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STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re: Complaints Regarding Various Television Broadcasts Between
January 1, 2002 and March 12, 2005, Notice of Apparent Liability and
Memorandum Opinion and Order
Complaints Against Various Television Licensees Concerning Their December
31, 2004 Broadcast of the Program "Without A Trace," Notice of Apparent
Liability for Forfeiture
Complaints Against Various Television Licensees Concerning Their February
1, 2004, Broadcast of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show, Forfeiture
Order
In the past, the Commission too often addressed indecency complaints with
little discussion or analysis, relying instead on generalized
pronouncements. Such an approach served neither aggrieved citizens nor
the broadcast industry. Today, the Commission not only moves forward to
address a number of pending complaints, but does so in a manner that
better analyzes each broadcast and explains how the Commission determines
whether a particular broadcast is indecent. Although it may never be
possible to provide 100 percent certain guidance because we must always
take into account specific and often-differing contexts, the approach in
today's orders can help to develop such guidance and to establish
precedents. This measured process, common in jurisprudence, may not
satisfy those who clamor for immediate certainty in an uncertain world,
but it may just be the best way to develop workable rules of the road.
Today's Orders highlight two additional issues with which the Commission
must come to terms. First, it is time for the Commission to look at
indecency in the broader context of its decisions on media consolidation.
In 2003 the FCC sought to weaken its remaining media concentration
safeguards without even considering whether there is a link between
increasing media consolidation and increasing indecency. Such links have
been shown in studies and testified to by a variety of expert witnesses.
The record clearly demonstrates that an overwhelming number of the
Commission's indecency citations have gone to a few huge media
conglomerates. One recent study showed that the four largest radio
station groups which controlled just under half the radio audience were
responsible for a whopping 96 percent of the indecency fines levied by the
FCC from 2000 to 2003.
One of the reasons for the huge volume of complaints about excessive sex
and graphic violence in the programming we are fed may be that people feel
increasingly divorced from their "local" media. They believe the media no
longer respond to their local communities. As media conglomerates grow
ever larger and station control moves farther away from the local
community, community standards seem to count for less when programming
decisions are made. Years ago we had independent programming created from
a diversity of sources. Networks would then decide which programming to
distribute. Then local affiliates would independently decide whether to
air that programming. This provided some real checks and balances.
Nowadays so many of these decisions are made by vertically-integrated
conglomerates headquartered far away from the communities they are
supposed to be serving--entities that all too often control both the
distribution and the production content of the programming.
If heightened media consolidation is indeed a source for the violence and
indecency that upset so many parents, shouldn't the Commission be cranking
that into its decisions on further loosening of the ownership rules? I
hope the Commission, before voting again on loosening its media
concentration protections, will finally take a serious look at this link
and amass a credible body of evidence and not act again without the facts,
as it did in 2003.
Second, a number of these complaints concern graphic broadcast violence.
The Commission states that it has taken comment on this issue in another
docket. It is time for us to step up to the plate and tackle the issue of
violence in the media. The U.S. Surgeon General, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical
Association, and countless other medical and scientific organizations that
have studied this issue have reached the same conclusion: exposure to
graphic and excessive media violence has harmful effects on the physical
and mental health of our children. We need to complete this proceeding.