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Emmis assents to consent, agrees to decree
Following in the footsteps of Clear Channel, but not leaving anywhere near as large a footprint, Emmis Communications has agreed to a consent decree which will enrich the US Treasury by 300K dollars. It will also scrub clean the radio group's file. As part of the deal, Emmis admitted that is broadcast at least some actionably indecent material. Emmis' indecency troubles, so far as we know, are mainly attributable to Chicago morning man Mancow Muller. However, the as-yet-undisclosed indecency pipeline must be full-to-bursting. According the FCC, in terms of announced forfeiture orders, Emmis is liable only for three incidents: a 14K dollar fine issued 1/8/02, a 21K dollar fine issued 11/1/02 and a 7K dollar fine issued 2/8/04. That's a total of only 42K dollars.
Emmis President/CEO Jeff Smulyan said, "Earlier this year we adopted an aggressive policy to ensure that Emmis provides quality, compelling, on-air content that conforms to decency standards. We announced a zero tolerance policy and are taking extraordinary steps to educate our on-air employees and program directors. The consent decree settles all pending indecency-related issues, and allows us to move forward."
Democratic Commissioner and indecency point man Michael Copps, a frequent dissenter in indecency regulatory matters, reluctantly signed off on this one. He said, "Recently, when the Commission entered into a settlement agreement with Clear Channel Communications, I dissented because we had not investigated dozens of pending complaints or even sought information about those broadcasts as part of the settlement discussions. Today, on the other hand, the Commission enters into a consent decree with Emmis Communications in which it has taken at least initial action on the pending citizen complaints."
He continued, "I am, however, troubled by certain aspects of the settlement agreement. I am most concerned about the effect of today's decision on the Commission's license renewal process. The totality of a broadcasters' record is pertinent and should be considered when licenses are renewed. Today's decision takes an entire part of the record off the table. It is bad enough that our re-licensing process has degenerated to the point where the Commission generally does not even look at a station's public file or inquire further into the station's service to its community unless a citizen of that particular community brings an issue to our attention.
Clear Channel signed off on a consent decree earlier this summer, paying 1.75M dollars to have its record expunged (6/10/04 RBR Daily Epaper #113), narrowly topping the previous record, set by Infinity's 1.7M payment in 1995. However, the Infinity payment, unlike those of Emmis and Clear Channel, was unaccompanied by even a partial admission of guilt.
TVBR observation:
There must've been something at least mildly juicy in the hopper. Emmis is not in Clear Channel's or Infinity's liability league but, in addition to paying its current bill without protest or complaint, it is essentially kicking in 258K dollars for its record scrubbing.
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