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FCC to Fine Curses More Than Nuke Violations
DiZNoG writes "With Congress debating new higher fines for broadcast indecency in the wake
of last year's 'wardrobe malfunction' and Howard Stern's antics, Rolling
Stone has published
an interesting perspective on things. Rolling Stone did a review of fines
levied by other federal regulatory bodies, and has found the new indecency fines
disproportionately large compared to other fines. According to the article,
if the bill passes then 'for the price of Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction'
during the Super Bowl, you could cause the wrongful death of an elderly patient
in a nursing home and still have enough money left to create dangerous mishaps
at two nuclear reactors.' The article further states the largest fine the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission levied last year was $60,000, this new bill would
allow broadcast indecency fines up to $500,000. Glad I keep my broadcast cursing
to a minimum, now if I could only get a handle on those pesky dangerous nuclear
mishaps."
You left out tits.
Warning! You're gonna make it to the Profanity blacklist!. BOOOOO!
Nope. There are many ways to wrongfully cause someone's death that don't involve premeditation.
g e=1&word=murder
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?sta
Wrongful death is what one is charged with in a civil case, murder is a criminal charge. As an example, OJ Simpson was found not guilty of murder but was found responsible of wrongful death.
Perhaps more like the tyranny of the conservative-supported Parent's Television Council, which makes between 21-99% of complaints against TV indecency.
I do agree with their unsuccessful "'a la carte' programming option" plan though; hopefully soon I won't have to pay for a bunch of channels I don't need.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Michael Powell (son of Colin Powell) was appointed as chairman by GW Bush in his first term, though he was made a commisioner of the FCC (but not chariman) by Clinton.
Make sure the FCC knows you want them to keep their grubby paws of satellite radio. The religious right are coming after satellite radio as well.
And it gets worse. The terresterial broadcasters are now saying that they won't be able to compete against satellite unless the FCC levies the same restrictions against satellite that they do on regular radio.
I'm a very happy XM subscriber and I'd hate to think that they might get sucked into this rediculous quagmire as well.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Strictly speaking, methadone and methamphetamines aren't usually related. Methadone is used in the treatment of heroin addiction. If you're looking for a (at least tenuous) link between big pharma and crystal meth, methamphetamines are tradiationally made from over-the-counter cold medications containing (pseudo)ephedrine hydrochloride.
~Idarubicin
Ah, America - Home of the puritans.
:).
In Denmark we can say anything we want on TV, and we do - i hear the word 'fuck' & 'shit' daily when i watch 'Boogie' a music show for young ppl that runs around 4-6pm. Primettime for the kids to learn new words
And travelling around europe, this is how it works most places, maybe perhaps with the exception of Germany (i wouldent have understood it if they used profanity anyways)
I thought puritans died out with the last victorians - but they just sailed to America it seems, heh.
But seriously, cant you sue the FCC for violating the freedom of speech? It would seem obvious that they are enforcing censorship.
This isn't where the fine is levied...it's aimed at the guy that says the dreaded words over the airwaves. The broadcast corporation get's fined, sure, but the DJ or "on air talent" or whatever you want to call them is also hit with a $500,000 fine. These people, unless your Stern or Limbaugh, don't have that kind of dough. And the fine is per incident. AND the corporations aren't going to let the guy back on the air until he pays the fine...so he's screwed and the FCC and the religious right are all happy because they've "cleaned up the airwaves".
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
I think you are mistaken when it comes to bleeping this word, I've never seen this done and I'm British.
:)
For non-US citizens we are somewhat shocked that a country that prides itself on free-speech can allow its television to be so watered down.
What the parent says about beeping is generally true, before 9:00pm all swear words on UK telly are beeped out, often with the mouth pixelated, but afterwards virtually anything goes.
For US TV virtually any form of gun-related violence is fine, but utter one swear word or show any form of sexual behaviour..... FCC gives the smack-down.
It's rather sad that often the US made films we see over hear are the censored versions, it's strange to hear actors shout 'you mummy forgetor', especially when you've seen the original film
If he wanted to destroy some SUVs, he would have been smarter to use a method that didn't involve fire.
Here are some more comprehensive numbers, courtesy yahoo finance
Market Capitalization by Industry:
Broadcasting & Cable TV: $503B
Motion Pictures: $24B
Oil & Gas Integrated: $1.6T
Oil & Gas Operations: $437B
Oil Well Services & Equipment: $253B
Natural Gas Utilities: $155B
Electric Utilities: $659B
The Union Carbide Bhopal Incident was #1. a PRIVATE company #2. a CHEMICAL company As opposed to GOVERNMENT-RUN NUCLEAR plants.
My organization is mobilizing people to speak up and fight back. We have two current actions -- those of you who are pissed off, well, do something about it.
First, you can write your Senator and ask them to vote against the Broadcast Indecency Enforcement Act. (http://speakspeak.org/senators/)
Then, you can help put a stop to the Parents Television Council's hijacking of the complaint process. (Remember the PTC? They're responsible for 99.9% of FCC complaints? Ring a bell?)
Anyway, they're currently pushing for the maximum fine against CBS and all of its affiliates as punishment for the CSI episode that ran on 2/17. We're fighting back with a letter explaining why the episode was not indecent. http://speakspeak.org/letter/
The FCC is required to evaluate indecency complaints using "contemporary community standards." If the only community they hear from is the PTC, we're all screwed.
So, fight back. Please.
Give me a break, while I think the level of fines for "indecency" are ridulicious pulling out a 25 year old fine for TMI and comparing it to today is just as bad.
After adjusting for inflation the TMI fine is something like $400,000. Still less than the Howard Stern / Clear Channel fine but you might want to compare it to other government fines in its era since you like to compare "apples to apples."
In addition, it was not Howard Stern who was fined, it was Clear Channel Communications, the company who ran his broadcasts that was fined. So I believe it was a whole company that was fined... not just him. And let us not forget that Clear Channel is the biggest player in its' segment of the entertainment industry.
Finally, you cannot compare "apples to apples" the energy and entertainment industry since the energy industry is still guaranteed a certain percentage of profit by most, if not all, state public utitility commisions . The entertainment industry has no such guarantee of profit by any state regulatory agency.
As opposed to the classic "Let's attack a highly-rated post on a controversial topic and hope the few mods who strongly disagree with it will toss me a few points"?
Difference here, I gave accurate information as corroborated in multiple locations. As far as I can tell, you completely made yours up.
A quick google * yielded fines of $1.5 million, and $80 million in medical settlements. A tad bit more than $150,000, don't you think?
If you could support it, yes. Instead, you posted a registration-required link and mentioned Google.
But, lest I commit the same erro myself, here you go:
Or how about a choice line from the PA governor's address on the problem? And what did they end up paying in fines?
and $80 million in medical settlements.
"Liability" for damages does not equal "fines". I can find no source for that $80M claim, but even if I could, it wouldn't much matter, since it doesn't fall into the category of "punitive" actions. The same holds true for...
And of course, lets not take into account any new laws or regulations in the past 20 years.
Just because it might end up bothering those it directly affects, new laws do not directly punish someone, they merely (attempt to) improve the overall situation, for all players.