Where things stand on indecency
The tangled web that is broadcast indecency enforcement is even more tangled than ever before after the FCC and Viacom agreed to veer off from a total head-on collision in the game of regulatory chicken they were playing.
Although the courts have upheld the FCC's right to impose decency standards on broadcast speech, we do not know of any specific case which has ever gone through a fully-pressed court challenge. Even though the FCC went to great pains to spell out the rules at the beginning of Michael Powell's ascension to the chair, the rules remain murky, and consistent enforcement is almost an impossibility.
We had thought that Viacom's pledge to stand and fight was a general vow. Now it looks like its battle will be a very narrow one, based not on a challenge of the indecency rules in general, but on whether or not the Janet Jackson incident fits into those rules.
We still expect Congress to finally get its act together and drive the price of indecency up, probably to the half-million level that was a feature of most of the versions kicked around Capitol Hill last year.
The FCC should be interesting. It avoided a major collision with Viacom, but at the same time, by split decision, exonerated some troublesome programming that set the bar for what is considered indecency on television rather high. Hey, "Keen Eddie," a prostitute harvesting semen from a race horse is OK as long as you don't actually show her doing it and watch your language!
Chairman Powell, Democrat Jonathan Adelstein and Republican Kathleen Abernathy came down on the side of repugnant but not actionable, while Democrat Michael Copps and Republican Kevin Martin would have levied a fine.
We'd say this ruling bodes well for ABC after its Monday Night Football/"Desperate Housewives" incident. But it still leaves us scratching our heads over the upcoming ruling on "Saving Private Ryan."
We fully expect a shakeup in the FCC commissioner lineup in the coming months, so the 3-2 margin could easily change to 2-3.
Finally, without even looking, we are sure that the many watchdog organizations which flood the FCC and Capitol Hill with protests will not be happy with the "Keen Eddie" ruling. A quick look at the website for Parents Television Council confirms this. The PTC is accusing the FCC of attempting to cloak the decision in the obscurity of a holiday weekend, and promises to shine a bright spotlight on it in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be a huge issue again throughout the coming year.
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