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Lone Activist Group Submits 99.8% of FCC Complaints
andywebz writes "Mediaweek is reporting that complaints to the FCC are rising. Powell spoke before congress, detailing that the complaints are up from 14,000 in 2002, to nearly 240,000 in 2003. There were only 350 complaints during 2000 and 2001. Powell failed to mention however that 99.8% of those complaints came from PTC (Parents Television Council). The article does mention he may have been unaware of this fact. Jonathan Rintels (president of the Center for Creative Voices in Media) commented, 'It means that really a tiny minority with a very focused political agenda is trying to censor American television and radio.'"
Have you seen the PTC website http://www.parentstv.org/ ?
EVERYTHING offends these people, their jobs is to get people upset so they will donate money to them so they do not have to get real jobs.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the fifth worst network TV show for families in this year's PTC's Top 10 Best and Worst Report, has licensed a line of toys for kids ages 8 and up. CSI features graphic scenes of blood, violence, and sex. Company Vice President and general manager of CBS Consumer Products, called it "the perfect addition to [a] successful licensing program."
Why is the PTC outraged that a highly-rated television show is creating a product for children? Because the CSI franchise often displays graphic images, including close-ups of corpses with gunshot wounds and other bloody injuries. Other graphic scenes have depicted cannibalism, a fully nude female corpse, and mutilated victims of a deranged killer. Sexual situations are extremely graphic. In the past, scenes included a brother and sister having sex, men receiving S&M beatings from a dominatrix in a sex club, pornographic snuff films, and a woman making a sex video for her 15-year-old stepson.
According to Broadcasting & Cable in a sweeps-season bid to boost ratings, CSI will enter what the CBS is describing as a fringe world of sex changes and transgenders. The show's 100th episode, which airs November 18 at 9/8 Central, is about a case of mistaken identity that begins with the murder of a transgender woman who's found brutally stabbed and mutilated. It will carry a parental advisory, "Due to adult content, viewer discretion is advised."
A CSI: Forensics Lab, which includes a microscope and fingerprinting kit, a CSI: DNA Laboratory and a CSI: Forensic Facial Reconstructive Kit (pictured above) is available now exclusively at Toys R Us. According to a CBS press release "the target age is 14 and up" but it clearly says "Ages 8 +" on the packaging.
The PTC doesn't think the recreation of blood, guts and gore should be under a child's Christmas tree this year. This so-called "toy" is a blatant attempt to market CSI and its adult-oriented content directly to children.
Goto http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/ top10bestandworst/main.asp and look at their list of 10 worst shows and 10 best shows. For an org that hates mention of sex on tv, they still rate Every One loves Raymond a top 10 pick.
When emailed on this they refuse to respond.
They also hate Las Vegas because it has sexy women in it and Will and Grace because it has gay people in it.
They are about as far from main stream america as one can be.
I read that in one of the more famous recent indicidents where the FCC issued a big fine. I can't remember if it was the guy who said "fuck" at that award show or not. There were only 3 unique complaint letters out of tens of thousands. All but 2 were form letters from this group.
I think someone should start a form letter accusing Fox News of saying a bad word like "liberal" and we will just flood them with complaints till they get run out of business.
Credit for this story ultimately should go to blogger Jeff Jarvis. Jarvis is a longtime journalist, former TV critic, and currently head of the internet division of a major U.S. media company. He filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the FCC's data and followed it up with a searing analysis.
Jarvis is a professional, but anyone can do this. Dig in and report. Many hands make for light work, and all that.
Not sure if anyone saw this or not on Friday. Powell wrote an interesting Op-Ed (yada yada -- free reg required --yada yada) piece for the NYT on Friday the 3rd.
The quote I found interesting was, "Even so, there are important limits placed on the F.C.C. Our rules do not ban indecent content entirely; they merely restrict its broadcast during times in which children are likely to be in the audience, namely from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Courts have consistently held these rules constitutional, accepting that the government has a compelling interest in protecting children from inappropriate material."
If you think about it, all these fines and issues have basically been for "daytime" and "primetime" programming and not for "late night" shows.
Don't get me wrong -- this PTC group is ruining my bad television! Parents need to control what happens to their kids. JUST TURN OFF THE DAMN TV.
I am all for showing sex and violence on TV but not when it is deviously smuggled inside shows billed "family entertainment".
And.. to those who say "change the channel", I have tried that as well. The sad fact is that there are hardly any alternatives because almost EVERY show is doing it. There are not many intellectually stimulating shows to watch - unless you want to watch PBS all the time.
I, for one, am glad that there is atleast someone holding the purveyors of dreck accountable - even if they go overboard sometimes.
They have:
Information about Broadcast Obscenity/Indecency Laws:
The Courts have said that obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment and cannot be broadcast at any time. To be considered obscene, material must meet a 3-prong test:
1. An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient (arousing lustful feelings) interest;
2. The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and
3. The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Indecency is defined as language or material that, in context, describes or depicts, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community broadcast standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities. Indecent programming contains patently offensive sexual or excretory references that do not rise to the level of obscenity. As such, the courts have held that indecent material is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be banned entirely. It may, however, be restricted in order to avoid its broadcast during times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience. As such, broadcasts -- both on television and radio -- that fit within the indecency definition and that are aired between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. are subject to indecency enforcement action.
The Oprah Winfrey Show Transcript
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Clip One
Oprah: Lets talk about that secret language Michelle.
Michelle: Yes
Oprah: I didn't know any of this
Michelle: I have yea, I have gotten a whole new vocabulary let me tell ya
Oprah: I did not know any of this
Michelle: Salad tossing, cucumbers, lettuce tomatoes ok
Oprah: ok so so what is a salad toss?
Michelle: ok a tossed salad is, get ready hold on to your underwear for this one, oral anal sex, So oral sex with the anus is what that would be.
Clip Two
Michelle: a rainbow party is an oral sex party it's a gathering where oral sex is performed and rainbow comes from all of the girls put on lipstick and each one puts her mouth around the penis of the gentleman or gentlemen who are there to receive favors and makes a mark um in a different place on the penis hence the term rainbow
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
You can guess, but then you would be wrong. Oprah was talking about the rise of oral sex in American high schools and some of the terms the kids are using. Howard was talking about the rise of oral sex in American high schools and some of the terms the kids are using.
The only difference is Oprah was talking about it in a "this is so terrible, can you believe it" type of way, and Howard thought it was funny.
But, exact same context.
Here are the emails you need: Chairman Michael K. Powell: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: Kathleen.Abernathy@fcc.gov Commissioner Michael J. Copps: Michael.Copps@fcc.gov Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: KJMWEB@fcc.gov Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: Jonathan.Adelstein@fcc.gov
Wanna get nasty? - DaNasty
Careful now. WWE didn't kick their ass in court, the PTC and WWE settled out of court. There's a difference.
Complain to the FCC
You may file a written complaint and mail it to:
FCC
Enforcement Bureau, Investigations and Hearings Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
or
You can file at fccinfo@fcc.gov
or
Toll Free:
1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice
1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) tty
That's all the guidance they're given -- "patently offensive."
And when 99% of their mail comes from a group that finds bare shoulders "patently offensive," their so-called enforcement is going to be skewed.
Already this year, the FCC has levied over $2.1 million in fines because of the fringe groups' mobilization. The 2003 total was a mere $440,000.
If we mobilize, let them know that censorship isn't the political will of the people (or at least all people), then we at least stand a chance of not being drowned out.
For a larf, check out the PTC's letters of complaint, many of which can be found at http://thesmokinggun.com
And remeber SpeakSpeak!
I think everyone should use the http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/fcc/fcccomplaint2.asp Complaint Form on the PTC website to send positive fead back about all of the shows in the PTC worst 10 list to the FCC. If everyone on SlashDot did this we might be able to get the PTC some bad press (it would be bad press as far as they are concerned).
"Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect." Linus Torvalds
So long as you don't send a letter to the editor:
Please keep in mind that we will not post letters that contain vulgar language and/or non-constructive comments.
Read: If we're going to censor things we disagree with, dammit, we're going all the way!
This isn't "gun culture." This is "pop culture." Gun nuts don't talk about "bustin' caps," they use real words.
Its nice to know that even when you try a back-handed apology, you only slap yourself.
The guy's a political appointee (appointed by Clinton, initially, too). I'd say that he's there because somebody who likes him has political pull. That makes him perfectly qualified for this position, since that's the only qualification for these political appointee jobs.
He's taking an interest, and he's trying to get the bureaucracy to do what he thinks is right. That kind of tilting at windmills takes courage. It's more than a lot of political appointees do. M. Powell has been taking the technocrats' advice at least part of the time; in particular, I'm thinking about some of the bandwidth auctions, which were highly recommended by some economists. I'd say that he's not just mindlessly following a party line, neither the line of the Democrats who first put him there, nor the line of the Republicans who put him in nominal charge.
If you don't like what he's doing, well, that doesn't make him wrong, just as your approval wouldn't make him right.
See what I've been reading.
Never attribute to malice....
Adelphia is run by greedy, largely ignorant assholes. These are the people who once cut my cable off because I wasn't sending them payments on the bills coming in marked "do not pay, this will be deducted automatically". When I confronted them, I was told it was my own fault because I wasn't explicitly looking at my bank statements for their autotmatic charges.
I imagine this has more to do with the fact that Adelphia - indeed, cable in general - is the worst, least customer-centric "service" on the planet. Be smart, go satellite if you can.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
It wouldn't be from Slashdot if it didn't contain a grammar error in the very first sentence, I suppose....
Congress were told...
FYI: "Congress" is a singular entity. 'Were' is the imperfect indicative plural of 'be'. You want 'was'.
Normally I wouldn't care, of course, but when you're sending things which you desire action on, it's best to be reasonably accurate when it comes to spelling and grammar.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Attn: ALL FIVE FCC COMMISSIONERS!!!
:)
I often enjoy "Will & Grace" from NBC on Italian networks. I think it offers new, fresh perspectives on such topics as homosexuality, alternative sexual practices and free love, all in a funny and merry way. Important themes are delivered in a comprehensible, safe language which is fit for both anxious parents and their young kids.
It is always a good thing when such modern shows are from the United States, a country all too often unjustly berated of bigotry, religious extremism and obtusity. Shows like "Will & Grace" both improve our perception of modern-day living, and the image of your country to a foreigner's eyes.
Thank you, FCC Commissioners. Thank you, America.
N.B.: I did submit this crap with real data. Am I gonna get sued for this or what?
Not only are they Christians, but they don't know/care what Christ had to say on the matter(see eg. Matt 6:5-6.)
"We have got to make Stan understand the importance of voting, because he'll definitely vote for our guy." - South Park
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
i was reading through the site and found this
s p
https://www.parentstv.org/ptc/action/lawki/main.a
scroll down and check out the synopsis, i didn't know there was such good stuff on tv! i'm going to stop reading slashdot a bit and find out what time this show's on
The NY Times just recently published an article about red America's viewing habits. Surprisingly, the States that voted conservative in the last election are the same States where the highest viewing population for "CSI" and "Desperate Housewives" arise. You should read the article before NY Times starts charging for it. What does that say about America's viewing habits? "Do what I say, not what I do?"
Lastly, all this attention on the PTC should not divert attention away from the thoughtless actions of the American Family Association, who according to an NPR report the night of Veteran's Day, were poised with thousands of people ready to lodge complaints to the FCC about stations that were going to air "Saving Private Ryan" in commemoration of Veteran's Day.
Linux at home
It looses a lot of your intended impact due to using phrases such as "by effectively spamming the crap out of the FCC."
..." The 'until you discover...' bit sound very amaturish and would be better worded in terms like : "However, if the statistics are investigated further it comes to light that 99.8% of all complaints..."
That will get the letter put in the 'loony left' bucket quicker than anything.
Also, using the phrasing of "Until you discover that 99.8% of all complaints
Quickly rushing out a poorly worded email does nothing for the cause I'm afraid.
Damn right. We need more people willing to stand up and say "it's my responsibility." More power to you!
You can't read the First Amendment literally like that, as the poster above me noted you can't yell fire in a theater. You can't disclose state secrets (like troop movements in war time), even if it is news. Congress can regulate contracts (even though this could be seen as a form of speech). It is not an absolute prohibition since there are other clauses that also have to be taken into consideration. But you're right, more than political speech is protected.
Jimmy lost the election for two overriding reasons: 1) the Tehran Vaudeville show, and 2) the economy.
Of course, he went on to be one of the finest ex-presidents in living memory, but when he was in office he was clearly out of his depth.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
According to the article there were 240,000 complaints in 2003, and the population of the U.S. is about 294,920,046, http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/popclock , so if my calcutations are right 240,000 / 294,920,046 * 100 = 0.081377%. That seems to be a very small percentage of the population determining what we see or hear for everybody.
But that's how the tyranny of the "moral" works: If a network refuses, PTC launches a giant campaign about "What are they afraid of? What are they trying to hide?" as well as "They're picking on us, a right-minded fair group." News outlets would, hand-wringingly, report on the accusations because they are "news" (because other news outlets say they are). The network takes a real black eye, PR-wise. To avoid that, they'll pre-emptively knuckle under and grant the permission.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
And he is also a religious fundamentalist. During his vice presidential campaign he did not leave his house on saturdays. He made a joke about it on David letterman.
There are not a lot of democrats that are religious fundamentalists but he is one.
evil is as evil does
There is a difference between having spiritual beliefs and being a fundamentalist zealot. The contributions of Christians to not only the rise of Science but also of society as we know it (schools, hospitals, libraries) is undeniable. Still, there was always a part of that same organisation that was trying to stop and sabotage the work of the great people you named. Like everywhere in society the church is composed of people with progressive tendencies and people with fundamentalist ones and the ones making all the trouble are the fundamentalists.
Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
If you are going to do ratings, at least be consistent.
As I scanned the posts here, I began to wonder why no one even checked the "About Us" page of the PTC. "Now nearly a million members strong and growing every day..." Then I remembered that most of you had already made up your minds that anyone complaining to the FCC must be evil.
These guys are submitting complaints because their members want them to, and have given them money to do exactly that, so they wouldn't have to do it themselves. This is what lobbying is about. Farming out your activism because you don't have the time and energy to do it yourself. It's not a "small minority." It's a really big organization.
Regardless of what you think about the substantive issues here, this looks like a group with broad support. And there is a vast group of people in this country that agree with their campaign... They re-elected Bush.