WASHINGTON (BP)–The U.S. Senate has joined the House of Representatives in overwhelmingly approving a dramatic increase in fines for broadcast indecency.
The Senate voted 99-1 in favor of a proposal to increase ten-fold the maximum penalty the Federal Communications Commission may issue for a decency violation on television and radio. The measure would increase the maximum fine from $27,500 to $275,000 when the FCC determines a broadcaster is guilty of “obscene, indecent or profane language.” The legislation also would set a limit of $3 million for a single violation that continues or produces multiple complaints.
In March, the House voted 391-22 for a stand-alone bill, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, H.R. 3717. That measure differs from the Senate version. The House proposal would increase the maximum FCC fine to $500,000. The measure also would call for FCC license revocation proceedings after three violations by a radio or television station.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R.-Kan., proposed the Senate measure, which has the same title as the House version, as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill, S. 2400. Brownback requested a roll-call vote June 22 on the amendment, S.A. 3464, and only Sen. John Breaux, D.-La., voted against it.
“I applaud Sen. Brownback for holding the senators’ feet to the fire and obligating them to stand up and be counted in a roll-call vote on this issue,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. The roll-call vote demonstrated senators “don’t want to have to explain to the people they represent back home why they didn’t vote to increase the fines for ‘obscene, indecent or profane language’ on the public airwaves.”
“There’s no question where the vast majority of Americans are on this issue, and I’m glad to see the senators for once accurately representing their constituencies,” Land said. “It’s interesting — the one senator who did not vote for it is not seeking re-election. It’s a wonderful thing to see how election cycles focus politicians’ attention.”
Jan LaRue, Concerned Women for America’s chief counsel, said the larger fines “will actually impact [the] bottom line” of entertainment giants and “make them sit up and listen to the American people’s concern to clean up the public airwaves.”
“We can’t nickel and dime mega-corporations and expect them to enforce decency regulations on public airwaves,” LaRue said in a written statement. “This is a great step to turn the tide against abuse of the public airwaves by broadcast TV and radio shock jocks.”
Pro-family organizations have long criticized the sexual content, plus obscene and profane language, on prime-time television. Criticism of TV programming has increased in the last year as a result of obscenities uttered on some live programs.
The Super Bowl’s halftime show Feb. 1, however, pushed the issue into the national spotlight and motivated Congress to act. Justin Timberlake’s uncovering of one of Janet Jackson’s breasts on national TV capped a controversial show and brought a deluge of criticism from many Americans, including legislators and the FCC.
Congress acted quickly, holding hearings and advancing legislation to strengthen the FCC’s enforcement of the decency standards. The FCC also has announced several fines, especially against broadcasts by shock-jock Howard Stern.
Neither bill would directly affect cable or satellite programming. The FCC is able to regulate only broadcast radio and television programs. On TV, that includes such networks as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
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