The FCC and Writing New Rules on Censorship

Amanda at Pandagon has an important piece up - from which I'm quoting liberally because I think it opens up an important discussion - that I encourage you to peruse.

I did want to address this Salon article about strengthening FCC censorship powers and some of the underlying goals of conservatives who are pushing for this, and as Jesse and Steve pointed out, the underlying goals are not some hazy idea of basic decency, but are in fact political goals to indocrinate people to a particular form of Christianity and to stir up some resentment against Jews.

The FCC standards of "indecency" and "community standards" are incredibly vague and the intention on the part of social conservatives is to use that vagueness to punish people perceived as political enemies in entertainment. The various shitstorms that have erupted since certain conservative groups decided to use complaining to the FCC as a political tool definitely hint that something other than simply not wanting your kids to see something raunchy on TV is motivating people.

For instance, two of the biggest media noisemaking incidents were the Janet Jackson nipple incident and the ad where you got to see (gasp!) Nicolette Sheridan's back. Nudity was the ostensible reason people got upset, but both these TV scenes were doing something else that quite a few people don't like but won't say so out loud--both scenes presented interracial sexual contact matter-of-factly. When people say they don't want their kids to get ideas from things like this, what idea are they afraid kids will get?

When one sexual display is deemed innocent and another is deemed indecent, it's wise to look and see if the real issue is subversion of sexual or racial hierarchies. Sexual displays that indicate conformity, like weddings, are in no danger of getting labeled "indecent". Unless, of course, the couple portrayed is gay or lesbian.

Some other incidents that the Salon article mentions of complaints that were generated by conservative groups to the FCC also hint at larger efforts to shape the political content of the programming on TV.

But in the light of the FCC's recent dismissal of several indecency claims, is the fear of widespread censorship overblown? The rejected claims were filed against Nielsen-rating staples like "Friends," "The Simpsons" and "CSI," as well as a couple of newsmaking incidents. One incident involved a sultry promo for ABC's "Monday Night Football" that featured "Desperate Housewives'" Nicollette Sheridan dropping her towel in the locker room while trying to seduce NFL star Terrell Owens. The other incident concerned a CNN producer who inadvertently screamed some profanities when balloons at the Democratic National Convention failed to drop on cue following Sen. John Kerry's prime-time address.