Delay and indecision are beginning to define the Obama administration. One matter the Obama Justice Department cannot decide is whether to file an appeal to the Supreme Court in the fleeting profanity case called Fox vs. FCC. Theyve filed two extensions to kick the can down the road. Their latest deadline is April 21. Without an appeal the Second Circuits evisceration of any limitation on broadcast cursing will stand.
Thats right. All bets will be off. If you think the Idiot Box is foul now wait until Hollywood is allowed to be as gross as it wants.
Some commentators will obviously apply the expected gravity argument. Were in three wars have a $1.5 trillion deficit and really its crucial to prevent Paris Hilton from swearing at a televised awards show? But Obamas Justice Department is making small decisions all the time.
They jumped in to defend a first-year Muslim math teacher in Illinois against what they called the head wind of intolerance when she demanded 19 days off to attend the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Theyve joined the ACLU in a suit in South Carolina demanding prisoners have the right to get better reading material in the mail than the Bible. They look more sympathetic to the reading habits of violent criminals than the viewing habits of parents with small children.
Thats not to say the Obamas would suggest theyre lazy in overseeing their childrens television habits.
They can only watch the kid-TV channels for the most part because you just never know Mrs. Obama insisted. She said the two girls are allowed to watch television only on weekends because the TV set is completely off limits during the week on school nights.
That sounds fairly strict on a personal level. But on a political level is that all the Obamas plan to offer on broadcast decency? Hey you just never know? Why doesnt Mrs. Obama apply the same attitude toward our childrens food intake?
Did Barack Obama somehow miss the tally when Congress voted in 2006 not merely to keep the FCC policing broadcast indecency but to multiply by tenfold the fines it could impose? The House version of the bill passed by a landslide of 379 to 35. Barack Obama was in the Senate when it passed by unanimous consent.
But federal judges dont look at polls. These judges apparently educated people with law degrees found the F-bomb rules too confusing to understand.
This is still an important issue across party lines. The Parents Television Council released a new Zogby poll last week which showed 75 percent of Americans agree there is too much sex violence and coarse language on television. A majority (57 percent) supported the FCCs long-standing legal authority to fine broadcasters if they air indecent material. Support for FCC indecency enforcement was highest among African-Americans (71 percent) and women (62 percent) the two groups Nielsen identified as watching more TV than their racial and gender counterparts.
Memo to anyone running for office: Its an issue. Fox (and all the other broadcast networks that joined their suit) insist that its not their job to keep sex violence and cursing off TV. Why cant they just be honest it state it is (SET ITAL) their (END ITAL) desire to see these things on their networks? Moreover they continue to trout out the intentionally misleading line that parents can use the V-Chip to block programming they dont like according to the descriptor codes that each network decides to use.
Obamas campaign lingo also echoed that sentiment. But PTCs Zogby poll underlines how that argument is not serious. Overall usage of the V-Chip has slipped across all frequencies. The percentage of people saying they dont use it at all is almost 94 percent.
Only 15.5 percent of people can correctly identify the content descriptors that appear on screen even when given the answer as part of a multiple-choice question. Some seem easy (S for sexual situations V for violence) but the language ones get confused (L for coarse language and D for suggestive dialogue). A large majority of people (76 percent) continue to think the D stands for drug use or they just dont know. The V-Chip is less than a Band-Aid. Its a placebo.
President Obama is already campaigning for re-election and maybe his financial base in Hollywood is the first constituency he doesnt want to offend. With their words in the media the Obamas want to paint themselves as tough parents even as they favor Hollywood over parents -- and over the preferences of a majority of women and African-American voters. No one should let this pattern of delays muddle the policy picture if the obliteration of FCC decency enforcement is complete.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Founder and President of the Media Research Center Brent Bozell runs the largest media watchdog organization in America.
Delay and indecision are beginning to define the Obama administration. One matter the Obama Justice Department cannot decide is whether to file an appeal to the Supreme Court in the fleeting profanity case called Fox vs. FCC. Theyve filed two extensions to kick the can down the road. Their latest deadline is April 21. Without an appeal the Second Circuits evisceration of any limitation on broadcast cursing will stand.
Thats right. All bets will be off. If you think the Idiot Box is foul now wait until Hollywood is allowed to be as gross as it wants.
Some commentators will obviously apply the expected gravity argument. Were in three wars have a $1.5 trillion deficit and really its crucial to prevent Paris Hilton from swearing at a televised awards show? But Obamas Justice Department is making small decisions all the time.
They jumped in to defend a first-year Muslim math teacher in Illinois against what they called the head wind of intolerance when she demanded 19 days off to attend the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. Theyve joined the ACLU in a suit in South Carolina demanding prisoners have the right to get better reading material in the mail than the Bible. They look more sympathetic to the reading habits of violent criminals than the viewing habits of parents with small children.
Thats not to say the Obamas would suggest theyre lazy in overseeing their childrens television habits.
They can only watch the kid-TV channels for the most part because you just never know Mrs. Obama insisted. She said the two girls are allowed to watch television only on weekends because the TV set is completely off limits during the week on school nights.
That sounds fairly strict on a personal level. But on a political level is that all the Obamas plan to offer on broadcast decency? Hey you just never know? Why doesnt Mrs. Obama apply the same attitude toward our childrens food intake?
Did Barack Obama somehow miss the tally when Congress voted in 2006 not merely to keep the FCC policing broadcast indecency but to multiply by tenfold the fines it could impose? The House version of the bill passed by a landslide of 379 to 35. Barack Obama was in the Senate when it passed by unanimous consent.
But federal judges dont look at polls. These judges apparently educated people with law degrees found the F-bomb rules too confusing to understand.
This is still an important issue across party lines. The Parents Television Council released a new Zogby poll last week which showed 75 percent of Americans agree there is too much sex violence and coarse language on television. A majority (57 percent) supported the FCCs long-standing legal authority to fine broadcasters if they air indecent material. Support for FCC indecency enforcement was highest among African-Americans (71 percent) and women (62 percent) the two groups Nielsen identified as watching more TV than their racial and gender counterparts.
Memo to anyone running for office: Its an issue. Fox (and all the other broadcast networks that joined their suit) insist that its not their job to keep sex violence and cursing off TV. Why cant they just be honest it state it is (SET ITAL) their (END ITAL) desire to see these things on their networks? Moreover they continue to trout out the intentionally misleading line that parents can use the V-Chip to block programming they dont like according to the descriptor codes that each network decides to use.
Obamas campaign lingo also echoed that sentiment. But PTCs Zogby poll underlines how that argument is not serious. Overall usage of the V-Chip has slipped across all frequencies. The percentage of people saying they dont use it at all is almost 94 percent.
Only 15.5 percent of people can correctly identify the content descriptors that appear on screen even when given the answer as part of a multiple-choice question. Some seem easy (S for sexual situations V for violence) but the language ones get confused (L for coarse language and D for suggestive dialogue). A large majority of people (76 percent) continue to think the D stands for drug use or they just dont know. The V-Chip is less than a Band-Aid. Its a placebo.
President Obama is already campaigning for re-election and maybe his financial base in Hollywood is the first constituency he doesnt want to offend. With their words in the media the Obamas want to paint themselves as tough parents even as they favor Hollywood over parents -- and over the preferences of a majority of women and African-American voters. No one should let this pattern of delays muddle the policy picture if the obliteration of FCC decency enforcement is complete.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Founder and President of the Media Research Center Brent Bozell runs the largest media watchdog organization in America.
