From Adweek, we read of the power the Christian Taliban has over the FCC. All it took was the complaints of two viewers to get a record fine levied on CBS:
'Trace' in Eye of the Storm : Virtually none of those who complained to the Federal Communications Commission about the drama Without a Trace actually saw the episode in question, CBS affiliates said as they asked the agency to rescind its proposed record indecency fine of $3.3 million.
All of the 4,211 e-mailed complaints came from Web sites operated by the Parents Television Council and the American Family Association, the stations said in a filing on Monday.
In only two of the e-mails did those complaining say they had watched the program, and those two apparently refer to a “brief, out-of-context segment” of the episode that was posted on the Parents Television Council's Web site, the affiliates' filing said.“There were no true complainants from actual viewers,” the stations said. To be valid, complaints must come from an actual viewer in the service area of the station at issue, the filing said.
and piling on, because he is aware of his power
L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, said, “Everything the PTC has said is accurate.
The FCC in proposing the fines of $32,500 upon each of 103 CBS stations said they had ”broadcast material graphically depicting teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.“CBS stations said the episode included flashbacks aimed at portraying risky behavior that showed actors in ”sexually suggestive positions“ but without nudity or coarse language.
So, apparently, the power of email complaints is magnified if one is a member of a repressive minority. Not good news for the rest of us. I wonder if we could get the Dauphin's meaningless press conferences off the air if we were a member of the PTC? And really, only 4,211 ditto-heads stormed the FCC bastille? Seems like Atrios or DKos could whip up that sort of frenzy fairly easily.
And to think we've given up on television as puerile: we've been missing out on orgies!
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