News Intelligence Analysis
March 12, 2004
House Votes, 391-22, to Raise
Broadcasters' Fines for Indecency
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, March 11 — Saying much of the public is fed
up with indecent television and radio programming, members of
the House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to increase penalties
on broadcasters and performers who violate federal standards.
Spurred by a racy Super Bowl halftime show, the House voted, 391 to 22, to raise fines to $500,000 for the holders of broadcast licenses and for entertainers, from $27,500 and $11,000, respectively. The measure would also force the Federal Communications Commission to act more quickly on complaints and move to revoke the licenses of repeat offenders.
"For too long, we have told the entertainment industry that the federal government is unwilling to hold them accountable for their actions," Representative Joe Pitts, Republican of Pennsylvania, said. "Today, we are saying, Enough is enough."
The bill, covering just content broadcast over the public airwaves and not cable or satellite programs, was strongly backed by the White House.
"This legislation," the White House said in a statement, "will make broadcast television and radio more suitable for family viewing."
A similar measure emerging in the Senate would block White House plans to allow large media companies to add outlets, a debate that helped stall a major spending bill last year. To go to the president, a Senate bill would have to be reconciled with the House measure.
Some House Democrats were angry on Wednesday that they had been denied an opportunity to offer an amendment to limit such consolidation.
"What are we doing about the concentration of power in the media?" Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, asked on the floor.
Others said the measure threatened free speech and was a case of the government's trying to intercede on behalf of viewers who can make their own choices.
"They can change the channel," Representative Gary L. Ackerman, Democrat of Queens, said. "They can change the station. They can turn it off."
The approval came from 218 Republicans, 172 Democrats and one independent. Twenty-one Democrats and one Republican opposed the bill.
Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who was an author of the bill, said that in addition to the Super Bowl show, the measure had been prompted by the F.C.C.'s lackluster pursuit of complaints about indecency, obscenity or profanity. Despite tens of thousands of complaints from 2001 to 2003, he said, the agency issued 17 notifications that violations had occurred and that fines were possible.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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