Broadcasters are coming together to urge the F.C.C. to give up it's nonsensical enforcement of stringent indency rules, particularly when they are fleeting indecenies that the broadcasters themselves had nothing to do with. From today's Tom Taylor column...
Fox tells the FCC it’s time to get out of the indecency business. It demands “the full First Amendment protection bestowed on all speakers by the Constitution.” The comments by Fox are perhaps the sharpest of any of the big owners. (Read the filing here.) Though NBC Universal also says that “the agency’s current indecency policies and procedures violate broadcasters’ First Amendment rights and cannot be maintained.” It cites the tools that parents now have to “control the content available in their homes.” But Fox insists it’s time to scrap the whole indecency enforcement mechanism. Though it, like NBCUniversal and the NAB, has the fallback Plan B argument of “fix the rules.” Radio licensees are also imperiled by the confusing state of the FCC rules, and they’re filing comments, too. Emmis and Radio One join TV owners New Vision and Nexstar to suggest improving the way indecency complaints are reviewed...Entercom, Greater Media, Lincoln Financial Media, Beasley, Galaxy, Americom and other radio groups want a return to the previous standard about “fleeting expletives” or on-screen nudity. Their joint filing also says the agency should get out of the indecency enforcement business.
I couldn't agree more. The times have changed, technology has changed, and it's time for the F.C.C. to change this rule. The whole world is still laughing at our ridiculous reaction to the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.
