Decency Advocate: ABC's Ryan Broadcast Flouted FCC Rules -- What Now?

by Rusty Pugh
November 17, 2004

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(AgapePress) - A pro-family activist says ABC and many of its affiliates across the U.S. knowingly violated federal law by airing a movie filled with obscene language. The question that remains now is what, if anything, will be done about it.

When ABC recently chose to air the movie Saving Private Ryan, complete and unedited, during prime time, the network knew full well the potential ramifications of airing the graphic war picture, with all its violent imagery and R-rated language intact. The movie's adult content, particularly its liberal use of profanity, has generated a liberal amount of protest, with thousands of complaints to the federal authorities coming from American Family Association supporters alone.

Randy Sharp

Randy Sharp is AFA's special projects director and the editor of the OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com activism websites. He says the law is clear on this issue, and parents all across America are adamant that it is time for the Federal Communications Commission to do its job.

"The bottom line is there's a law that prohibits the use of this language during prime-time viewing hours," Sharp says, "and ABC violated that law. So one of two things has to happen: either ABC and the other networks need to comply with the law, or the law has to be changed."

And the latter is unlikely to happen, the pro-family spokesman contends, "because American parents are tired of this kind of filth coming over the airwaves." So far, Sharp notes, AFA supporters have flooded the FCC with more than 16,000 complaints about the airing of Saving Private Ryan. The real question now, he says, is how will the government agency respond.

"Why should the FCC even exist," Sharp wonders, "if it does nothing to stop this kind of programming from pouring into American homes?" AFA's special projects director says the nation's public is more aware of this problem than ever, so the FCC is going to face increasing pressure to do its job, rather than be just another ineffective government bureaucracy.