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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2007
However, less than a month after the Consent
Decree was signed, CBS re-aired a Without a Trace episode
that prompted thousands of indecency complaints due to graphic
scenes of a teen orgy party. The episode aired on December 31,
2004 during the 9:00 pm MT hour on KUTV. This resulted in a NAL
issued by the FCC on March 15, 2006. Members of the PTC Salt
Lake/Provo Chapter and the Cache Valley Chapter filed petitions
in August 2006 with the FCC to revoke the broadcast license of
KUTV, the CBS owned-and-operated affiliate in Salt Lake City,
Utah, for airing content that violated the broadcast decency
law. To date, CBS has taken no remedial action following the
FCC’s issuance of an NAL and the network publicly defended its
inaction this week.
Utah chapter member Andrea Gritton, who filed a
petition against KUTV, stated, “Washington
insiders need to listen to us, not the high-powered lobbyists
employed by CBS. Utah has well-known community standards of
decency. In fact, 26 local governments from all over Utah have
passed resolutions calling on their citizens and businesses, and
all public and private institutions, to adopt family-friendly
and child-appropriate standards. I believe that these standards
were clearly violated during the Super Bowl and continue to be
violated on shows like Without a Trace. The FCC should
review KUTV’s broadcast license for violating our community’s
decency standards.”
According to PTC President Tim Winter, “CBS’
response to the FCC’s inquiry is utterly disgraceful. By saying
they did nothing wrong by not taking any action after receiving
the NAL, they have openly and defiantly breached both the spirit
and the letter of the agreement that they freely negotiated with
the FCC. Remember that the CBS Consent Decree summarily
dismissed thousands of broadcast indecency complaints related to
the original broadcast of the Without a Trace episode at
issue; so then how could its re-airing not trigger the remedial
action specified in the Consent Decree? The PTC commends its
Utah chapter members for their leadership on this issue and
calls on the FCC to review each and every broadcast license held
by CBS, beginning with its owned-and-operated television station
in Salt Lake City, KUTV.”
To schedule an
interview with a PTC representative, please contact Kelly Oliver
(ext. 140) or Megan Franko (ext. 148) at (703) 683-5004.
The Parents Television Council™ (www.parentstv.org®)
is a non-partisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment.
It was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence
and profanity on television and in other media. This national
grassroots organization has over one million members across the
United States, and works with television producers, broadcasters,
networks and sponsors in an effort to stem the flow of harmful and
negative messages targeted to children. The PTC also works with
elected and appointed government officials to enforce broadcast
decency standards. Most importantly, the PTC produces critical
research and publications documenting the dramatic increase in sex,
violence and profanity in entertainment. This information is
provided free of charge so parents can make informed viewing choices
for their own families.
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New to the PTC?
SALT LAKE CITY (October 25, 2007) – The
Parents
Television Council™ grassroots
chapters in Utah are urging the FCC to review the license of CBS
affiliate, KUTV in Utah, for failing to adhere to its community
standards of decency. This week, CBS offered a written excuse
for its failure to implement terms of a Consent Decree it
negotiated with the FCC in November of 2004. Under the terms of
the Consent Decree, CBS agreed to pay a fine and take remedial
action in the event that it violated the broadcast decency law
and received a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) from the FCC.
In effect, the FCC summarily dismissed tens of thousands of
broadcast indecency complaints that were filed by the public,
many coming from Utah citizens.