TV News

The Parents Television Council (PTC) has issued a press release commenting on the FCC proposal to end fines for broadcasting fleeting strong language and nudity like Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction'.

The PTC President Tim Winter wrote in a press release:

The FCC asked for the public's comment, and they got it. By a margin of nearly 1,000 to 1, the American public told the FCC to enforce existing broadcast indecency law, and not to weaken it. The only question now before the FCC is whether to heed or disregard the public's comments that they, themselves, asked for.

The broadcast networks and their agents continue to cloud the issue at hand by arguing against the very existence of the broadcast indecency law. They are trying to re-litigate the Supreme Court cases that they lost, rather than focus on the FCC's proposal to focus only on 'egregious' instances of indecency.

It is essential for the FCC to remember whose interest it is that they are mandated by Congress to serve. The sheer volume of public comments -- over 102,000 comments that were individually filed by individual Americans, and were roughly 1,000 to 1 in favor of keeping existing indecency standards -- speaks louder than the broadcast networks that want to dismantle the law.

The American people have spoken. We call on the FCC to hear and to heed the public's overwhelming support for the existing broadcast indecency law. And we call on the Commission to reject the proposed change to the law as crafted by its outgoing and now-departed chairman.

New Year's Eve Countdown Concert
RTE Radio 1, 31 December 2012

This magazine programme included a satirical review of the year's events with impressionist and comedian Oliver Callan who at one point impersonated the boxer Katie Taylor. His impersonation of Katie Taylor went as follows:

I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for Jesus Christ and God and Marty Morrissey, they've been my inspiration, and you know I came over a lot of adversity, there was a lot of talk about how I tested positive for performance-enhancing prayers, then there was the whole business about the wine being found in me urine sample but thank God, with the help o' God it turned out to be the blood of Christ so, em, I'll be fine and I encourage all people in 2013 if you want your dreams to come true, you know, you can always, em, put faith in the Good Book. My Olympic Dream is out now in all good book stores and Easons, €12.99. I'll sign it for an extra two quid.

A priest objected to what he describes as the blasphemous reference in this programme to the Blood of Jesus being found in Katie Taylor's urine.

The Decision of Compliance Committee found:

• The Committee noted that the trans-substantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus is considered a central tenet of religious belief for Irish Catholics. Therefore, particular care is required where it is referred to in a programming other than in a religious context. For this reason, it was the view of the Committee that some listeners may have found the item offensive and a greater sensitivity to this source of offence than that shown in this item would have been desirable.
   
• However, having had regard to the programme about which the complaint was made, it was the Committee's view that it had been used in a humorous and playful manner in a comedy section of a New Year's Eve radio programme. The Committee noted that the target of the comedy was Katie Taylor rather the religious symbols of Christianity and while this part of the comedy feature could be considered as being in poor taste and potentially offensive to some listeners on religious grounds, it was its view that the item would not cause undue offence, contrary to the Code of Programme Standards.

New 'research' from morality campaigners of the Parents Television Council's 4 Every Girl Campaign claims that teenage female characters on primetime broadcast television are more likely to be presented in sexually exploitative scenes than adult women, and the appearance of underage female characters in a supposedly sexually exploitative scene increased the probability that the scene would be presented as humorous.

Study results revealed that out of 238 scripted episodes which aired during the study period, 150 episodes (63%) contained sexual content in scenes that were associated with females and 33% of the episodes contained sexual content that rose to the level of what the PTC see as sexual exploitation.

Topics that targeted teenage girls and were presented as humorous included: sexual violence, sex trafficking, sexual harassment, pornography, and stripping.

PTC President Tim Winter claimed:

The frequency with which viewers are able to watch and laugh at these sexually exploitative situations supports the notion that entertainment media is creating an environment that encourages and even facilitates the sexualization of women. When we laugh about dead hookers, it becomes increasingly difficult to see the mistreatment of sex workers as a national civil and human rights issue. The same can be said for child molestation or sex trafficking.

The prevalence of images that trivialize sexual exploitation can be interpreted as sanctioning the sexualization of women. When these messages, images and ideologies are delivered via mass media, the definition of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are communicated both implicitly and explicitly to viewers. Similarly, when the media associates humor with sexual exploitation they are sending a strong message that these issues are harmless and require neither urgency nor a strong response.

We hope that these disturbing findings will spur concern, increased dialogue, and a collective responsibility to find answers that will result in a qualitative difference in the lives of young girls and women everywhere.

Last week, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC each filed individual requests to the US TV censors of the FCC asking for the removal of government-regulated indecency standards.

According to FCC.gov:

It is a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours. Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the responsibility for administratively enforcing these laws, the FCC's website continues. The FCC may revoke a station license, impose a monetary forfeiture or issue a warning if a station airs obscene, indecent or profane material.

In response to the current laws, the major TV networks expressed their desires to overturn the restrictions of the FCC's indecency standards.

FOX said:

The FCC should affirm that it has no right to deny broadcasters the same First Amendment protections enjoyed by every other medium of communication,

NBC added:

Broadcast TV is not a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of 21st century Americans.

Russian state television has pulled a show over a joke about President Vladimir Putin's surprise divorce announcement..

The youth-oriented television show called The Social Network recorded a satirical item about Putin putting up a profile on an online dating site. The programme's co-host Vladislav Sorokin wrote on Facebook:

We made a video item about photos of Putin for mamba.ru (dating site). They took the whole programme, all of it, off air entirely.

We'll work till our contract ends on June 30 and then so long.

Actors were briefly shown vaguely waving bloody knives and cleavers like killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. This occurred as a a throwaway reference to the UK in a spoof of the Eurovision Song Contest.

A spoof compere was doing the rounds interviewing people sitting at tables representing a few European states. When he approached the UK table he asked those sitting there to wave to the camera. They were shown to be holding knives as per the Woolwich terrorist. The compere then pretended to run away screaming.

The show was Saturday night's Langs de Leeuw show on Holland's publicly-owned VARA channel. The same programme caused 'ourtrage' last week with a presenter sampling breast milk direct from a participant.

The latest sketch sparked a little 'outrage' from Dutch viewers via the inevitable Twitter.

Niet Mohammed wrote: Has Paul de Leeuw no shame?

DCorleone59 added: For almost 400,000 euros a year, Paul de Leeuw makes fun of the brutal killing of Lee Rigby.

Edin Mujagic wrote: Someone killed with a machete is NOT, I repeat NOT funny!

Australia has unveiled plans to ban television and radio broadcasts of betting odds during live sports matches.

Gambling advertisements will no longer appear during live events and around sporting venues, the government said. Gillard told a press conference:

From the moment that the players step onto the field, to the moment that they leave the field, there will be no live odds.

The broadcasting industry is expected to submit a revised code to Australia's media watchdog reflecting the changes.

Under the new rules, advertisements would only be allowed before or after a game, or during a scheduled break in play, such as quarter-time and half-time.

Comedy Central has been banned for ten days for airing supposedly obscene and vulgar words and being derogatory to women.

Stating multiple clauses that the channel has breached, the I&B Ministry asked Comedy Central to go off air from May 25 till June 4 for a comedy broadcast during Stand Up Club and Popcorn programmes on May 26 and July 4 last year.

The order issued by Delhi High court claimed that the programme showed a stand up comedian mouthing supposedly vulgar words accompanied by obscene and suggestive gestures and gyration.

Jokes during his performance supposedly denigrated women, indecently and crudely referred to sex organs of men-and women and the sing-song rendition by the man sought to pornographically describe male lust, whilst depicting women as a commodity of sex.

The second case was an episode from the reality show titled Popcorn wherein members of the Comedy Central crew are seen playing pranks on the general populace. In this case, one of the Comedy Central crew members was seen mimicking the act of intercourse with a set of dummy legs, in different locations.

Update: Ban stayed

28th May 2013. See  article from  timesofindia.indiatimes.com

A division bench of the Delhi High Court has stayed an order of the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry that prohibited transmission and re-transmission of the television channel, Comedy Central.

The HC bench stayed the order after hearing Sujeet Jain, executive vice-president, of Viacom, who had challenged the ban.

Dutch TV host Paul De Leeuw generated a little 'outrage' during is chat show Langs De Leeuw , which focused on breastfeeding.

The audience was made up of breastfeeding mothers who donate excess milk to women who are unable to produce enough of their own. The openly gay comedian was asked if he wanted to taste the milk from one audience member who had expressed milk into a bottle.

But De Leeuw joked to the woman, known as Wendy, that he would rather try it direct from the source. Wendy, then unhooks herself from the pump and tells him he can so long as he doesn't bite .

Video footage then shows him suckling from one breast and then the other before telling Wendy:

I find the second one better tasting, but I can taste that you've eaten asparagus yesterday.

But the stunt sparked 'outrage' with people saying it was disgusting. Probably just a few trivial tweets, hyped up by the local tabloid.

US morality campaigners of the Parents Television Council have launched #NoIndecencyFCC Week, May 6-10. They are hoping to encourage moralists to file public comments to the FCC's proposal to limit broadcast indecency complaints.

PTC President Tim Winter said:

We are focusing on #NoIndecencyFCC to let the FCC know that we consider its proposal to limit broadcast indecency complaints extremely troublesome. Only pursuing so-called 'egregious' complaints from the public about indecent TV or radio content will lead to broadcasters pushing the decency limits even further -- including the airing of nudity or harsh profanity when millions of children are in the audience.

Federal law limits the broadcast of indecent material to the times of day when kids are much less likely to be in the audience, making no distinction for 'egregious' instances. Either material is legally indecent or it is not, and the 'egregious' nature of violating the law should only dictate the punishment a broadcaster faces for breaking that law. It is unnecessary for indecent content to be repeated many times in order to be actionable, and it is unwise for the FCC to pursue a new course that will guarantee nothing but a rash of new litigation.

We are encouraging the public to share its concern with the FCC in a public comment by the deadline of May 20. To date, over 90,000 public comments have been filed, most of them expressing outrage that the FCC would even consider such a proposal.

If this proposal is adopted, the greatest harm will fall upon our children and grandchildren, who already face waves of explicit content when they use the airwaves of which they, too, are co-owners. The FCC proposal erodes a parent's recourse for broadcast decency enforcement and, instead, cedes control of our airwaves entirely to the entertainment industry. It's time to say #NoIndecencyFCC!

The PTC is also encouraging people to take to Twitter using the #NoIndecencyFCC hashtag.

China's international news propaganda channel is looking to expand into Taiwan. But local authorities have given a strict requirement that CCTV can only be aired in the country if Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) is allowed to air freely in China.

Air freely is a pretty tough sell to Chinese authorities, and CCTV-style censored stories don't exactly resonate with the Taiwanese, as South China Morning Post reports:

If the mainland grants our television channels landing rights, then yes, we have basis for discussion but if the other side does not allow us landing rights, then unfortunately, we have no basis for discussion, Lung [Taiwanese Culture Minister] said on the sidelines of a Legislative Yuan committee hearing.

Afgahanistan's President Hamid Karzai has ordered further censorship of supposedly un-Islamic and obscene televisions shows in response to lobbying by the country's religious council.

Karzai told the culture ministry to block programs which are vulgar, un-Islamic, obscene and violate social morality, and Islamic morality , according to a statement from his Council of Ministers.

It said the move follows a request from the religious council to ban televised drama seen as promoting vice and prostitution.

There doesn't seem to be any details of the type of programmes which might be banned as a result of the order.

A Family Guy Episode at Center of Boston Marathon Conspiracy Theory has been pulled from the Web by Fox.

It all started when some heartless troll saw fit to combine two disparate parts from a single episode of Family Guy to make it appear as through Peter is using a cellphone to remotely detonate two explosive devices, thereby securing his victory in the Boston Marathon. In actuality, the two scenes occur many minutes apart from each other and belong to two unrelated gags.

Alex Jones, never one to bother with facts that get in the way of his conspiratorial ravings, presented the doctored clip to his readers as proof that the media knew in advance about the government's plans to bomb the Boston Marathon in order to generate a convenient excuse to take our civil liberties and promote homeland security.

Obviously.

But now it seems that someone is going to great lengths to censor the episode and remove it from the internet. The Episode is Turban Cowboy , Season 11 Episode 15.

Ireland's TV censor has proposed controversial new censorship rules for television and radio stations.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has proposed a new code governing news and current affairs. It introduces a ban on presenters from stating their personal view on air. Another proposal to establish a register of financial interests of presenters has been put on hold by the BAI due to legal difficulties.

In a submission to the BAI, TV3 accused the broadcasting censor of attempting to extend Draconian controls over the media:

The State now seeks through its regulator to control content on channels it does not own, limiting news and current affairs programming to arid lists of facts

It prevents non-State broadcasters from having a different view from the State and thereby restricts essential roles of media as watchdog, as court of public opinion and as provider of informed analysis. At best this is unnecessary 'regulatory creep', more harshly it could be called state censorship.

TV3 said if such a code was introduced in countries like Russia or China it would be regarded as an attack on free media.

After the US Supreme Court's decision in FCC v. Fox Television Stations in September 2012, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has initiate a review of the Commission's broadcast indecency policies and enforcement to ensure they are fully consistent with First Amendment principles.

In the interim, the Chairman directed the Enforcement Bureau to focus its indecency enforcement resources on egregious cases and to reduce the backlog of pending broadcast indecency complaints.

The Bureau has reduced the backlog by 70% so far, more than one million complaints, principally by binning them on the grounds that it had taken so long to process them that they were too stale to pursue.

The FCC now seek comments on whether the full Commission should make changes to its current broadcast indecency policies or maintain them as they are.

Update: American Family Association have their two Penneth

5th April 2013. See  article from  christianpost.com

The American Family Association, a major pro-family group, has announced that Americans should petition the FCC to uphold high television, radio decency standards.

In addition to the overarching negative impacts of indecency in media on children, a more immediate issue exists: radio 'shock jocks' that thrive on shocking even the most hardened of sensibilities will have even greater latitude to express even more profanity without the worry of FCC censure, states AFA.

Upset over the broadcast of supposedly indecent visuals on Fashion TV, a committee of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry ordered that the channel be taken off air for 10 days.

The ministry said it had issued a show cause notice to FTV after it telecast programmes like Midnight Haute & Designers in High Definition ,'Chantellie Lingerie, Paris' and Lingerie in September 2011. It claimed that the visuals offended good taste and decency and were obscene and vulgar and not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and also for children.

According to the panel, the programme Designers in high definition showed models walking on the ramp while a man in an underwear was clinging to a woman in an embrace in the background:

Both are shown insinuatingly swaying their bodies and making suggestive postures. Such a portrayal appears to offend good taste and decency and also appears obscene.

Again in April 2012, the channel telecast another programme 15th Anniversary- Top Designers . The committee claimed:

The programme showed nudity of female bosom, which appeared obscene and vulgar, showing form and figure of women in an indecent way. The visuals did not appear suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and also not suitable for children.

Representatives of FTV during a personal hearing at the panel said there was no nudity in the content. When the committee offered them to show recorded instances where buttocks and breast were fully exposed, they replied that these instances would have happened due to improper blurring.

This is the third time that the government has ordered FTV to be taken off air.

China's top media censor will expand pre-broadcast vetting to cover television documentaries, in a further extension of TV censorship.

China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) told TV stations and producers that all documentaries would have to be approved in advance of being shown, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The notice would bring censorship of TV documentaries into line with requirements on non-fiction films, it said. A notice posted on SARFT's website said that TV production companies including joint Chinese-foreign co-productions should report documentary topics in advance.

A Venezuelan television channel that takes a critical stance toward President Hugo Chavez accused the government of excluding it from a new digital television system, and it warned that the action could force it off the open airwaves.

Globovision is the sole remaining television channel in Venezuela that takes a stridently anti-government line. The channel said in a statement that it was arbitrarily excluded from the digital TV system despite having taken steps to be included during meetings that officials held to launch the project.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the launch of the digital TV system saying that state channels will be participating as well as private channels including Venevision, Meridiano and Televen. He and other officials did not address the complaint raised by Globovision.

Globovision has long clashed with Chavez's government, and in recent years the National Telecommunications Council has opened eight investigations against the channel.

India's government has directed all cable and television platforms not to carry SS TV channel for a fortnight from the midnight of 15 January to the midnight of 30 January for telecasting the trailer for the supposedly  'adult' film Friends with benefits on 30 September 2011. The film is a comedy romance that is 15 rated in the UK.

Television transmission platforms have also been prohibited from carrying Zing and Enterr 10 television channels for one day from midnight of 12 January for telecasting 'adult' films in violation of the programme code.

While Zing TV had telecast the adult film Hawas in January, the Enterr 10 channel telecast three Hindi feature films -- Musafir on 29 September 2011, Plan on 19 October 2011 and Aashiq Banaya Apnne on 31 January 2012.

In the case of Hawas , the directive noted that the film showed visuals of passionate love making and kissing scenes between a couple, who were shown to be clinging to each other and writhing in bed in an explicit portrayal of sexual desires overpowering them. Such a portrayal is distinctly meant for adult audience, for which CBFC had appropriately given A certification to the said film.

Thai Government figures have denied any political intervention in the abrupt termination of a controversial TV series on Channel 3, which was unexpectedly replaced last night with a new drama series.

Channel 3 announced in an onscreen message last night that Nua Mek 2 (Above the Clouds 2) had been replaced earlier than scheduled because of supposedly  inappropriate content.

The storyline focuses on a corrupt politician keen on profiteering on a satellite launch and a sorcerer who performs black magic to manipulate politics, and of course lots of soapy romance.

Comments on social media, have it the series was cut short at the orders of people in power who were stung by its content.

Suranand Vejjajiva, the prime minister's secretary-general, claimed that the government had never interfered with any TV drama or news report. The prime minister has nothing to do with the abrupt end of the drama, he said in a phone interview with The Nation.

The original schedule for Nua Mek 2 called for 12 episodes. Episode Nine aired last Sunday. As controversy mounted the producers hastily edited the last 3 episodes into a single episode to at least provide a presumably uncontroversial end to the series. However even that edited last episode was cancelled, leaving the show's story unfinished.

Leading broadcasters from Europe, Japan, the United States and Australia have signed a declaration to fight what they believe is the growing censorship of the Internet and jamming of TV signals by authoritarian political regimes.

The following broadcast organisations say that international journalism is facing unprecedented challenges from countries that seek to deny their own citizens access to information from outside their borders in violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Audiovisuel Exterieur de la France (AEF),
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC),
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),
• Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) [US],
• Deutsche Welle (DW),
• Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK)
• Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW)

They note and condemn without reservation certain government's control of the flow of information such as blocking the Web and most notably intentional jamming of satellites as practised recently by Iran. Furthermore, they have denounced efforts to identify and track Internet users in order to stifle free expression, inquiry and political activity.

In a call to action, they have agreed to increase, whenever possible, support for efforts to circumvent Web censorship through the use of new and innovative hardware and software tools and have agreed to increase our advocacy for Internet freedom.