Hit TV shows 'not indecent'
2005-01-26 12:36
Washington - Regulators on Monday rejected 36 complaints of indecency against popular TV shows including Friends and The Simpsons.
The objections were filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that frequently complains about sex and violence on television.
One complaint involved an episode of NBC's Friends that aired in May 2003. In it, a female character, her husband and the husband's ex-girlfriend talk about a fertility treatment at a medical office.
A complaint over Fox's The Simpsons, included a scene from a November 2003 episode in which students carried picket signs with the phrases "What would Jesus glue?" and "Don't cut off my pianissimo."
Federal law bars non-satellite radio and non-cable television stations from airing references to sexual and excretory functions between 18:00 and 22:00, when children are more likely to be listening and watching.
The FCC said the segments in question "were not patently offensive" within the context of the shows.
The Parents Television Council alleged that the programmes, which aired between late 2001 and early 2004, contained sexually explicit segments or used indecent or profane language that violated indecency standards.
"In what community in America are graphic terms for genitalia decent?" said Lara Mahaney, a spokesperson for the council. "The commission's ruling added no clarification and added more confusion."
The FCC's responses to indecency complaints have received extra scrutiny since singer Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at last year's Super Bowl halftime show.
The FCC received more than one million indecency complaints in 2004, most of them involving the exposure of Jackson's breast during her performance. Fines for indecent programming exceeded R45.5m last year, a huge increase from the R284 000 imposed in 2000.
On the net:
www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/opi.html
- AP