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CNN Live At Daybreak
Crude or Prude: Indecency Descent?
Aired February 11, 2004 - 05:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Super Bowl half time fiasco goes from water cooler chitchat to Capitol Hill testimony today, but some TV critics say the broadcast indecency witch hunt is just a temporary thing.
Here's CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Janet Jackson's fast flash has put laws to block such displays on the fast track.
REP. FRED UPTON (R), MICHIGAN: Enough is enough. It's been a race to the bottom. It's got to stop.
KOCH: Michigan Congressman Fred Upton's bill to increase fines tenfold for violators now has nearly a hundred Capitol Hill sponsors. Most agree existing fines aren't working.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The $27,000 maximum fine is a joke and everyone knows it.
UPTON: And it's -- you know it's the cost of doing business, it's only a slap on the wrist.
KOCH: The Federal Communications Commission says it has more than doubled fines for indecency since 2001, but it admits it has collected in less than half the cases. As the FCC investigates the Super Bowl display, networks are censoring themselves. ABC may edit a sex scene from an upcoming "NYPD Blue" episode. And an NBC producer is fuming over that network's decision to edit out a shot of an elderly woman's bare breast from "ER." "Such over-reactions," he said, "have a chilling effect on the narrative integrity of adult dramas."
Some predict it will all blow over.
HOWARD KURTZ, TV CRITIC: Everybody is going to be careful for the next few weeks, maybe even the next few months, but down the road, I think we'll be back to a lot of raunchy, sexually-charged programming.
KOCH (on camera): If that happens, Congress may up the ante. It's considering a three strikes and you're out measure to yank repeat violators' licenses and to take them off the air for good.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 11, 2004 - 05:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Super Bowl half time fiasco goes from water cooler chitchat to Capitol Hill testimony today, but some TV critics say the broadcast indecency witch hunt is just a temporary thing.
Here's CNN's Kathleen Koch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Janet Jackson's fast flash has put laws to block such displays on the fast track.
REP. FRED UPTON (R), MICHIGAN: Enough is enough. It's been a race to the bottom. It's got to stop.
KOCH: Michigan Congressman Fred Upton's bill to increase fines tenfold for violators now has nearly a hundred Capitol Hill sponsors. Most agree existing fines aren't working.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The $27,000 maximum fine is a joke and everyone knows it.
UPTON: And it's -- you know it's the cost of doing business, it's only a slap on the wrist.
KOCH: The Federal Communications Commission says it has more than doubled fines for indecency since 2001, but it admits it has collected in less than half the cases. As the FCC investigates the Super Bowl display, networks are censoring themselves. ABC may edit a sex scene from an upcoming "NYPD Blue" episode. And an NBC producer is fuming over that network's decision to edit out a shot of an elderly woman's bare breast from "ER." "Such over-reactions," he said, "have a chilling effect on the narrative integrity of adult dramas."
Some predict it will all blow over.
HOWARD KURTZ, TV CRITIC: Everybody is going to be careful for the next few weeks, maybe even the next few months, but down the road, I think we'll be back to a lot of raunchy, sexually-charged programming.
KOCH (on camera): If that happens, Congress may up the ante. It's considering a three strikes and you're out measure to yank repeat violators' licenses and to take them off the air for good.
Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
