Thesis on "Mass Media and the Law"

Thesis 5 pages (1665 words) Sources: 10 Style: Chicago

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The Internal Contradiction of the FCC's Current Indecency Standards

FCC indecency enforcement proceedings and the First Amendment:

The programmers of television content have become increasingly

comfortable with a certain degree of explicitness not formerly considered

acceptable on the airwaves. But as cultural shifts occur with the passing

of generations out of and into the focus of popular media's marketing

targets, television has become a battleground for the values that separate

generations. In this same mode, it has become a forum for the

demonstration of division between classes and social ideologies as well.

With generational changes, taboos over subjects which have been

conservatively avoided in public in the past are constantly being shifted,

reshaped or altogether eliminated. Television has reflected this changing

cultural perspective by creating a greater allowance for content which is

sexually or verbally explicit. According to a recent study:

"Two of every three prime time shows include sexual content and

these average 5.3 scenes per hour, involving both sexual talk and

sexual behavior, as compared with 56% and 3.2 scenes per hour in the

overall program sample. The difference is located almost entirely in

talking about sex, inasmuch as both program samples (prime time vs.

overall) contain the same proportions of sexual behavior (24% vs.

23%)." (Vorderer, 101)

The reaction which this has provoked from all manner of defender of

the moral code has cre

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ated an impression of such television content that

suggests it is sociologically dangerous for youth to have access to such

reflections of its cultural identity and interests. The attack which

political activism groups, religious organizations and lawmakers have

levied against sexually explicit television content has very much defined

the current discourse over broadcast issues within the scope of the First

Amendment..

The phenomenon wherein adults employ moral turpitude as a means to

protecting children from negative media messages is one that is founded in

a tradition of suppression. Fears that are expressed today regarding the

damages of rap music, violent computer games and the sexual images on

television "have their roots in nineteenth-century anxieties about the 'ill

effects' of popular forms of amusement on the 'children of the lower

classes'. These concerns stretch in an almost unbroken line through

successive 'moral panics' in both Britain and America, once popular culture

was transformed into urbanized commercial entertainment from the early

Victorian years onwards" (Springhall, 1) Groups that have taken the time to

voice concerns over the content of popular entertainment had in the past

done so under the premise that such negative behaviors as those depicted in

forms commonly observed by young people are inevitably to be the harbinger

of a societal decay.

This would particularly come into focus with the events occurring

during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, which in violating certain

expected norms of broadcasting decency, would invoke an outpouring of

complaints for moral watchdog groups. With an FCC distinctly interested in

enforcement matters as demonstrated by mounting hostilities between

notorious radio shock jock Howard Stern and Chairman of the FCC (as well as

son of the then Secretary of State Colin) Michael Powell, the famous

'wardrobe malfunction' would create new political will for aggressive

indecency standards. With respect to the 'wardrobe malfunction,' "in the

first case, CBS v. FCC, the FCC argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals in

Philadelphia (3rd Cir.) that its imposition of a $550,000 fine on CBS for

the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Justin Timberlake ripping

off part of Janet Jackson's costume and revealing her breast was a proper

application of its indecency standard." (Schrimpf, 1

However, it would create a justification for a newfound

intensification of the fines imposed upon others for violations of so-

called obscenity standards with regard to sexual content, language or other

allegedly objectionable materials. The fundamental inconsistency between

the levying of exorbitant and elevating fines to repeat violators and the

First Amendment rights of broadcasters is the arbitrary nature of the

'test' designed by the Supreme Court to determine the presence of

obscenity. According to the informational site provided by the FCC itself,

"the Supreme Court has established that, to be obscene, material must meet

a three-pronged test: An average person, applying contemporary community

standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient

interest; the material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive

way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and the

material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic,

political, or scientific value." (FCC, 1) The very notion that a

government agency should be in the position of assessing whether a

broadcast message has serious literary artistic, political or scientific

value is a threat to freedom of expression. The construction of objective

standards for the evaluation of such things may undermine the right of

broadcasters to present information, ideas or images which are inconsistent

with popular or mainstream values. This is a direct compromise of the

conditions intended by the First Amendment, which denote that such

assessments are inherently invalid.

Pros and Cons of the Current Policy:

One of the greatest failures of the current policy is the manner in

which obscenity violations are measured. The seemingly arbitrary ways that

the FCC comes to identify violations which may be subjected to enormous

fines illustrate the danger of moral prejudice. For instance, the undue

influence of such moral watchdog groups as the Parents Television Council

(PTC), who stimulate campaigns against specific targets may tend to impose

FCC fines with an imbalance against those who run afoul of the particular

group's values system. A recent example is the Fox Network's primetime

animated series, The Family Guy, which is known for its edgy and sometimes

obscene humor. The PTC's particular attention to an episode with explicit

reference to homosexuality demonstrates the danger of the FCC's agenda.

Indeed, "first-quarter complaints to the FCC in all categories increased by

246% over fourth-quarter 2008 to 245,241, the FCC said Tuesday, but that

was driven by a whopping increase in indecency complaints in March."

(Eggerton, 1)

Further research reveals this to have been the result of a specific

campaign designed to stimulate the submission of pre-filled complaint forms

against the episode in question. Accordingly, research illustrates that "a

PTC viewer action alert crusade against a March 8 episode of the animated

comedy show the PTC just loves to hate, Fox TV's Family Guy." (Lasar, 1)

This demonstrates the use of deeply suspect numerical assumptions in order

to enforce FCC fines. The enormity of such fines is particularly

incongruous when one considers the misimpression driving FCC policies.

With the federal agency acting according to that which it perceives as the

will of the people based on the frequency of complaints, it has truly

attached a decision impacting countless viewers to the actions and values

systems of specific action groups.

This pattern of complaint increase surrounding events which have

raised the hackles of moral watchdog groups is also revealed to be not just

deeply biased but also empirically unreliable. So would this be

demonstrated in the wake of the Jackson/Timberlake incident. So indicates

Thierer (2009), who remarks that "in the first quarter of 2004 - the time

when the Super Bowl incident with Janet Jackson occurred - the FCC began

counting complaints multiple times if the individual sent the complaint to

more than one office within the FCC. This change, which had the capability

of increasing by a factor of 5 or 6 or 7 the number of complaints recorded,

was noted in a footnote of that quarter's FCC Quarterly Report." (Thierer,

1)

The FCC has recognized that its policy decisions are based on

unreliable data and yet have increased the severity of fines imposed upon

broadcasters based on these findings. In spite of this clear drawback to

the current approach, recent Supreme Court voting has sided… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Mass Media and the Law" Assignment:

“

I need an 'Abstract' on this topic: Do current FCC indecency enforcement proceedings for radio violate the First Amendment rights of broadcasters? Discuss the pros and cons. If you were hired by the FCC to create the new policy for indecency enforcement what would it look like?

I need at least three primary sources, and at least six secondary sources. I have emailed to you a copy of the Abstract Manual which needs to be adhered to as far as use of sources, font type, margins, etc. Please follow it as closely as humanly possible *****

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