Freedom of Artistic Expression is currently under attack in Congress under the terms of the "Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act." Individual Americans could be personally fined a half million dollars -- without a warning -- for each violation of the Federal Communications Commission's vague broadcast decency standard.
Although termed "performer fines," these penalties would apply not just to high-profile entertainers like Janet Jackson, Howard Stern or Bono, but to any American citizen. Thus, anyone who speaks their mind over the public airwaves -- man on the street interviewees, radio call-in listeners, newscasters, athletes, even politicians -- could face financial ruin for an unintentional slip of the tongue. In the name of "decency," this overreaching legislation could force ordinary citizens who unintentionally run afoul of the FCC's vague standards into bankruptcy. The bill would also allow the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") to yank the licenses of stations with three indecency violations.
This legislation passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority [389-38] in February and is currently pending in the Senate. The threat that this legislation poses to free expression is considerable as performers and stations feel pressured to self-censor in order to comply with the FCC's arbitrary and changing indecency guidelines.
At long last, Americans seem to be waking up to the fact that this recent "war on broadcast indecency" could seriously threaten what we watch and listen to over the public's airwaves. In fact, some Senators have gone as far as to propose applying decency rules meant for free, over-the-air broadcasts to programs such as the South Park and The Sopranos that appear on paid subscription cable and satellite services.
TV Watch (an organization which The Creative Coalition helped establish that opposes government control of television programming and promotes the use of individual and parental controls) just released the results of a new national survey showing that 80% of Americans prefer parental responsibility over governmental regulation when it comes to determining what is and is not appropriate media consumption for children. As the TV Watch survey demonstrates, an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with President Bush when he says that parents, not the government, are the "first line of responsibility when it comes to protecting children from indecent TV programming. There's a remote on the TV for a reason."
Groups like TV Watch and The Creative Coalition are providing a voice to these Americans. Our priority is to create a strategic and educated solution to what otherwise will be a government clampdown on content.
It's time for all of us to speak up and let Congress know that we will not allow our government to sanitize creative expression and threaten our most basic freedom -- the freedom of expression.