It is a violation of Federal law to broadcast obscene or indecent
programming. Obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment
and cannot be broadcast at any time.
The default setting for
broadcast television used to be family-oriented, while those desiring
edgier, more explicit fare were free to seek it out. Today's prime time
television programming has become almost uniformly unsuitable for families,
and often directly hostile to their values, making it very difficult for
parents to shield their children and seek out alternative entertainment.
Shows airing on broadcast television use the public airwaves. Because
broadcast channels are available free over the air, it is assumed that
children of any age can access their programming, and during prime time, it
is presumed that they are doing so. According to the Communications
Act of 1934, which sets the guidelines for the use of this public
property, programming must be in the "public interest," i.e., serve a common
publicly recognized good. It has never been supposed by the Supreme Court
that broadcasters have an absolute right to air whatever they wish with no
responsibility to the public interest.
LATEST HIGHLIGHTS
PTC Calls NBC’s Family Hour
Pledge Hypocritical
NBC
Believes Expletives, “MILF” and Men Groping Women are
Appropriate for Families
“We were the first to praise NBC for
returning to the Family Hour, but we must now be the first
to condemn their apparent abandonment of the previous week’s
so-called commitment. We repeat our request to NBC: please
make the Family Hour truly family-friendly. Responsible
television programming is good business."
Parents
Lodge
Indecency
Complaints
Over Nudity
on "Top
Model"
The
Parents
Television
Council
filed an
indecency
complaint
over CW’s "America’s
Next Top
Model" for
showing a
nude model
and is
encouraging
its members
to file
complaints
with the
FCC.
The episode
showed a
model posing
fully nude
for
photographs
while lying
on a bed.
The nudity
was
partially
blurred. The episode
aired on
March 26,
2008, during
the
so-called
"Family
Hour" at 8
pm ET/7 pm
CT.
The
Parents Television Council
filed an indecency complaint
over NBC’s broadcast of a
graphic nude scene during
Las Vegas on February
15, 2008. The episode aired at
9 pm in the Central and Mountain
Time zones.
►
more
The Parents Television Council
called on NBC to change its broadcasting practices in response to NBC’s unedited airing of a four-letter word for female genitalia spoken by Jane Fonda during an interview on the Today show.
►
more
The Parents Television Council praised the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for issuing the maximum fine of $1.43 million against 52 ABC affiliates for airing indecent material in an episode of
NYPD Blue. The broadcast at issue aired on February 25, 2003 at 9:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain Time zones.
►
more
►
To read the entire FCC order, please
CLICK
HERE.
The Parents Television Council chastised ABC
for allowing the “F-word” to air unedited during
Good Morning
America today. Actress Diane
Keaton used the expletive during her interview
with Diane Sawyer during the 8:00 a.m. hour in
the Eastern time zone. The PTC is calling on its
members to file indecency complaints with the
FCC regarding this inappropriate and offensive
broadcast.
►
more
PTC Member Activism Yields Results on Capitol Hill
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the PTC and other family organizations last week, the once-stagnant
"Fleeting Expletives" bill has finally been reported out of committee and has made it to the floor of the Senate for a vote, and today, Senator Stevens, vice chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, called on his colleagues to quickly pass the legislation, saying
"I urge the Senate to take up and pass this important legislation because we must keep the airwaves clean… Children should not be exposed to indecent material by simply watching television or listening to the radio." This legislation is a response to the absurd conclusion reached by a federal court last summer that the F and S words should be OK to be broadcast on the public airwaves during the times that tens of millions of children are in the audience. This is a major development on the road toward a major victory for children and families, and it due solely to the thousands of calls placed last week from concerned parents and grandparents like you
-- so thank you, and congratulations.
PTC Denounces CBS for Plans to Bring Explicit Showtime Programs to Broadcast TV
The Parents Television Council denounced CBS for its plans to bring series from premium cable network Showtime to its broadcast network, as CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves said yesterday. Potential shows that could make their way to CBS are
Weeds, Dexter, and Brotherhood.
"CBS' plan is purely based on corporate greed, not what's good for families or
in the public interest. These Showtime programs contain some of the most
explicit content on television, period. Yet CBS has no qualms about putting
shows that make heroes of serial killers and revel in sick, graphic violence or
those that condone drug use and glorify drug dealers in front of millions of
children and families on broadcast television. These shows are better left on
premium cable where children cannot have as easy access and where families are
not forced to pay for them in order to get other basic cable networks," said PTC
President Tim Winter.
►
more
FCC Allows CBS to Flout Consent Decree; Places
Corporate Interest Above Public Interest
“The FCC has failed its obligation by
letting CBS off the hook – not once, but now a
second time – for airing the same indecent content.
The FCC has chosen CBS’ corporate interest over the
public interest, but the public, not CBS, is the
true and rightful owner of the public airwaves. And
shamefully, the FCC announced its decision the day
after Thanksgiving, trying to bury any public
scrutiny. What kind of signal does this send to
broadcast licensees – and more importantly, what
kind of signal does this send to the public? The
Commission has failed miserably to serve the public
interest,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
►
more
The Parents
Television Council praised the leadership of U.S. Reps. Charles
Pickering (R-Miss.), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah)
and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) to protect children from instances of
indecent content on broadcast television. Congressman Pickering
introduced legislation (H.R. 3559) similar to Sen. Jay
Rockefeller’s (D-WV) that
affirms the FCC’s ability to restrict
the use of profanity and indecent images during times of day
when children are most likely to be in the viewing audience.
Congressmen Pitts, Matheson and McIntyre are original
co-sponsors of the legislation.
►
more
Subsidiary
MyNetworkTV Airs Adult Cable Program on Broadcast During Family Hour
The
Parents Television Council denounced News Corp. and its
broadcast television network, MyNetworkTV, for airing an
adult-targeted, Mature-rated, cable program on broadcast television
at the start of the so-called “Family Hour.” On August 1, the first
two episodes of the new FX drama Damages aired nationally
on MyNetworkTV at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET/PT in place of a previously
scheduled concert. Neither the sexual content nor the violent
content was edited from the MA-rated cable version of these programs
when they re-aired on broadcast, though a few profanities were
deleted.
►
more
The
Parents Television Council has accepted an invitation to join the Federal
Communication Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. Dan Isett, Director
of Corporate and Government Affairs, will be serving on the committee as a
representative for the PTC. ► more
The
Parents Television Council praised the Senate Commerce Committee for taking
the necessary steps today towards protecting children from indecent content
on television. The committee passed a bill introduced by Sen. Jay
Rockefeller (D-WV) that affirmed the FCC’s ability to restrict the use of
profanity and indecent images during times of day when children are most
likely to be in the viewing audience.
► more
The
Parents Television Council spoke out against all attempts to block a
broadcast decency amendment to the Financial Services and General Government
Appropriations bill. The amendment is slated to be introduced and voted on
by the Senate Appropriations Committee today. PTC Advisory Board Member and
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) will offer an amendment that is designed to
protect children from inappropriate content on broadcast television by
reinstating the FCC’s ability to prohibit the use of profanity and indecent
images during times of day when children are most likely to be in the
viewing audience. ► more
Parents
Television Council President Tim Winter testified before the U.S. Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the issue of television
violence and the “Impact of Media Violence on Children” hearing today. He
provided graphic examples of how brutal and gruesome television violence has
become and took the industry to task for not dealing with the problem
responsibly. ► more
PTC President Tim Winter said, “As we predicted several months ago, a court in New York City has cleared the way for television networks to use the F-word and S-word in front of children at any time of the day. By a mere 2-1 margin, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has, in essence, stolen the airwaves from the public and handed ownership over to the broadcast industry.
►
more
►Click here
to send a message about this ruling to your
representatives.
A recent episode of CBS’
NCIS reviewed by the Parents Television Council showed a horrifically violent drug scene during an early evening hour when children are most often found in the viewing audience. Not only did this air at the earliest hour of primetime, but the episode did not carry the proper television rating descriptors to warn parents about the gruesome material or to allow them to block the program using V-chip technology. ►
more
►Click here
to send your warning to the sponsors of NCIS.
During a cutaway shot to the stadium spectators, the camera focused directly on a woman wearing a t-shirt clearly inscribed with the words "F--k Da
Eagles" (without the dashes). The
shot stayed focused on the woman and
her shirt for several seconds. There
can be no doubt that this was an
intentional airing of patently
offensive language on the public
airwaves.
►
more
►Click here to
file a complaint with the FCC about this broadcast.
On Wednesday, December 13, the PTC filed an Amicus Brief
with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City
in support of the FCC's rulings that two instances of profanity aired on
the public airwaves prior to 10:00 PM were, in fact, indecent. Unwilling
to abide by the law and accept additional guidance from the FCC about
what would be found indecent, the major networks have taken those
rulings to federal court and now hope to undermine the very existence of
broadcast decency law.
New to the PTC?
The
Parents
Television
Council
filed an
indecency
complaint
over CW’s "America’s
Next Top
Model" for
showing a
nude model
and is
encouraging
its members
to file
complaints
with the
FCC.
Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the PTC and other family organizations last week, the once-stagnant
"Fleeting Expletives" bill has finally been reported out of committee and has made it to the floor of the Senate for a vote, and today, Senator Stevens, vice chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, called on his colleagues to quickly pass the legislation, saying
"I urge the Senate to take up and pass this important legislation because we must keep the airwaves clean… Children should not be exposed to indecent material by simply watching television or listening to the radio." This legislation is a response to the absurd conclusion reached by a federal court last summer that the F and S words should be OK to be broadcast on the public airwaves during the times that tens of millions of children are in the audience. This is a major development on the road toward a major victory for children and families, and it due solely to the thousands of calls placed last week from concerned parents and grandparents like you
-- so thank you, and congratulations.
