An Activist's Primer for Filing FCC Broadcast Complaints
by AFA Journal
February 3, 2005
(AgapePress) - In recent years the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been flooded with complaints from frustrated parents who believe broadcasters have lost touch with American families.While lewd sexual content, profane language and gratuitous violence are common fare on prime-time network television, radio "shock jocks" spread profanity and on-air antics that cross the line of common decency.
Because radio and network TV are licensed to "serve the public interest," stations can be held accountable for the content they air. If a local broadcaster violates decency rules, it is subject to fines and the loss of its broadcast license.
The American Family Association founded OneMillionMoms.com (OMM) and OneMillionDads.com (OMD) as an aid for concerned parents who want to protest broadcast indecency. In November 2004 alone, OMM and OMD helped more than 39,000 parents file complaints against ABC and NBC.
"When your local radio or network stations have violated community standards by broadcasting indecency, take heart," says OMM administrator Randy Sharp. "There is something you can do."
Understanding the FCC
With the growing concern regarding TV's slide into the gutter, it is imperative that viewers understand what kind of content violates the rules and what one person can do about it.
It is a violation of federal law to broadcast obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to broadcast indecent or profane programming between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Congress has given the FCC responsibility for enforcing such broadcast laws.
Unfortunately, there is no such governance over cable TV because it does not operate over the air waves, which are considered property of the citizenry.
There are subtle lines that differentiate between what is meant by obscene, indecent, and profane.
Obscenity. The FCC uses a definition of obscenity from Miller v. California (U.S. Supreme Court, 1973), which ruled, "A work may be subject to state regulation where that work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex; portrays, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and, taken as a whole, does not have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Indecency. The FCC defines broadcast indecency as "language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community broadcast standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities."
The courts have held that indecent material is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be banned entirely, but it may be restricted in order to avoid broadcast on TV or radio when children are likely to be in the audience. Offensive sexual or excretory references are examples of material that might be deemed indecent.
Profanity. The FCC defines profanity as language that "denote[s] certain of those personally reviling epithets naturally tending to provoke violent resentment or denoting language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance." Like indecency, profanity is prohibited on broadcast radio and television from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Meaning and context are also critical elements in the FCC process of determining indecency and profanity.
Essential Information
Accordingly, the FCC asks complainants to provide three basic pieces of information:
- Information regarding the details of what was actually said (or depicted) during the allegedly indecent, profane or obscene broadcast. The complainant may submit a significant excerpt of the program describing what was actually said (or depicted) or a full or partial recording (e.g., tape) or transcript of the material.
In whatever form the complainant decides to provide the information, it must be sufficiently detailed so the FCC can determine the words and language actually used during the broadcast and the context of those words or language. Moreover, the FCC must know the context when analyzing whether specific, isolated words are indecent or profane.
- The date and time of the broadcast. It is necessary that complainants provide the date and time when the material in question was broadcast.
- The call letters of the station involved must be included.
The American Family Association website provides contact information for the FCC and its commissioners under its "Entertainment Industry" issue area.
This article appeared in the January 2005 issue of AFA Journal, a publication of the American Family Association.
