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Colbert Report's Word on Indecency: Great F***ing Idea
The battle against obscenity remains an on-going media trend to watch. Or, on the flip side, anti-obscenity forces don't want you to watch it.
Both houses of Congress have voted in favor of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, which would increase the maximum fine that the Federal Communications Commission can impose for an indecent broadcast by 10 times from $32,500 to $325,000 each violation.
F*ck!
Stephen Colbert is ready to do his American part and you can bet your sweet ass he brought out his checkbook to prove it on last night's Colbert Report installment of the daily "Word". Click here for the videocast.
As Colbert says, somethings just don't belong on television (Tucker Carlson). And Congress should not interfere with the private lives of Americans, except when it comes with whom we marry, if and how we can protest and which positions are approved for sexual relations (the "abstinence" position).
This means shaved beavers are just not appropriate for TV.
The Senate approved the bill on May 18 by unanimous consent, and the House voted 399-35 (!) in favor of it on June 7. President George W. Bush said in a June 7 statement that the legislation would “make television and radio more family friendly by allowing the FCC to impose stiffer fines on broadcasters who air obscene or indecent programming.”
The FCC, which has authority to enforce federal obscenity law, has reported (on-line as a PDF here) it received about 1,000 times as many complaints in 2004 than in 2000. Complaints in 2004 concerned 314 programs (145 radio, 140 television, and 29 cable), while complaints in 2000 concerned 111 programs (85 radio, 25 television, and 1 cable). In 2004, the FCC issued 12 notices of apparent liability seeking $7.9 million in fines; five recipients of complaints paid or agreed to pay.
Of course, as Colbert mentioned, almost all of them were generated by mass automated email campaigns led by 2 individuals on an obsensity in media vendetta. So who fines the government and the FCC when they are both being obscene?
reference article here
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, June 14, 2006,
