WASHINGTON, DC – In its ongoing efforts to “cleanse” American society, nobody can accuse the Religious Right of lying down on the job.In separate actions yesterday, the Parents Television Council (PTC) and Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) called on the federal government for stricter enforcement of broadcast indecency and federal obscenity laws.
The PTC announced yesterday that it has filed an indecency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning the airing of “vulgar and obscene language” used by actresses Helen Mirren and Calista Flockhart during NBC’s Sunday broadcast of the Emmy Awards.
When Mirren took stage to accept an Emmy for her performance in HBO’s Elizabeth I, she commented that her “great triumph is not falling ass over tit coming up those stairs,” adding “If you saw the shoes I’ve got on, you would understand.” Later in the broadcast, Calista Flockhard repeated the phrase while presenting another of the show’s awards.
“It is utterly irresponsible and atrocious for NBC to air this vulgar language during the safe harbor time when millions of children were in the viewing audience,” said PTC president L. Brent Bozell in a statement released by the PTC.
“The PTC, on behalf of its over one million members nationwide, has asked the FCC to levy a Notice of Apparent Liability against each NBC affiliate that aired the unedited program,” the conservative media watchdog group stated in Thursday’s release.
The PTC also called on its members in the Central and Mountain Time zones to file complaints of their own with the FCC.
“People are getting sick and tired of networks allowing unedited profanity on their award shows in front of millions of youngsters, and with NBC this practice is becoming habitual,” asserted Bozell. “Didn’t NBC learn anything from airing the live broadcast of the Golden Globes during which Bono dropped the F-word?”
PTC’s director of corporate and government affairs Dan Isett said the word “tits” was the problem, according to a report on TVWeek.com
“It’s one of the original ‘seven dirty words,’” said Isett. “It should be considered a dirty word.”
Isett added that the PTC’s point was broader than the use of the word “tits,” and that the real issue is that NBC failed to properly screen and censor the broadcast.
“NBC should have aired the Emmys on a tape delay, to bleep out the obscenities,” Bozell stated in the PTC release. “A few seconds’ delay would not have meant a thing.”
Bozell’s PTC is among a number of “family” organizations pushing for stricter enforcement of broadcast indecency standards by the FCC, including heavy fines for any form of violation.
“We certainly hope that NBC will feel the pain of a hefty indecency fine for breaking the indecency law,” Bozell said. “It seems the only way to restore a sense of responsibility to the broadcast networks for polluting the public airwaves is to make sure the multi-billion dollar companies are financially penalized.”
NBC has not yet commented on the PTC’s complaint.
In other “decency news,” the ADF requested a meeting with President George W. Bush in order to discuss the importance of enforcing federal obscenity laws, according to articles published on the Focus on the Family (FOF) website.
Such enforcement “gives wind to the sails of the prosecutors and it sends a strong message to those that are violating federal law that the government is going to get you,” said Pat Trueman of the ADF.
Trueman requested his meeting with Bush in a letter sent on the behalf of “nearly 50 pro-family groups,” according to the FOF.
The same article includes a statement from Tom Rodgers, reportedly a former police detective, describing the damage done to communities by “porn shops.”
“We watched ordinary businesses close as a result,” said Rogers. “We watched crime rates increase as a result, and we watched the quality of life being destroyed.”
Rod Parsely, pastor of the World Harvest Church in Ohio, told FOF that he wants stricter enforcement of obscenity laws for the sake of families because he has seen families “absolutely destroyed by the blight of pornography.”
“Pornography does not lead anyone to anything good,” asserted Parsely, “it becomes a financial drain on the family like any addiction does and often leads to violence against women.”
The full PTC press release is available here: http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/release/2006/0831.asp
The full articles on the ADF’s letter requesting a meeting with Bush can be found on the FOF website here:
http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0041854.cfm
http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0041860.cfm
