Activists Dominate Content Complaints http://tinyurl.com/5fhoy
In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jacksonâs Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell laid some startling statistics on U.S. senators.
The number of indecency complaints had soared dramatically to more than 240,000 in the previous year, Powell said. The figure was up from roughly 14,000 in 2002, and from fewer than 350 in each of the two previous years. There was, Powell said, âa dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.â
What Powell did not revealâapparently because he was unawareâwas the source of the complaints. According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003â99.8 percentâwere filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group.
This year, the trend has continued, and perhaps intensified.
Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency complaintsâaside from those concerning the Janet Jackson âwardrobe malfunctionâ during the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBSâ were brought by the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767 complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year; the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000, according to commissionersâ statements.)
And an editorial http://tinyurl.com/6eo99
If the FCC takes action only after the public complains -- and it's clear now that only members of the Parents Television Council are complaining -- then to counterbalance their worries about what constitutes indecency, less reactionary viewers will now have to rise from the couch and join the debate.
So much for television being passive, escapist entertainment.
And goodbye to the quaint notion that you can vote with your remote. Apparently, freedom of choice is out of vogue. Using the government to tell everyone else what they can and can't watch is the new black.
I loathe politics. On all sides. I'd rather do almost anything than involve myself in that tainted, broken process. But neither do I want the Parents Television Council wagging the tail of the dog that bites the writer's hand in Hollywood.
So I'm going to write an e-mail to Michael Powell (you can, too, right here http://tinyurl.com/6fwva) and tell him these things:
-- "I'm a relatively upstanding citizen. I have two small kids. They only watch what I let them.
-- "I know how to use my TV remote. I know how to turn my television off.
-- "On my television, I like violence. I like nudity. I like guns going off. I like people having sex. I like swearing. I like shows with gay people in them. I like shows where gay people have sex. I like shows where gay people shoot guns. And swear. I like stuff that blows up.
-- "I also like 'Little Bear.' And shows about architecture and design. And C-SPAN. If that helps.
-- "I hope this e-mail offsets another from the Parents Television Council. I hope you get a lot more just like this. Because I want the PTC out of my living room. I've got a sneaking suspicion they're going to end up in my bedroom.
-- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
