Activists Dominate Content Complaints
December 06, 2004
By Todd Shields

In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell laid some startling statistics on U.S. senators.

The number of indecency complaints had soared dramatically to more than 240,000 in the previous year, Powell said. The figure was up from roughly 14,000 in 2002, and from fewer than 350 in each of the two previous years. There was, Powell said, “a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.”

What Powell did not reveal—apparently because he was unaware—was the source of the complaints. According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003—99.8 percent—were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group.

This year, the trend has continued, and perhaps intensified.

Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency complaints—aside from those concerning the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBS— were brought by the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767 complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year; the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000, according to commissioners’ statements.)

The prominent role played by the PTC has raised concerns among critics of the FCC’s crackdown on indecency. “It means that really a tiny minority with a very focused political agenda is trying to censor American television and radio,” said Jonathan Rintels, president and executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, an artists’ advocacy group.

PTC officials disagree.

“I wish we had that much power,” said Lara Mahaney, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based group. Mahaney said the issue should not be the source of complaints, but whether programming violates federal law prohibiting the broadcast of indecent matter when children are likely to be watching. “Why does it matter how the complaints come?” Mahaney said. “If the networks haven’t done anything illegal, if they haven’t done anything indecent, why do they care what we say?”

Powell, who said during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas in April that he was unsure how many complaints come from organized groups, addressed the question in an op-ed piece in The New York Times last Friday.

“Advocacy groups do generate many complaints, as our critics note, but that’s not unusual in today’s Internet world…that fact does not minimize the merits of the groups’ concerns,” Powell wrote.

Powell’s fellow Republican commissioner, Kathleen Abernathy, last week said that the agency does not let the number or the sources of complaints determine its indecency findings. “As long as you’re following precedents and the law, it shouldn’t matter,” Abernathy told Mediaweek.

At issue is a process that once relied upon aggrieved listeners and viewers contacting the FCC, but that increasingly is driven by organized groups with a focus on programming content. The FCC does not monitor programming for fear of assuming a role as national censor; it relies on complaints to initiate its indecency proceedings.

So far this year, the system has resulted in millions of dollars in settlements and proposed fines against broadcasters.

In such a system, even the number of complaints becomes an object of contention. For example, the agency on Oct. 12, in proposing fines of nearly $1.2 million against Fox Broadcasting and its affiliates, said it received 159 complaints against Married by America, which featured strippers partly obscured by pixilation.

But when asked, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau said it could find only 90 complaints from 23 individuals. (The smaller total was first reported by Internet-based TV writer Jeff Jarvis; Mediaweek independently obtained the Enforcement Bureau’s calculation.)

And Fox, in a filing last Friday, told the FCC that it should rescind the proposed fines, in part because the low number of complaints fell far short of indicating that community standards had been violated.

“All but four of the complaints were identical…and only one complainant professed even to have watched the program,” Fox said. It said the network and its stations had received 34 comments, “a miniscule total for a show that had a national audience of 5.1 million households.”

Even as some question whether the FCC should let the views of 23 people lead to fines, others take the agency to task for routinely failing to account for many of the complaints it receives. “Over 4,000 people filed a complaint against Married by America. Where do the complaints go?” asked the PTC’s Mahaney.

The PTC has worked hard to achieve its influence over broadcast content. Founded in 1995 by longtime conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III, it set out to make an impact in 2003, including what it called “a massive, coordinated and determined campaign” for more action by the FCC against broadcast indecency. “We delivered on that promise,” Bozell said in the group’s annual report.

The document listed tools developed by the PTC, including continual monitoring and archiving of broadcast network programs and “cutting-edge technology to make it easier for members to contact program sponsors, the FCC, or the networks directly with a simple click of the button.”

The result, the group said, was “a more than 2,400 percent increase in online activism.”
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http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/head ... 1000731656

I should be outraged by this, but I've heard quite enough

Because free-market communications should not be regulated by strict Christian standards, you stupid bitch.

If anyone wonders why the separation between church and state should be maintained (and I'm not talking about ridiculous arguments about nativity scenes), this is it.

precisely. i feel like several times a day now i am reminded of how not separated it really is... its such a shame.

I don't know whether to or at this article.

However, to be fair:



I'm not seeing where religion is playing a role in the PTC's action. I also went to their website for a few seconds, and still didn't see anything to that regard.

However, I'll take a hefty stab at the quote Darrin picked out:



They care what you say because you are a potential customer. If you don't like what what they show, then write an angry letter to them, boycott them, or organize a negative PR campaign, I have no problem with that. HOWEVER, do NOT go running off to Big Brother to force your tastes down other's throats.

There should not be any indecency laws. Ridiculous.

I don't see any problem with the existance of this group. I do see a problem with the FCC bowing to their requests, however.

I do believe that indecent shows should come with a warning.

That and the networks are being fined heavily because the line between decent and otherwise is becoming thiner and thiner every day. It's all about the money.

Of course the FCC is going to react to every complaint, how else would it be funded?

Question: How many people in America belong to this group? If these were just random individuals filing complaints on there own, would it be any different?

These people aren't trying to censor anything. They don't have that power. All they are doing is enforcing FCC rules and regulations. To me, this goes down to whether we should have an FCC. And that turns to, do I want my future kids to see boobs on a half time show?

And those rules are based on censorship.



Well, the FCC is more than just this, but I've already stated that they shouldn't have a duty in this regard.



Personally, I would have no problem with it.

If you're concerned of what the state of TV would be, take a look at cable TV, whose content isn't regulated. Not very shocking over there, either. Even HBO and the like keep it tasteful.

Anybody else see that the OPENING CEREMONIES OF THE 2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS IS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR INDECENCY? Ridiculous.

I feel the FCC should only take action when over 50% of the audience watching a certain show complains.

My kids will see my boobs when I breast-feed them.

Christ, they're just boobs. Big deal.

Cable TV not being regulated makes me think that no TV should be regulated. The idea that the airwaves are public domain is just stupid. I mean, what the hell is the difference between TV programming that travels through the ground and TV programming that travels through the air?

We talked about something like this with Desperate Housewives. And I think that Desperate Housewives vs. The Half Time Show is a perfect example.

See, we're all different. Some people don't have a problem with their kids seeing boobies. Yeah, they are just boobs, and perfectly natural, but I still would not want my children seeing them. Would you show your children porno? Would you let your child watch what is on HBO late night? Skinemax? Again, I wouldn't.

But you see, there's a difference between Desperate Housewives and cable television in general. I already know before hand what I'm getting with Desperate Housewives, HBO, and other cable TV. I know that sleazyness, nudity, and vulgar language will exist in it. If I know it exists, I can regulate my own children, and I can just change the channel. However, when I watch the Superbowl, I WANT TO WATCH FOOTBALL DAMMIT! And I want my kids to watch it. And of course the witty commercials. I don't want to watch boobs. If I want to watch, or let my children watch boobs, I'll watch HBO latenight. Perhaps that further communicates my thoughts on Janets titty.

And see, I think that the FCC may have its place in such situations. Keeping surprise boobs out of my eyes.

I don't see the problem with what this group is doing. If you disagree with them, you are welcome to use the exact same methods to make sure this doesn't happen. Since this is apparently only one group that is sending all of these complaints, there are presumably many people who disagree with them and could write letters and whatnot as well. Start a campaign that's the antithesis to the Parents Television Council if you're so concerned.

I would post a reply to this, but I'll just keep my foot out of my mouth.

I'm quite content with "heh, stupid Americans", which would be my stock answer to 90% of threads in N&D if I could be bothered replying to all of them, since after a while it dawned on me that it's quite sad since there are so many instances of these cases.

Pluralism in action!

I agree with you entirely. Gobbless the Libertarian party.

I guarantee you that if you ask them in private, religion will be all over the place. They're just efficient at hiding it.

The FCC should be disintegrated entirely.

Hm, I'm not sure where we disagree. I definitely agree that free speech one doesn't like is best combatted by more free speech. My only problem is when they go to the government to force their tastes upon others.

Perhaps there is more wrong with the law itself than the group taking advantage of it--an argument could be made in that realm.

Well Darrin, looks like your suspicions may be correct:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... time_faith

Study: Religion Portrayed Negatively on TV

Fri Dec 17, 9:01 AM ET

NEW YORK - Television entertainment programs mention God more often than they did in the mid-1990s but tend to depict organized religion negatively, a study released Thursday said.

The Parents Television Council watched every hour of prime-time on the broadcast networks during the 2003-04 season and logged 2,344 treatments of religion. They judged 22 percent of the mentions positive, 24 percent negative and the rest neutral.

The conservative group's last study, released in 1997, found far fewer mentions of the topic — an average of once per hour compared to three times per hour last season.

But any mention of a religious institution or member of the clergy was at least twice as likely to be negative than positive, the council said.

"Ninety percent of the American people believes in God," said Brent Bozell, the council's president. "It is an important issue to most people. Hollywood is attacking the very thing that they consider important in their own lives. Perhaps Hollywood ought to be changing its world view."

Negative examples varied widely: from comic Jimmy Kimmel joking on the American Music Awards that winners should resist thanking God, to a Catholic priest admitting on "The Practice" that he had had sex with a woman who was later murdered.

Well-publicized scandals about pedophile priests made Catholics particularly vulnerable, the council found.

"Catholicism is in the bulls-eye of the entertainment medium," Bozell said.

His group singled out NBC, saying its mentions of religion were nearly 10 time more likely to be negative than positive. "Law & Order" episodes, which tend to have stories ripped from the headlines, helped skew those numbers, the group said.

Bozell noted, however, that one of the negative NBC examples the PTC cited — Karen on "Will & Grace" quipping, "let's go buy that historic church and turn it into a gay bar" — reflected as poorly on the character as on religion.

An NBC spokeswoman, Shannon Jacobs, said the network hadn't seen the study but rejected its conclusion. NBC's programming reflects the diversity of its audience, she said.

"It is never our intention to appear, nor do we accept the notion that we are, anti-religious," she said.

Among the positive examples, the PTC cites a "JAG" episode where a character prays to God to say hello to her dead mother, and an "American Dreams" episode where an actor playing a medical student says a surgery is partially in God's hands.

Bozell said he's not suggesting that all television programming "ought to be about St. Teresa" or even be all positive about religion, but that Hollywood should keep in mind the overall picture it presents to viewers.

When a large number of your priests are found to have molested young children, then that was covered up by higher ups in the Catholic church, it's no surprise they're being mentioned negatively. If ever there was a religion that deserved a bad reputation, it's Catholicism, the religion of guilt, money, and hypocrisy. I'm glad my mother was smart enough to realize this years ago and not ram it down mine and my brothers' throats like most Catholic families do.