FCC LEVIES HUGE FINES TO KEEP CHRISTIAN RIGHT HAPPY

STEVEN LEVINGSTON WASHINGTON POST - The Federal Communications
Commission yesterday proposed nearly $4 million in fines for violating
the agency's indecency standards, targeting a range of TV programming
from a hit CBS drama to Spanish-language broadcasts to a PBS documentary
on bluesmen.
The CBS network was hit hardest, with a record $3.6 million in proposed
fines for a December 2004 broadcast of "Without a Trace," a procedural
drama featuring an FBI missing-persons unit. The show contained a
segment in which teenagers were depicted engaging in various sexual
activities including group sex, though none of the shots contained
nudity. . .

The FCC also denied CBS's appeal to nullify a proposed $550,000 in fines
for network-owned stations for airing singer Janet Jackson's brief
nudity during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl. CBS, which had
claimed the fleeting glimpse of Jackson's right breast was not indecent,
must now pay the fine or appeal it in court. Some First Amendment
experts have speculated the case may end in the Supreme Court, as
broadcasters grow eager to challenge the government's ability to police
the airwaves.

"The number of complaints received by the commission has risen year
after year," [Republican FCC Chairman Kevin J] Martin said. "They have
grown from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. And the number of programs
that trigger these complaints continues to increase as well.". . .

The FCC also found that the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary "The
Blues: Godfathers and Sons" was indecent because it aired profanity.
Aired on a non-commercial, educational channel in San Mateo, Calif., it
contained "numerous obscenities, including the F-Word, the S-Word and
various derivatives of those words," the FCC said. The station was fined
$15,000. . .

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