LOS ANGELES (July 19, 2007) – 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.
“We applaud
the Senate Commerce Committee, and especially the bipartisan
leadership of Senators Rockefeller, Inouye, Stevens, and Pryor, for
putting the interests of families above the self-serving interests
of the broadcast industry. Further, the leadership of Senator
Brownback in his attempt to pass similar legislation was of
tremendous value. It is clearly in the interest of children and
families that language like the ‘F-word’ and ‘S-word’ should
considered indecent during hours when children are in the viewing
audience. It is clearly in the interest of children and families
that nudity and inappropriate sexual content -- such as the infamous
Super Bowl strip show -- should not be shown on television before 10
pm. The public interest was clearly served by today’s bipartisan
Senate action, and we now call on the full Senate to vote on this
measure before the August recess,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“Through
their lawsuits asserting the ‘right’ to air profanity during the
hours when children are in the audience, and the absurd notion that
a striptease during the Super Bowl is not indecent, the broadcast
networks continue to show they are not responsible stewards of the
public airwaves; but as licensees, the responsibility is theirs.
The FCC’s authority to enforce common sense decency standards, which
were recently stripped by two judges in New York City, must be
restored. Today’s action is a significant step in the right
direction.”
New to the PTC?
