Pushed on Obscenity, Networks Turn to Delays, Even on Sports

New York Times:

Pushed on Obscenity, Networks Turn to Delays, Even on Sports
By BILL CARTER

Published: March 15, 2004


As Congress and the Federal Communications Commission ratchet up their criticism and the financial penalties for indecency on the airwaves, television and radio broadcasters are already making significant changes to their practices and standards.

While Clear Channel Communications, the largest owner of radio stations in the country, has been the most public in promising change, other media companies are quietly adopting policies that may be considered just as ground-shifting. CBS plans to institute a 10-second delay next month during the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament, a move that could upset sports fans who expect to see big events as they happen. The network also expects to install a delay on at least the on-field interview segments in National Football League games this fall, said Martin D. Franks, the executive vice president of CBS....

***

And although the F.C.C. does not have oversight of cable television, some media companies that own broadcast and cable channels are adapting to the changed and charged political climate. This year, MTV's Video Music Awards, scene of last August's infamous kisses between Madonna and Britney Spears, and Madonna and Christina Aguilera, will have an audio and video delay. Viacom's MTV Networks is even instituting a delay on Nickelodeon's "U-Pick Live," a live weekday show that features children selecting skits and games.

The election this year, several broadcast executives say, has played a not very subtle role in whipping up the anger directed at television and radio broadcasters, particularly since Janet Jackson flashed one breast in front of the largest television audience of the year in the Super Bowl halftime show....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/business/media/15decency.html

Someone has to install these. And more people will be hired because every channel will have to have a button operator to censor in real time whenever they go live.

Finally, the Bush administration is doing something for the jobless.

/sarcasm

http://brainbuttons.com

Have we really become a nation of children? Has the baring of one single breast set off such a firestorm of censorship and idiotic chicken-Littleism?

Haven't you realized yet that breasts are unutterably evil? And if allowed will destroy civilization?

As for a nation of children... well that seems to be what we want.Everything will be OK as long as Big Daddy tells us what we can see and say and think.

Khash.
(Love the bit where they think they have to censor Nickelodeon. God knows that children are the true intellectual terrorists in our midst.)

Oh dear, we'll have to censor babies now...

I remember when, walking in the street with my daughter and her kindergarden friend, they deliberately yelled real obscenities at each other, trying to provoke me, laughing hysterically ...

They did not really know what it meant, just had picked up from friends that these were forbidden words to annoy adults with.

I had my nephew this weekend and he said "snot". I didn't know what to do. Slap the little bastard into silence or slit my throat. What's a decent Uncle to do?

Thank god the morally correct will protect me from the children! Now if only they could do something about my nephew....

Khash.

That was held in College Park. Many MD fans wore "Fuck Duke" shirts and chanted so loud that it was evident during the broadcast and the shirts could be seen everywhere.

most boring article in 3 days.

This reminds me of Iran.
Remember the Soccer World Championship in the USA in 1996 (if I remember correctly)..

I remember hearing then that it was even aired in IRAN, which I thought was cool, BUT they aired it with a minute of delay and whenever you saw naked people (like men without shirts) on the ranks they would censor it and replace it with pictures of (half empty) iranian stadiums.

I used to laugh at that time...
Somehow I don't feel like laughing anymore...

They're pushing to ban gay marriage, subpoena-ing 'abortion records', rolling back funding for women's clinics, health care, education, first responders, and totally blowing the 'war on terra' ... but the U.S. is safe from boobs and swear words on prime time TV ??

Your GOP at work .... religious fundies controlling your bedroom while their crooked cronies run amok in the board room ....

Gimme a FUCKING BREAK !!!

oops ... is the FCC after us now ?? :evilfrown:

:hippie:

the censors are here. Who determines what's "decent"? I practically vomit every time a Fear Factor ad comes on, but that's considered family entertainment.

And who's to say they won't censor any political speech?