Ohio Family Group Sees Positive Responses from FCC Post-Janet Jackson Debacle
by Rusty Pugh
March 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Cincinnati-based pro-family group was among a coalition that recently met with the FCC to discuss indecency on the nation's airwaves.For the first time since the Janet Jackson breast-baring incident during the Super Bowl threw broadcast indecency laws to the forefront of congressional hearings, members of the Federal Communications Commission met with pro-family groups to discuss policy changes that could avert future violations.
Among those pro-family was Citizens for Community Values, a group that promotes Judeo-Christian moral values and pro-family legislation. CCV president Phil Burress came away from the meeting with optimism.
"We were very encouraged by these two representatives from the FCC about their desire to enforce indecency standards," Burress says. "Most people don't realize that in FCC v. Pacific in 1978, Supreme Court Justice Stevens said that the broadcast medium has less First Amendment protection than any other form of communication -- meaning that indecency is illegal [and] is not protected by the First Amendment."
The CCV spokesman points out that indecency on television and radio is illegal between the hours of 6:00 in the morning and 10:00 in the evening.
"The laws are on the books, [but] they haven't been enforced -- and now finally they are," he says, adding that he is confident the rules will now be taken more seriously.
And despite the brouhaha over the Super Bowl halftime performance involving entertainers Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, Burress detects a silver lining.
"The Janet Jackson flap was good in a sense that it heightened the public awareness to the problem we had been pointing to for some time," he says. "MTV [which sponsored and organized the halftime show] attempted to push their brand of morality on the nation -- and it appears Congress and the FCC aren't willing to accept it."
