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May 02, 2002
FCC Says Cursing God ‘OK’
Turns Back on Supreme Court Opinion
By Martha W. Kleder
Culture & Family Institute
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rejected yet another broadcast indecency complaint against a television station. The complaint was filed over the September 19, 2001 repeat airing of The West Wing episode where President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, curses God.
In a scene set in a church, President Bartlet screams “Have I displeased you, you feckless thug?” and “to [H--l] with our punishments! To [H--l] with you!”
Randy Sharp, special projects coordinator for the American Family Association, filed the complaint. He says with this dismissal, the FCC has thumbed its nose at the American people and Congress, whose laws they are charged with enforcing.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear rulings, upholding the Communications Act,” Sharp told C&F Report. “That law bans the utterance of any obscene or profane language.”
According to the FCC’s own online publication Broadcast Programming: Law and Policy on Specific Kinds of Programming, profanity is defined by key court decisions as “words importing an imprecation of divine vengeance or implying divine condemnation, so used as to constitute a public nuisance.”
Charles Kelly, the FCC’s Chief of the Investigations and Hearings Division, responded in an April 18 letter that his hands were tied. While he acknowledged that Section 1464 of Title 18 of the United States Code, prohibits the broadcast of profane language, he added that “we find that the material you describe is not actionably profane.”
Michael Schwartz, CWA’s vice president for government relations, says the complaint against The West Wing episode makes an arguable case.
“I am sure that the majority of this show’s viewers, which is millions of Americans, were severely offended by this language coming into their homes,” he told C&F Report.
“However, I feel the real reason for this violation was not so much an intent by the show’s producers to offend,” he added, “but simply a lack of talent on the part of the show’s writers. They do not have the personal vocabulary, or the time to craft a truly compelling confrontation between a modern-day Job and God without resorting to profanities.”
Still, Sharp says Christians are prone to encourage such abuse by too easily turning the other cheek.
“If is language had been directed at Mohammad or Budda there would have been an uprising over it,” said Sharp. “Our pastors and religious leaders should take a stronger stand against this kind of language.”
“The situation with today’s broadcast media will only continue to get worse until the FCC is forced into taking action,” Sharp added. “Every day it is looking more and more as though that drastic action will have to involve the replacement of Commissioners negligent in their duties and drastic changes to the FCC’s authority and procedures.”
Sharp says needed changes include the FCC having authority to fine the producers of a syndicated program. Currently, the FCC only has jurisdiction over the local broadcasters they license. So, complaints are filed against and the FCC takes action against the locally licensed station, rather than the flagship station from which the broadcast originates, or the network that distributes the show.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is the definition of community standard. Complaints about indecency violations are based on local community standards and filed against local stations. However, the FCC judges those complaints based on a national community standard — a standard they are too quick to admit that they can’t define.
So, while complaints are filed because they violate the community standards of greater Iowa or Tupelo, Mississippi, the FCC rejects those complaints because the material doesn’t offend most residents of New York City or Hollywood.
“One solution to this problem could be to have indecency and obscenity complaints decided by a panel of regular citizens rather than a panel of ‘communications professionals,’” said Sharp. “While those with an eye to a high-paying civilian media job may not when indecency and obscenity crosses the line, everyday moms and dads do.”
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the opinions of bartlet4amrica.org and its staff.
Posted by MorganG at May 2, 2002 11:42 AM