Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Fear of the FCC

Who would have thought a couple of years ago that the split-second showing on live television of a female breast would turn the First Amendment upside down? On this Super Bowl Sunday, CBS is instructing its cameramen and technicians to be aware of any potentially offensive fan behavior, otherwise the FCC could impose a stiff fine. It all started when Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction, and it has peaked with a recent incident on FOX where the camera showed a fan with a t-shirt that read "FUCK DA EAGLES" in a recent NFL playoff game.

FOX is claiming that showing the woman was unintentional and happened during the hectic pace of live television. Having once been a cameraman myself, I can understand completely how this could have been overlooked. When you are panning the crowd looking for good shots, you generally are not reading words on t-shirts - you are looking for interesting faces. Anyway, Christianist organizations are not buying the explanation and are bonbarding the FCC with complaints, demanding that advertisers be refunded the ton of money paid for commercials during the game.

This is an example of mass hysteria fueled by a small minority that have skill in manipulating the media. The case is now before the FCC and any decision will likely be delayed because the new "indecency enforcement policy" is in a federal appeals court, being challenged by the major networks.

Your freedoms are at risk. If the FCC and the Christianist complainers prevail, it will essentially mean that ANYTHING that is put on the air that is offensive to ANYONE could be actionable. I am not advocating chaos on the airwaves, networks still have to be responsible to put on programming that will appeal to the general population, but putting these decisions in the hands of a very few undermines the founding principles of our republic.

NO ONE is harmed in any way if television shows split second shots of a female breast, or a brief image of the word "fuck". This is false moral indignation, it has no basis in rationality or the real world, it is the work of Christianist organizations that need straw man arguments to rally their base and raise money. These organizations are not interested in the First Amendment, they scour the airwaves looking for one single incident that they can exploit and turn into a moral crusade. Government needs to get out of the morality business and leave that to the religious community.

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