Saving private ryan is showing uncut on ABC tonight. However several affiliates preempted it because they were worried about getting fined by the FCC for indecency (it has lots of blood, and there is also swearing). With the current FCC, you never know what they will do. Even worse, when contacted by stations asking if they could show the movie without getting fined, this was the response:
quote: Janice Wise, spokeswoman for the FCC's enforcement bureau, told Reuters it had received calls from broadcasters asking if the film would run afoul of the agency's indecency rules. Wise said the commission was barred from making a decision before the broadcast "because that would be censorship."
This is just insane. They refuse to tell you if a movie violates their standards before hand because that would be "censorship" but they see nothing wrong with fining you afterwards. This leads to MORE censorship because stations are afraid to show things that may or may not get them into trouble. However, the FCC can pat themselves on the back for not censoring because after all it was the station that chose not to show the movie...the fact that they chose not to show it because they were afraid of a fine from the FCC is irrelevent to them.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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And so the chill begins. The FCC won't say what is acceptable and what isn't, so that people (and, in this case, some network affiliates) will censor themselves. Then, pretty soon, everyone is afraid to say anything for fear that they might get punished for it.
Well, it was nice having the First Amendment free speech guarantee while it lasted.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I've got to say that's the stupidest thing I've seen in a while. It seems perfectly reasonable for them to evaluate whether something is indecent ahead of time.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Our entire legal system works on the principle that you won't be oficially told if your behavior violates any laws or regulations until after you commit the act.
Of course, this only applies for behavior at the edges of legality. You know it's wrong to pull out a gun and shoot a stranger fo no reason. It's more gray area things that this applies to.
The whole principle is a little mind-boggling and does chill behavior somewhat.
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