inconsistent with our precedent. In the past, if similar references, in similar contexts, have been made on radio shows, the Commission has fined the radio station.

Mikey Copps similarly says that they would find against radio and are inconsistent. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

: And then they turn around and fine a radio station. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Goober of the year

: Renée Graham of the Boston Globe nominates Michael Powell to be Time's man of the year sinc he has done so much -- of damage -- in 2004.

From driving Howard Stern to announce a 2006 move to satellite radio to making ABC affiliates so skittish about airing a film with graphic violence and profanity that more than a third canceled a Veterans Day airing of ''Saving Private Ryan," no individual this year has had a greater effect on our cultural lives -- for good or ill, for better or worse -- than Powell....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In Iowa and Nebraska, instead of Spielberg's World War II epic, several ABC affiliates showed the TV movie ''Return to Mayberry." Somehow, the selection of that film hardly seems a coincidence. It could certainly serve as a sad commentary on the archaic mind-set the FCC's restrictive rules is promoting, with Powell as an overbearing Barney Fife with too much power and too little desire to use it beyond fostering his own myopic cultural and political agenda.

Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The chill on free speech, continued

: Here is yet another chill on free speech caused by the FCC's and Congress' efforts to control and censor our speech:Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

A radio personality I won't name told me that the company for which he/she works is trying to require him/her to indemnify them against any FCC fines -- including not only fines against the performer but against the company. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This means that under the current bills festering in Congress, this poor schmo would be liable for between $1 million (that is, $500k fines for the performer and the company) to $6 million (that is, $3 million each) per day. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I would (a) recite nursery rhymes, (b) go to satellite and hope these prigs, prudes, and fools did not follow, or (c) find a new career in aluminum siding. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Criticizing the FCC

: Now here's the third post quoting critics going after the FCC -- at long f'ing last. The latest is James Wolcott (and quoting Jim always causes such... ahem... interesting comments):

In my book, I called for the toppling of Michael Powell at the FCC, whose arrogant, anti-democratic meddling becomes more autocratic with each inflation of his neck size.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I was thinking too small, which is unusual for me.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Jeff Jarvis has a bigger, better idea: abolish the FCC. Get rid of the whole busybody, bureaucratic shebang.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

This is a call which can unite liberals, conservatives, and true libertarians--in short, all those who believe the First Amendment and free speech aren't outmoded ideals that can be breeched whenever some bully behind a desk chooses to exercise his prerogatives and grab face-time on the news. Michael Powell has become a glutton for attention and it's time to starve him and the rest of the white-collar censors.

Amen, brother it criticism. Let's say it again: This is a call that [sorry... once a copy editor, always a copy editor] can unite liberals, conservatives, and true libertarians.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Chop suey commentary

: Frank Rich writes Chinese menu columns: He slaps together one thought from column A and one thought from column B that don't belong together. And, yes, an hour later, your brain feels empty. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In his column tomorrow, he starts bemoaning the FCC's censorship and the chill that brought 66 stations to preempt Saving Private Ryan.

Merely the threat that the F.C.C. might punish a TV station or a network is all that's needed to push them onto the slippery slope of self-censorship before anyone in Washington even bothers to act. This is McCarthyism, "moral values" style.

But then, because the F words came in a movie about war, he tries -- pulling from column B -- to make this an issue not of government censorship but of the prowar Republicans. Get it? A movie about war was censored while we're at war and so this must be a Bush coverup. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Can you say non sequitur? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

The national nanny

: Tom Shales gives our national nanny, Michael Powell, a well-deserved critical lashing in tomorrow's Washington Post. Tidbits:

Oops. They got rid of the wrong Powell. The father unfortunately is going, but the son, even more unfortunately, remains behind.....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Staying in office, however, and capable of wreaking havoc in American broadcasting until 2007, is Colin's son Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and definitely not a force for good in America. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Pompous and imperious, an ideologue who believes unfailingly in his own philosophy of how TV and radio should work (the FCC also has domain over telephone and emerging broadband technologies), Powell ignores or condemns anyone who opposes him. Though FCC chairmen have labored mostly in obscurity, Powell has managed to make himself famous; he's the Torquemada of the insane campaign now being waged against "obscenity" on the airwaves....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

In fairness to Powell, the commission's two Democratic members, Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein, have been among those pushing for not only fines but license revocations when stations violate the still-vague obscenity rules. They are idiots....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

We stand at the top of a dangerously slippery slope. When you start leveling fines for uttering certain words, the list of the verboten is bound to grow. We could be facing four years of even more paranoia than usual about Big Brother, much of it justified....Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Powell belongs at the bottom of the barrel [of FCC chairmen] with the lowliest of the bunch. He is an agenda masquerading as a man, the proverbial pompous ass and, worse, a genuine threat to freedom of speech.

Shales also passes on our little FCC scoop (and says something nice about a former TV critic). Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

How do we fight the FCC

: I'm on David Lawrence's show right now talking about how we can all fight the FCC. I want to hear your ideas. How do we all tell the FCC to butt out of our culture and get away from our First Amendment? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

I'll file friend-of-the-court brief with any network willing to fight them. I'll send them call-your-bluff complaints. I'll file FOIA requests to expose their uninvestigations. I've sent letters to my legislators telling them not to vote for the indecent indecency bill when it comes back (in January). What else?
Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Why conservatives should kill the FCC and defend free speech

: The other night on Aaron Brown's show, I argued with the Heritage Foundation's Rebecca Hagelin over the FCC and the First Amendment (I attacked the first and defended the second, which only logically follows these days but she argued for more government regulation of speech from the agency). Today, someone sent me a wonderful post from the Heritage Foundation's very own weblog agreeing with me. In other circumstances, that last sentence might scare me. But today it only makes me gloat. Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

First, it points to a great post by James Gattuso, which says:

But the real question is who should decide this question: five members of the FCC, or 300 million Americans with their remote controls? There’s something frankly unsettling about federal officials opining on whether they like this or that thing shown to Americans. (And, although Powell was careful to say he didn’t know whether FCC rules were violated, the chill in the air was nevertheless apparent.)Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

Advocates of regulation, of course, argue that only “inappropriate” content is at risk. “We just have to draw the line somewhere” is the refrain. Yet, that line is a fuzzy one — and tends inevitably to move in the direction of more and more government control. If there’s any doubt of that, just ask station managers who refused to air Private Ryan last week, out of fear of FCC disfavor. And it unlikely to end there.Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

No one should know this more than conservatives — who have spent years fighting politically-correct speech codes on college campuses and elsewhere. In the end, giving government power to define what is appropriate and acceptable may be as — or more — obnoxious to conservatives as to liberals.

Amen to that. Are you listening, Rebecca? Ace Utilities 2.50 serialz

After pointing to more from another Heritager, the blog concludes wisely:

Bottom line: Defining indecency is awfully difficult, and different people will draw the line on it in very different places. Given the diverging views of the 5-member FCC, laying down a clear, bright-line definition of indecency is probably impossible. Vague standards and vigorous enforcement--what we have now--will necessarily spur broadcasters to act overcautiously and pull the plug on worthwhile programming like "Private Ryan." For conservatives concerned about trash TV, the off-button may be