"Kaptain Kerry" <PoweredByHeinz!@Moneybags.com> wrote in message
news:OVKWb.13780$_44.18239@attbi_s52...
"Roger" <rogerfx@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:aCKWb.24179$pE2.16041@newssvr25.news.prodigy.com...
We're saved.
You're probably not.
Thank god.
Something you probably rarely do.
Congress is on the job.
Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. Lack of morals on the liberal Democrats'
part does not, repeat NOT, justify lack of inactivity on Congress' part.
Yeah, those vast media companies like Disney, News Corp., Viacom, and Time
Warner are just a bunch of liberals.
Get over yourself, liberal.
"Steven Litvintchouk" <sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net> wrote in message
news:zNyWb.861$W74.131@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
Lawmakers Vow Crackdown on Raunchy TV
The FCC has received more than 200,000 complaints about the Super Bowl
halftime show in which Justin Timberlake pulled off part of Janet
Jackson's costume and exposed her right breast.
By Lynn Smith
Times Staff Writer
1:55 PM PST, February 11, 2004
WASHINGTON - Frustrated by a lack of tools to deal with broadcasts
like
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's sexy Super Bowl dance, angry
lawmakers told regulators and industry officials that fines would just
be the beginning of a new crackdown on profanity and indecency.
After a day of Capitol Hill hearings on what lawmakers said is a
disturbing trend of raunchy language and graphic violence on
television,
Congress appeared headed toward passing legislation that would
increase
tenfold, to a maximum of $275,000 per violation, the fine on
television
and radio broadcasters who violate Federal Communications Commission
decency rules.
But fines are like "pinpricks on an elephant's hide," said Sen. Frank
Lautenberg of New Jersey, referring to media giants such as CBS
Viacom,
which aired the Super Bowl halftime show.
The show featured a duet by Jackson and Timberlake that ended with
Timberlake tearing off part of Jackson's top and exposing her right
breast to 90 million TV viewers. The singers said the incident was an
accident and have apologized, but it has fueled calls for the
government
to pay more attention to what goes out on the nation's airwaves.
The FCC has received more than 200,000 complaints about the halftime
show.
Lawmakers, including Republicans usually wary of government regulation
and Democrats usually protective of free speech, raised the
possibility
of getting tougher, with such measures as a
"three-strikes-and-you're-off-the-air" law that would revoke the FCC
licenses of repeat offenders. Some suggested that regulations be
expanded to cable programming, which might offer parents choices
through
"a la carte programming."
A group of senators introduced the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act
to
raise the fines for violations of decency rules. A House committee on
Thursday is expected to approve a version of the legislation and is
promising to hold more hearings, including possibly summoning a "shock
jock" to Capitol Hill.
"I understand that Congress has been a reluctant body when legislating
on the issue of speech," said Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the top
Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "But we find
ourselves faced with an industry that has failed to control itself."
At a hearing by the subcommittee on telecommunications and the
Internet,
lawmakers grilled Mel Karmazin, president and chief operating officer
of
CBS' parent company, Viacom Inc.
Senators put FCC Chairman Michael Powell on the defensive, suggesting
that the commission had not done enough to protect children from
profanity and indecency.
Even before Karmazin testified, he was forced to endure more than an
hour of complaining by lawmakers, even some of those usually friendly
to
Hollywood, about the amount of sex, violence and profanity on radio
and
TV.
"We are outraged," said Rep. Mary Bono, a Republican from Palm
Springs.
"The American people have finally said, `Enough!' "
Karmazin said the problem is the vague definition of indecency.
"What we need is a road map," he said. "It is not clear exactly what
is
meant by indecency."
Several lawmakers also took the FCC to task for failing to take more
aggressive action against indecent radio and TV broadcasts.
"How can the f-word not be vulgar?" asked Sen. Sam Brownback
(R-Kansas),
referring to the FCC's holding in December that exonerated NBC for
airing the word, reasoning that it was used as an adjective rather
than
a noun. The commission is considering whether to overrule its
enforcement bureau in that case.
Dingell said he welcomed the FCC's "newfound concern with the level of
sex and violence on television and in enforcing the agency's indecency
rules. Better later than never."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-021104indecent_lat,1,2060671.story?coll=la-home-headlines
[
"What we need is a road map," [Karmazin] said. "It is not clear
exactly
what is meant by indecency." He can't tell that an erotic dance that
ends in the baring of a breast including much of the areola is
indecent????
On this issue, Dems and Repubs are working together--even though this
is
an election year.
In fact, they're working together *because* this is an election year.
They want to have something to show as they run for re-election.
]
-- Steven L.
.
