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PTC: broadcast networks have 'legal obligation to avoid giving extreme offense to any group'
Reviewing the debut episode of the new ABC primetime drama GCB (as the Parents Television Council points out was originally titled Good Christian Bitches), the PTC concluded after chastising how the show does not give the Christian characters the 7th Heaven treatment:
Just as with profanity and sexual content, those using the broadcast airwaves – which belong to the American people, not to the networks -- have both an ethical and a Congressionally-mandated legal obligation to avoid giving extreme offense to any group. Premium cable networks have (and should retain) the “freedom to offend;” those who oppose the content on such networks need not watch or pay for it. But broadcast TV enters every American home, using a medium belonging to the American people themselves. It is inexcusable that the networks – who use this medium to make billions of dollars a year, and use it for free – should be allowed to use it to deliberately offend, slander, and outrage millions of Americans.
But after Rush Limbaugh's outrageous misrepresentation of Sandra Fluke testifying before a Congressional committee about birth control as taxpayer-funded prostitution, not a peep from the PTC, and in fact no apologies and even DEFENSE of Rush from the PTC's sister Brent Bozell-founded organization Media Research Center. Under the PTC's logic in the GCB review, Rush Limbaugh is "deliberately slandering" millions of women by making his disgusting spin on Fluke's testimony (which did NOT explicitly mention sex at all) and thus should be banned from the airwaves. And Michael Savage should also pack his bags over to Sirius/XM given that he has made hateful remarks about Muslims, Arabs, immigrants, minorities, gays, and pretty much anyone not a True American(TM). And what about the evangelical preachers who have syndicated programs on the broadcast stations during Sunday mornings or daytime in general? Should their programs be banned if those preachers do sermons against gays or atheists?
The PTC pretty much unveiled the curtains of their agenda right here. They want an evangelical Christian version of sharia law imposed on the broadcast airwaves. But if the PTC want that offensive "GCB" off the air, then the PTC advocates should be willing to pay up a monthly fee for Sirius/XM in order to listen to Limbaugh or Savage, whose programs also fit the PTC's definition of "deliberately offending millions". What the PTC is advocating is far worse than the hate speech laws in Canada or the UK. I have heard of plenty of individuals prosecuted under those laws, but when has a broadcaster in Canada or the UK ever been prosecuted for programming that offends a certain group? Hell, atheist Richard Dawkins still gets to speak his mind in Britain despite the Racial and Religious Hatred Act.
Oh yeah, I've seen this article by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda calling on FCC action against Limbaugh being promoted on DU. Sadly, Fonda and Steinem are pulling an Andrea Dworkin act right here (Dworkin even collaborated with Reagan atty. gen. Edwin Meese on Meese's anti-pornography crusade of the '80s) by promoting a Parents Television Council/evangelical Christian-type of censorship advocacy.
6 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
"Pixelate the Morality Police" at common dreams reveals:
A quick look at some of the people sitting on the "Advisory Board" of the PTC, however, reveals a group of individuals who do not appear to practice what they preach:
PTC founder and President Brent Bozell III. A longtime conservative activist, Bozell was the National Finance Chairman for the 1992 "Buchanan for President" campaign. When most people think of "compassion" and "family values," neo-fascist Pat Buchanan doesn't automatically come to mind. "Obscenity," on the other hand, might.
Susan Howard. Howard is well-known for her role as Donna Krebbs on the 80s hit show, "Dallas." Since the soap that made her famous was soaked in scantily-clad women, emotional cruelty, violence, alcoholism, and martial infidelity, it is amusing to see someone like Howard take the moral high-ground on "values" in television. Oh, by the way, Susan Howard is also on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association.
Coleman Luck. A writer and producer, Luck's television experience includes work on "Otherworld," "The Equalizer," "Fire," "Matrix," and "The Burning Zone." Most of these programs included a fair amount of death and violence. It would appear that, for Luck, "obscenity" is acceptable so long as he is the one who is getting the paychecks.
William Bennett. Opinionated conservative commentator and author ("The Book of Virtues"
who was chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan, as well as President Bush's "drug czar". Following the publication of "The Book of Virtues," it was discovered that Bennett was a very popular guest at a number of Las Vegas casinos. Conveniently, many conservative commentators then decided that gambling was not, after all, a vice. 
