The Parents Television Council offered congratulations to the new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and new FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, who were confirmed by the U.S. Senate yesterday.
During their confirmation hearings, both Wheeler and O'Rielly indicated that they would enforce the federal broadcast decency law and millions of families now expect them to fulfill their promise.
“The PTC offers its congratulations to Mr. Wheeler and Mr. O’Rielly on their new positions at the FCC. We expect that they will put the interests of children and families first as they work on broadcast indecency issues. We know that Mr. Wheeler agrees with millions of Americans that there’s an indecency problem on the public airwaves. As the leader of the FCC, we trust that he will enforce the current law as he is obliged to do,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“Given the outpouring of support for the broadcast indecency law by the American people, we urge Mr. Wheeler and the rest of the Commission to strike down a proposal issued by the previous FCC chairman to only pursue ‘egregious’ broadcast indecency complaints. Only pursuing select complaints from the public about indecent TV or radio content will lead to broadcasters pushing the decency limits even further – including the airing of nudity or harsh profanity when millions of children are in the audience. This must not happen. We trust that Mr. Wheeler will put the interests of families first on this one vs. the desires of the entertainment industry.”
