 The Federal Communications Commission yesterday proposed nearly $4 million in fines for violating the agency's indecency standards, targeting a range of TV programming from a hit CBS drama to Spanish-language broadcasts to a PBS documentary on bluesmen.
The CBS network was hit hardest, with a record $3.6 million in proposed fines for a December 2004 broadcast of "Without a Trace," a procedural drama featuring an FBI missing-persons unit. The show contained a segment in which teenagers were depicted engaging in various sexual activities including group sex, though none of the shots contained nudity.
The FCC also denied CBS's appeal to nullify a proposed $550,000 in fines for network-owned stations for airing singer Janet Jackson's brief nudity during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl. CBS, which had claimed the fleeting glimpse of Jackson's right breast was not indecent, must now pay the fine or appeal it in court. Some First Amendment experts have speculated the case may end in the Supreme Court, as broadcasters grow eager to challenge the government's ability to police the airwaves.
All told, the FCC resolved complaints against 49 programs broadcast between February 2002 and March 2005, making its first rulings on indecency since December 2004 and also the first under Republican FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, who succeeded Republican Michael K. Powell in March 2005. In addition to the proposed fines, the FCC dismissed viewer complaints against such shows as ABC's "Alias," Fox's "The Simpsons" and a Fox NFL broadcast.
"The number of complaints received by the commission has risen year after year," Martin said. "They have grown from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. And the number of programs that trigger these complaints continues to increase as well."
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