The Chris Moeller Archives

Fuck the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has been a national embarassment under the leadership of Michael Powell. His public "obscenity" crusade began early last year when Janet Jackson bared her breast during the Super Bowl halftime show. Powell, the son of a Bush cabinet official, was determined to make the event an issue in the national election. Since then, the FCC has been capriciously challenging, often fining, television and radio stations for the "moral" content of their programming. Frequently, the selected targets are vocal critics of the President, like radio disk jockey Howard Stern.

Last summer, the FCC levied the biggest fine in its history against the FOX television network because it aired a reality/game show called Married by America, a program in which viewers voted by phone to determine which contestants should marry. A Freedom of Information request filed with the commission revealed that only 12 people in the entire country had issued complaints about the show, and nine of the received notes were e-mail copies of another. That's three people who actually composed letters, of which, one professed to have seen the show. Meanwhile, 5.1 million other households watched the show. So that's 5.1 million versus three.

A couple months ago, again after a football broadcast, our national nanny thought it appropriate to critique a "Desperate Housewives" promo that aired during Monday Night Football on Disney-owned ABC. "I think it's very disappointing," Powell offered, "I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud." The promo was under inspection for having included a camera shot of-- steady yourself now-- a woman's bare back.

As a result of this fascist policing of our "public" airwaves by a tiny group of citizens, the broadcast networks and their stations have been chilling or suppressing thought-provoking and satiric programming. Over Thanksgiving weekend, 66 TV stations, fearing penalty, refused to air Steven Spielberg's docu-style World War II film "Saving Private Ryan." Powell later said that he didn't want the FCC to fine stations for airing the word "fuck" on that particular movie, but a few months earlier, in response to Bono using the word on an awards show, Powell wrote that "broadcasters are on clear notice that, in the future, they will be subject to potential enforcement action for any broadcast of the 'f-word' or a variation thereof in situations such as that." That's pretty clear, I think. Use the 'f-word,' get fined, risk losing your license. Unless Michael Powell doesn't feel like it today.

The lunacy continues this week- the FOX network covered up the naked rear end of a cartoon character. The character's butt was blurred on a re-run of "The Family Guy," even though the image was seen five years ago when the episode first aired.

If you've been aware of how other countries are laughing at our prudish and idiotic public officials, but have been taking comfort in the fact that the FCC's Taliban tactics have not yet damaged our international relations, I have bad news for you. The Greeks are now angry that Michael Powell and the FCC are investigating the broadcast of the opening ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Globally, 3.9 billion people watched the ceremonies. The FCC received nine complaints. Among them: one person reported hearing an obscenity; one objected to the male anatomy on a representation of Greek sculpture (presumably this was a member of John Ashcroft's church); another thought a woman's breast had been revealed; and yet another claimed to have seen a couple making love. To half these people, any representation of the Greek origins of civilization would be obscene. To the other half, the inside of a state mental institution might be quite familiar.

It should be obvious to all of us that "obscenity" laws no longer apply, simply, to the 'seven dirty words' or their related images, they are now being applied to social expression and political ideas. It's time for Americans to demand that Powell be kicked to the curb. He serves, unelected, at the behest of a lame-duck, baffoon-ish President, but Congress has the power to re-write the laws regarding our broadcast airwaves, and I stress the word "our." There's a powerful network of religious bigots and ignoramuses organizing opposing lobbying efforts as we speak, so it's time to get busy. Tell your senator or representative that you want Powell out. Better yet, tell them to scrap the FCC all together. It's bloated government bureacracy at its worst. Americans are more than qualified, if not Constitutionally-mandated, to vote on morality and obscenity with their remote controls.

posted by CM @ 9:29 PM