FCC Plans New Round of Indecency Fines Targeting Broadcasters, Stern
Fri Mar 5, 4:05 AM ET
NEW YORK -- Amid a widening and increasingly politicized campaign to clean up the nation's airwaves, regulators are proposing fines against many of the nation's major radio companies for carrying well-known "shock jocks," Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) officials told The Wall Street Journal.
About a dozen cases are being finalized, these officials said, and one target is Howard Stern, one of the nation's most popular and controversial radio hosts. The FCC (news - web sites) is deciding on penalties against his employer, Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - News)'s Infinity Broadcasting. Also facing further scrutiny are Emmis Communications Inc. and Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE:CCU - News) , the nation's largest radio owner, which last week took Mr. Stern's show off six of its radio stations and fired a controversial -- and oft-fined -- Tampa, Fla., radio host, Todd Clem, known as "Bubba the Love Sponge."
Bowing to public pressure, the agency also plans to reverse its earlier finding that singer Bono's use of a vulgarity on live television during the 2003 Golden Globes broadcast wasn't indecent, possibly as soon as next week, officials said. However, it won't impose what could have been a multimillion- dollar fine against General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - News)'s NBC network, which carried the event, or its affiliates.
The flurry of new cases is the latest sign of a sweeping federal crackdown on controversial content beamed over television and radio airwaves. Congress has held a spate of hearings in the last two months to decry what some legislators call a "race to the bottom" by broadcasters. While a move to act against questionable material had been under way before, it was ignited by this year's Super Bowl broadcast, in which entertainer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed during the halftime show to the embarrassment of broadcaster CBS, a Viacom unit, its affiliates and the FCC.
Feeding the push is an increasingly charged, and polarized, political atmosphere in which cultural issues such as obscenity and gay marriage have become hot topics as the general election campaign heats up. Lawmakers of both parties have been implicitly and in some cases openly threatening legislative action if regulators don't step up their enforcement of existing decency standards.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Anne Marie Squeo and Joe Flint contributed to this report.
Fri Mar 5, 4:05 AM ET
NEW YORK -- Amid a widening and increasingly politicized campaign to clean up the nation's airwaves, regulators are proposing fines against many of the nation's major radio companies for carrying well-known "shock jocks," Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) officials told The Wall Street Journal.
About a dozen cases are being finalized, these officials said, and one target is Howard Stern, one of the nation's most popular and controversial radio hosts. The FCC (news - web sites) is deciding on penalties against his employer, Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - News)'s Infinity Broadcasting. Also facing further scrutiny are Emmis Communications Inc. and Clear Channel Communications Inc. (NYSE:CCU - News) , the nation's largest radio owner, which last week took Mr. Stern's show off six of its radio stations and fired a controversial -- and oft-fined -- Tampa, Fla., radio host, Todd Clem, known as "Bubba the Love Sponge."
Bowing to public pressure, the agency also plans to reverse its earlier finding that singer Bono's use of a vulgarity on live television during the 2003 Golden Globes broadcast wasn't indecent, possibly as soon as next week, officials said. However, it won't impose what could have been a multimillion- dollar fine against General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - News)'s NBC network, which carried the event, or its affiliates.
The flurry of new cases is the latest sign of a sweeping federal crackdown on controversial content beamed over television and radio airwaves. Congress has held a spate of hearings in the last two months to decry what some legislators call a "race to the bottom" by broadcasters. While a move to act against questionable material had been under way before, it was ignited by this year's Super Bowl broadcast, in which entertainer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed during the halftime show to the embarrassment of broadcaster CBS, a Viacom unit, its affiliates and the FCC.
Feeding the push is an increasingly charged, and polarized, political atmosphere in which cultural issues such as obscenity and gay marriage have become hot topics as the general election campaign heats up. Lawmakers of both parties have been implicitly and in some cases openly threatening legislative action if regulators don't step up their enforcement of existing decency standards.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Anne Marie Squeo and Joe Flint contributed to this report.
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