Help Enforce Broadcast Decency
- Jul 30, 2008 - 2
A federal court has in effect given the green light for broadcast television networks to air indecent material any hour of the day.
That’s why Congress must act now on the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780)!
Earlier this month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a $550,000 fine imposed on CBS by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for airing the now infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004. According to the court, a “fleeting image,” such as Jackson’s bared breast, does not qualify as indecent content. This egregious decision ignores more than a half-million complaints to the FCC and leaves that agency virtually powerless to enforce a broadcast indecency bill passed by Congress with your help in 2006.
It’s time to take back the airwaves while we still can!
If you agree, please call Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) and urge him to do everything in his power to have Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) bring the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780) to the Senate floor immediately.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV
(202) 224-6472
Sen. Rockefeller authored the bipartisan bill, which reaffirms Congress’ support to enforce existing indecency laws, but has not taken any steps to have it moved to the floor. The bill has already been passed in committee, and the Senate could vote on it today if it wanted to!
I realize that I just asked you to take action on another issue, but the need to restore the FCC’s power to fine broadcasters for airing indecent content is urgent. We need to let the Senate know that lip service to our values is simply not enough.
Thank you for taking steps to help prevent broadcast television from plunging our children into an unguarded media cesspool.
For more information:
Court throws out fine for indecent ‘wardrobe malfunction’
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comments (post your own) feed
1 On Aug 19th, 2008, at 10:55am, eric wrote:
Such hysterical over-reaction to a fleeting image of less than a second demonstrates bizarre [and unhealthy] fascination the Baptist sect has with the human body! Using this as a platform to acheive censorous control of public airwaves really IS broadcast indecency.
2 On Oct 15th, 2008, at 12:37pm, Frank Johnson wrote:
If anyone has a “bizarre [and unhealthy] fascination ... with the human body” it surely is not “the Baptist sect.” Public modesty regarding the human body has been a feature of civilized society since the fall of humanity (though I realize this is a theologically shaped statement). It seems that this “unhealthy fascination” with the human body is being promoted by those who stand to profit from the body’s (over)exposure. Our society has always practiced imposed restraint on public expressions of sexuality. What this legislation intends is that the laws already on the books simply be enforced. Good idea.