As you can see, my job has been reengineered somewhat by the FCC's indecency crackdown.
Today, the Senate gets its own ball rolling on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act (BDEA), as the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights considers obscenity issues. They'll be discussing things like whether they should increase the fines to half a million dollars per cuss (like the House version of the bill) or whether they should take a stand for American values like free speech, and raise the maximum fine to a mere $350,000 per cuss (even if its not really a cuss). Meanwhile, the full House is expected to approve the House version of the bill today or tomorrow.
It makes me long for the enlightened days of the Hays code, when censorship consisted of a good, old fashioned list which clearly spelled out what you could and couldn't say or show in the movies. The FCC adamently refuses to issue such a list these days, repeatedly saying that to issue a list would amount to censorship. And the Supreme Court has reminded the FCC that, in between compelling broadcasters to pixillate the butts of cartoon characters, please be careful not to do anything that might restrict freedom of speech. After all, freedom of speech is what us merkins stand for, isn't it? What would those people in the insect nations think of us if we started restricting speech?
Meanwhile, the lobbying is heating up for a new FCC chairman who will take this issue seriously already! That Michael Powell was just a big softy on smut! So said a coalition of 30 House republicans in a letter to President Bush. And plenty of religious groups are also piping in, trying to get their boy Kevin Martin in to fill Powell's shoes. With Martin at the helm and anti-smut trailblazer Michael Copps at his side, and the BDEA filling their sails with wind, the next incarnation of the FCC could make the Hays code look like the golden age of the first amendment. Maybe that's not such a bad thing. It might finally force the issue to the Supreme Court, where the FCC stands a good chance of being rejected.
While some broadcasters and unions are toying with the idea of challenging the constitutionality of the FCC's current approach to this issue, it's tough to do, since the FCC effectively blackmails all broadcasters willing to take a stand on this with their oft-repeated threat to yank away broadcast licenses.
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