| | | KWMR, the local radio station in Point Reyes Station, is careful to avoid language that the FCC deems indecent. Pictured: Jane Mickleson and Myan Baker | |
|
An increase in the Federal Communications Commission’s maximum fine for indecency was an election year priority for conservative legislators. On June 7 – two years after Justin Timberlake ripped open Janet Jackson’s leather stage outfit to expose her nipple for 1.7 seconds – the House voted 379-35 to raise the maximum fine against broadcasters that air indecent material. The tenfold increase raises the maximum fine from $32,500 to $325,000 per incident.
The Senate unanimously passed the legislation last month, and President Bush has vowed to sign the bill. Government “has a responsibility to help strengthen families,” and this legislation “will make television and radio more family friendly,” said Bush.
Fines up to $325,000
The new fines mean that an excitable host, guest, or caller who utters the “F-word” could now cost West Marin’s community radio station, KWMR, as much as $325,000 – a fine that would mean bankruptcy. The station’s total operating budget for this year is about $250,000.
The FCC’s increased fine for objectionable programming is ostensibly aimed at big broadcasters like CBS – producers of the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show – but also applies to non-profit radio stations with listener numbers in the thousands rather than millions. While networks and affiliates use five-second delays and closely monitor on-air content, KWMR relies on volunteer hosts and their guests to abide by “sensitive language” guidelines and to pre-screen recorded music.
College station fined $23,750
“People make mistakes,” said Kay Clements, KWMR station manager, “but for the FCC, that doesn’t carry any water.” The FCC has fined small stations in the past. In 1994, the agency fined a college radio station $23,750 for playing an indecent rap song.
The agency defines indecency, in part, as sexual or excretory references that are “patently offensive” by the standards of an average community in the United States. Such material is prohibited between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. There is no agreement among radio broadcasters about what the words “average community” mean, though the FCC says the definition is a clear legal concept. Yet, no matter how the “national standard” of indecency is interpreted by the FCC commissions, it is clear that in a red-state nation that interpretation will be more conservative than a West Marin standard. The question is whether this ambiguity – and the stiff fine that could follow – will lead to a chilling effect on speech that falls into a “grey area.”
“People say, ‘Give us a list of what is indecent.’ But the key thing in every case is context, and the contexts of speech are unlimited,” said David Fiske, spokesperson at the FCC. “Average community is generally applied as a national standard by the commission. It’s case-by-case determination. You can’t predict ahead of time every single indecent word in every single context.”
“In fact, there is no national standard of indecency,” said Ginny Berson, vice president of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. Berson’s job is to help community radio stations understand and implement FCC regulations; she has consulted for KWMR in the past. “The word ‘national’ is there because the FCC is not in a position to know what the standards in a local community are,” said Berson. “I suppose they would argue we can’t have multiple standards.”
“It is not clear which community standards would apply and whether the standards of one community can be used to punish members of another community,” Paul McMasters, a scholar at the First Amendment Center, told The Light.
KWMR staffers worry that a listener who objects to political opinions expressed on the station could use the indecency rules as a way to censor the station. To file a complaint with the FCC, a person does not have to be personally offended, need not present material evidence that indecency occurred, and is not required to have actually heard the program, according to Jonathan Rinkel, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, a group that opposes the FCC’s indecency policy.
Though evidence is not required in order to file a complaint, it is required for the complaint to be pursued, Fiske pointed out. Complaints can be filed through the FCC Web site up to eight years after the incident occurred, provided the FCC’s license is still held by the same entity. The FCC said there are very few cases in which complaints date back as far as eight years but would not discuss the investigative process or ongoing investigations.
Lyons Filmer, program manager at KWMR, described a recent show on sexual abuse during which a survivor briefly described a memory of abuse. “If he had been describing actual body parts and acts, I would have asked the host to edit it out,” said Filmer. She noted that Allen Ginsburg’s seminal screed “Howl” cannot be played on the air because it contains indecent language. However, KWMR must consider the effect it has on listeners, not simply because of FCC fines, but also because it defines itself as a community station, Filmer said.
KWMR’s broadcasters insurance policy covers civil tort cases, but not FCC fines.
“It’s against the public good for insurance to cover government fines because it takes the sting out of those regulations,” said John Ruding, an insurance representative at MediaPro, a large media insurance carrier. “That sort of coverage is against the law.”
The Parent’s Television Council – a group that supports increased fines – did not return calls for this article.
|
