LOS ANGELES -- The Parents Television Council, the nation's most influential advocacy organization protecting children against sex, violence and profanity in entertainment, filed an indecency complaint last Thursday with the Federal Communications Commission against the NBC network for airing Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s expletive after the Sunday, October 3 NASCAR race.
The PTC and its nearly one million members nationwide have asked the FCC to levy a Notice of Apparent Liability against each NBC affiliate that aired the program.
The program that contained the indecent material was broadcast live around 5 p.m. ET and was seen in homes across the country on NBC network affiliates.
"NBC knows that NASCAR has a huge family audience. NBC and its affiliates should be fined for airing the S-word at a time when millions of children were likely to be in the viewing audience," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.
"After the fact, NBC announced they would be putting all future NASCAR race coverage on a 5-second tape delay. But frankly, NBC should have taken this action long before the Earnhardt incident, especially given NBC's past problems with indecent language during live broadcasts, including Bono's utterance of the F-word during the 2003 Golden Globe awards.
"This is precisely why Congress needs to increase indecency fines. Television networks need to get serious about halting the flow of indecent material over the broadcast airwaves, but that won't happen when the financial penalties can be absorbed as a reasonable cost of doing business.
"We are demanding that the FCC impose the maximum fine allowable under the law against every NBC affiliate that aired this offense. We further demand that the FCC consider license revocation as a real option given the repetitive nature of these offenses," said Bozell.
The PTC and its nearly one million members nationwide have asked the FCC to levy a Notice of Apparent Liability against each NBC affiliate that aired the program.
The program that contained the indecent material was broadcast live around 5 p.m. ET and was seen in homes across the country on NBC network affiliates.
"NBC knows that NASCAR has a huge family audience. NBC and its affiliates should be fined for airing the S-word at a time when millions of children were likely to be in the viewing audience," said L. Brent Bozell, president of the PTC.
"After the fact, NBC announced they would be putting all future NASCAR race coverage on a 5-second tape delay. But frankly, NBC should have taken this action long before the Earnhardt incident, especially given NBC's past problems with indecent language during live broadcasts, including Bono's utterance of the F-word during the 2003 Golden Globe awards.
"This is precisely why Congress needs to increase indecency fines. Television networks need to get serious about halting the flow of indecent material over the broadcast airwaves, but that won't happen when the financial penalties can be absorbed as a reasonable cost of doing business.
"We are demanding that the FCC impose the maximum fine allowable under the law against every NBC affiliate that aired this offense. We further demand that the FCC consider license revocation as a real option given the repetitive nature of these offenses," said Bozell.
But, at least I know it was not a planned deal like Ms Jackson's.
