FCC-less in Seattle
I'm presenting this article as a follow up to the previous entry ("I read the news today, old boy"). It appeared in the Seattle Times on November 22, 2004.
Dirty shame: FCC's real intentions are showing
by Kay McFadden
They saw that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves to cover themselves.
And it wasn't pretty.
Since Nov. 2, the battle over indecency on the airwaves has been elevated to a level that suggests the issue was more than election-year pandering. The emphasis on values that helped re-elect President Bush is, to some, endorsement for a crusade that may eclipse the one against terrorism in Iraq.
But so far, what's most immoral is the spectacle of politicians and special-interest groups trying to hide all the contradictions inherent in deciding what's too dirty for America and using it as a distraction to cover the bigger threat of media consolidation.
Last week, the National Football League dropped a yellow flag on ABC for the network's "Monday Night Football" pre-game promotion featuring "Desperate Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan.
In the decidedly tongue-in-cheek promo, Sheridan pretends to seduce Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens. When Owens resists, she drops her towel and throws herself at him. He decides to skip the game.
Although none of it was graphic, the implication to the NFL was unmistakable: Women cannot be seen interfering with the playing of sports.
OK, just kidding.
"ABC's opening was inappropriate and unsuitable for our 'Monday Night Football' audience," said the NFL's formal statement. "While ABC may have gained attention for one of its other shows, the NFL and its fans lost."
Actually, the fans didn't lose that much. They've still got semi-clad cheerleaders on the sidelines and ads with women wrestling for beers, not to mention that family-friendly amusement, "Guess Which Bad Word Mr. Coach Is Yelling."
In a CNBC interview, FCC Chairman Michael Powell took the tone of a scolding parent, saying he was disappointed in ABC and "I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud."
It seems presumptuous to say what Uncle Walt would feel. He drew animals that wore jackets but not pants. He may have appreciated the Disney profits boosted by "Desperate Housewives," which viewers made No. 2 in the latest Nielsen ratings.
The same week the NFL forced ABC to eat dirt at the line of scrimmage, a local TV station in Cleveland launched its own sweeps-promo experiment in human nature.
WOIO-TV aired an 11 p.m. newscast that included a story about a performance artist whose installation features the naked bodies of thousands of Ohioans.
And WOIO anchor Sharon Reed covered the story by getting uncovered, as in totally nude. Now, that's a first person-story. (It was legal because current FCC rules allow post-10 p.m. broadcasts of so-called indecent material.)
Need we add the newscast went over well? To quote trade-industry magazine Broadcasting & Cable, "Buff Broadcast Breaks Record."
As if efforts to craft a nationalized clampdown on indecency and obscenity aren't hampered enough by our diversity, even conservative watchdogs have trouble agreeing.
ABC's Veterans Day broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan" was dropped by nearly 50 affiliate stations afraid of getting FCC fines because of the movie's language and violence. (We apparently did not storm Normandy with "Please" and "Thank you.")
The powerful Parents Television Council, which led the outcry against Janet Jackson's Super Bowl breast and backed whopping FCC fines against CBS-owned stations and parent Viacom, gave the OK to "Saving Private Ryan."
After it aired, however, the less powerful and more right-wing American Family Association filed a complaint with the FCC condemning the film's unedited broadcast.
In the same contested vein, faith-based groups have condemned forcing the cable industry to offer à la carte channels - i.e., the choice of individual channels rather than the current, obligatory package deal.
The Faith and Family Coalition supported an FCC finding that "smaller and specialty programmers, such as religious programmers" would lose out in the marketplace.
Yet the PTC just issued a report supporting à la carte because it would enable the unbundling of mature-content channels and therefore protect kids from obscene content, or at least force them to watch it at their friends' houses during sleepovers.
Clearly, nothing is clear about moral values, even among the Red States. That's why local taste remains the best determinant of what's tolerable.
Strangely enough, there is one issue on which both Red and Blue States agree: The treacherous effect of media consolidation.
While the FCC has turned activist regarding indecency, the agency hasn't been nearly as aggressive in protecting our range of selections.
Earlier this year, a federal court halted the enactment of FCC rules that would have raised the cap on single ownership of TV stations from 39 to 45 percent of the nation's stations, and eliminated the ban on owning a newspaper and station in the same market.
The FCC was ordered to rewrite the rules. As yet, though, it hasn't revealed its master plan for a process that this time should be wide open to public input.
The concern over indecency and obscenity on the air is valid. TV's increasingly coarse attitude toward sex and language has had a palpable effect on private behavior.
Let's just hope it doesn't become a fig leaf for the FCC's semi-secret pursuit of an agenda that would shrink our choices - to safeguard not children, but the large media conglomerates that pour money into congressional and White House coffers.
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