Groups aim to block FCC from allowing indecency

WASHINGTON — Leaders of 80 state and national groups concerned with morality have endorsed a letter asking Congress to block the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from weakening the enforcement of the broadcast decency law.

The Parents Television Council (PTC) and Morality in Media drafted the letter asking key Congressional committees to oppose the FCC’s effort to allow television and radio stations to broadcast before 10 p.m. Eastern the type of nudity and/or expletives normally reserved for cable TV, said Dan Isett, PTC director of public policy. Among the signers is Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. 

The FCC is considering permitting “isolated expletives” and isolated “non-sexual nudity” on broadcast TV, something that currently could draw a fine. The letter urges Congress to make sure the FCC takes “seriously its duty to enforce federal law 18 U.S.C. 1464, limiting indecency and profanity on the publicly owned airwaves to times of day when children are much less likely to be in the audience. To comment, log onto the FCC’s electronic comment filing system website, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs//, click on “submit a filing” and type proceeding number 13–86 where prompted.