"The Revolution Starts...Now" (Steve Earle)
Irony Alert: Fox News was instrumental in placing George Bush and his faux-Christian moralism in power, and thus Republican Christian Taliban warriors were placed at the FCC. Now, the public scolds at the FCC have been set loose to bring shame upon the often sleazy Fox Network. Ha.
Fox Television said it won't pay its part of a $91,000 indecency fine levied recently by the Federal Communications Commission for a 2003 episode of a reality TV show that featured strippers and whipped cream.
Fox said in a statement that it won't pay the fine imposed against five of its stations because it believes the FCC's decision that the show in question was indecent was "arbitrary and capricious, inconsistent with precedent, and patently unconstitutional." The network said it will appeal the FCC's decision and proposed fine on behalf of 13 stations -- Fox's own, several stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and some owned by other smaller broadcasters -- that were targeted by the agency for airing the show.
[snip]
Although the fine isn't very large, Fox's decision to oppose the agency suggests that the major broadcast networks including ABC and CBS aren't backing down from their fight against the FCC's indecency enforcement, which has been more aggressive since President Bush took office and resulted in more and larger fines. FCC officials have said the fines are appropriate and they're responding to an increased number of complaints about coarseness on the airwaves.
"We believe in enforcing indecency standards, especially when children are watching," said Mary Diamond, an FCC spokeswoman.
Fox's decision to challenge the FCC's fine comes just a week after the agency scored a victory when the Supreme Court announced it will take up a challenge of the agency's indecency authority this fall. It's the first time in 30 years that the nation's highest court has waded into the contentious issue of broadcast indecency enforcement. In that case, Fox and other broadcasters argued that the FCC's new policy on fining broadcasters for airing "fleeting expletives," or the inadvertent or unscripted airing of a profanity, was inconsistent with previous decisions and violated free-speech principles.
Fox's decision Monday to fight the FCC's latest fine didn't involve dirty words, but when and how it's appropriate to show sexual activity.
Last month, the FCC decided to fine Fox for an April 2003 episode of the short-lived reality show "Married by America." A pile of complaints have backed up at the agency, which often takes a few years to settle cases. The episode featured scenes of contestants licking whipped cream off strippers whose body parts had been digitally obscured. The FCC originally proposed fining every station that aired the show $7,000 -- which would have amounted to a $1.1 million fine -- but backed down and decided to fine only 13 stations that had actual complaints lodged against them. In the past, broadcasters believed that digitally obscuring parts of performers' bodies or bleeping out dirty words would protect them from FCC fines.
[From Fox TV Refuses to Pay Indecency Fine by FCC - WSJ.com]
As much as it pains me, I hope Fox prevails. The FCC should update its policies to worry about the 21st Century, and leave Beaver Cleaver alone. His universe is long dead, let it rest.
(I'd add a Digg link, but Digg is giving errors.)F the CC, and lyrics, if you are curious.
