"Families across America are celebrating this
major victory. They have spoken loudly and clearly to Congress.
They are fed up with the sexually raunchy and gratuitously
violent content that's broadcast over the public airwaves,
particularly during hours when millions of children are in the
viewing audience. We applaud the U.S. House for listening and
acting to hold broadcasters responsible for their violations of
the law," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC™.
"The FCC will now have the authority to impose
meaningful, punitive fines when the indecency law is broken. We
hope that the hefty fines will cause the multi-billion dollar
broadcast networks finally to take the law seriously.
"We have documented and proven that the ratings
system and V-chip are fatally flawed and do nothing to protect
children from the barrage of filth that Hollywood is dumping on
the public airwaves, oftentimes aiming it directly at
impressionable youngsters. The V-chip relies on the flawed
ratings system. The ratings are inconsistent, inaccurate,
arbitrary and unreliable, not just across the various networks
but even within networks themselves. Parents simply cannot rely
on these to protect their children.
"Instead, the networks must have a significant
financial penalty for violating the indecency law and the public
trust. We certainly hope that this legislation will provide
such a deterrent, and that President Bush will quickly sign this
bill into law as he has promised," concluded Bozell.
