American TV stations boycott showing of:

[Vanhalen 0]

More than 20 American TV stations last night boycotted a Veterans Day screening of war picture Saving Private Ryan because of fears that they would be censured by a newly aggressive television regulator over the movie's violence and graphic language.

 

Network executives said the rebellion by affiliates of the ABC television network in Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix and other leading markets was sparked by fears of reprisals from the Federal Communications Commission.

 

The FCC has commanded new respect and fear among broadcasters after imposing heavy penalties on CBS and its affiliates after this year's Super Bowl, when singer Janet Jackson exposed her breast during the halftime show, provoking widespread outrage.

 

However, observers feel yesterday's display of nerves about Saving Private Ryan descends to new levels of timidity.

 

The Steven Spielberg film aired uncut on ABC television in 2001 and 2002, and the FCC threw out the sole complaint against the film from the American Family Association. But station owners say they, and the FCC, operate in a different climate this year.

 

"It would clearly have been our preference to run the movie. We think it's a patriotic, artistic tribute to our fighting forces," Ray Cole, president of Citadel Communications, which owns three midwestern stations, told the Associated Press.

 

But Mr Cole said fear of punishment from the FCC - and a belief among broadcasters that last week's elections revealed growing conservatism in the US - had forced the stations into caution.

 

"We're just coming off an election where moral issues were cited as a reason by people voting one way or another and, in my opinion, the commissioners are fearful of the new congress," he said.

 

After the FCC refused to guarantee stations they could broadcast the film without fear of repercussion, network executives said they were taking no chances.

 

The backlash over the Janet Jackson episode brought in a tough new regime of television regulation.

 

After the FCC was besieged by letters from some half a million Americans furious at the split-second view of Jackson's breast, CBS-owned stations were fined $550,000 (£298,500) for airing the offending segment.

 

Viacom, CBS's owner, said this week that the fine was illogical because no one at Viacom or CBS, which broadcast the Super Bowl, knew that fellow singer Justin Timberlake would yank off Jackson's costume.

 

Two months after the incident it was the turn of NBC, which broadcasts the Golden Globe awards, to run foul of the FCC. In a ruling last March the commission censured the rock star Bono for saying "fuck" during a live broadcast of the awards programme, and went on to warn NBC stations that any use of the word would be punished.

 

The soldiers in Private Ryan, which is set in the fierce battles of D-day, swear regularly throughout the picture, exposing the broadcasters to the risk of heavy penalties.

 

"This is not about whether the movie is worth airing in prime time," Greg Stone, the vice-president of Atlanta's WSB station, said in a statement.

 

"The FCC's recent decision in the Bono case reversed years of prior policy that the context of language matters. At this point the local broadcast community cannot get any contemporaneous clarification from the FCC that this movie is not in violation of the commission's newly articulated standard."

 

Like other ABC affiliates, WSB had asked the network for permission to air the movie after 10pm - outside the slot for family viewing - or to cut out potentially offensive language. ABC refused, citing agreements with Mr Spielberg that the film not be edited, and offered to pay if the stations were fined.

 

However, the stations argued they could jeopardise their licences if they were censured by the FCC. WSB last night was going to air a special on the former president Jimmy Carter instead.

[MrRant 0]

They aren't boycotting you tool.

 

They are afraid of getting fined and there is a big difference in that.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

I heard that ABC's contract for Schindler's List specifies that they cannot edit the film (which means no blanking/editing out swear words).

 

Knowing the FCC nowadays, I can understand it.

 

edit: err I shoulda read the article more carefully. It says right there, no editing.

[Vanhalen 0]

Why are American broadcast channels so worried and moralistic, Saving Private Ryan has been on a few times over here uncut at 8:30pm on a FTA terrestial channel

[NoCalMike 0]

Umm, is there such thing as a fine that ABC could NOT afford?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I love how most of the fear seems to be about naughty words and not, you know, the VIOLENCE...

[Vanhalen 0]

LOL I hadn't thought about that, bloody bunch of hippies run the FCC

[starvenger 0]

Wouldn't hippies let the whole thing go?

[The Tino Standard 0]

You know, I was wondering why, when I flipped through the channels last night, I saw 'Batman Forever' on my local ABC channel during prime time.

[starvenger 0]

You know, I was wondering why, when I flipped through the channels last night, I saw 'Batman Forever' on my local ABC channel during prime time.

Well, I know which of the two movies is more offensive to ME...

[Mole 0]

Stupid FCC.

[Guest Chris2005]

You know it is funny that abc can show war all the time. Especially during the evening and world news at 6 o'clock at night. Their whole entire news is pretty much based on violence. Yet they cant show a movie about war. This makes no sense.

[2GOLD 0]

You know it is funny that abc can show war all the time. Especially during the evening and world news at 6 o'clock at night. Their whole entire news is pretty much based on violence. Yet they cant show a movie about war. This makes no sense.

 

It's the FCC.

It has NEVER made sense.

[Guest Chris2005]

OOOO I know it is the fcc. I loved it when Stern called some radio show and questions Michael Powell. I hate the fact that these people who have so much power are appointed to the job by the President I believe and we as the people have zero control over who gets to tell us WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT WATCH, LISTEN AND READ. It sucks.

[2GOLD 0]

OOOO I know it is the fcc. I loved it when Stern called some radio show and questions Michael Powell. I hate the fact that these people who have so much power are appointed to the job by the President I believe and we as the people have zero control over who gets to tell us WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT WATCH, LISTEN AND READ. It sucks.

 

They are nowhere near as bad as PTA's of high schools.

Those are the people who wanted books burned in some states, had classic novels removed for using the n word (because obviously we should just forget our racist past, that'll make things great), and about a million other things.

 

The PTA's are the big monsters.

The FCC is just the tool they use since if no one complains, FCC doesn't act.

[Guest El Satanico]

The stations should've aired the first 20 minutes of the movie before cutting the feed. Then they would've shown the best part without showing the remaining mediocre film.

 

The FCC won't touch this...these stations are just being spineless.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

why the fuck would anybody worry about this non issue when you can just buy/download the dvd and watch whenever you want, without interruption?

 

EDIT: and 99.9% of the time, the shit that is allowed through the FCC is far more offensive than some scenes of swearing and violence.

[Guest Chris2005]

Well if oprah can get away about talking about anal sex and asian sex I think Spielberg and ABC can get away with showing a little bit of violence.

[Guest MikeSC]

The stations should've aired the first 20 minutes of the movie before cutting the feed. Then they would've shown the best part without showing the remaining mediocre film.

 

The FCC won't touch this...these stations are just being spineless.

Actually, from what I understand, it WAS a protest. They were indicating that the FCC's recent actions make showing classics such as "Saving Private Ryan" impossible since nobody seems to know what will lead to massive fines.

-=Mike

[bobobrazil1984 0]

A new battle over indecency?

By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY

The controversy over ABC stations airing — or not airing — the movie Saving Private Ryan could become a turning point in the battle over indecency on TV.

  Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, didn’t air in 29% of the country on Thursday. 

DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures

 

Before the Thursday broadcast, it was estimated that 20 stations would decline to air the Oscar-winning film, but the final count was 66 of 225 affiliates. It was pre-empted in 29% of the USA but still averaged 7.7 million viewers, which means that without pre-emptions the audience might have been between 10 million and 11 million.

 

The numbers show the problems facing stations in this era of heightened awareness of "moral values," cited by voters in the recent election as a top issue.

 

"Broadcasters are concerned and cautious about what's going on the air," says Deborah McDermott, chairman of the ABC affiliate board and president of Young Broadcasting, owners of six ABC stations.

 

She says Young stations got "tons" of calls from viewers wanting to see the Steven Spielberg film. And she said that the days leading up to Veterans Day were filled with discussions among affiliates about Ryan. Lawyers were consulted, and the network tried to reassure concerned station managers.

 

"We wanted to carry the show, but our view was it was unlawful to do it," says McDermott.

 

Ever since the outrage over Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction and rocker Bono's use of the f-word on the air after he won a Golden Globe award, the Federal Communications Commission has been cracking down, a response to revved-up complaints about indecency on television.

 

In the Jackson case, the FCC received 542,000 complaints and in September issued a record $550,000 in fines to CBS-owned stations. The message that was sent: Stations need to police their live programming.

 

In the Bono case, the rocker was ruled to have used profanity, but no fines were issued. Still, the ruling made it clear that airing the f-word is unacceptable, and it implied that context doesn't matter.

 

That's what affiliates had to consider when making the Ryan decision. Would complaints be filed against them for airing a gritty, critically acclaimed war film in which soldiers use the f-word?

 

By noon Friday, an FCC spokeswoman said "a number of complaints" had been received.

 

She says there is no specific time frame for a determination to be made or a fine levied. The process requires reviewing the complaints, making an inquiry to the stations and allowing time for stations to respond. In the Janet Jackson case, the process took seven months.

 

For Ryan, ABC has said it will pay any station fines. If all 159 stations were to be fined, the maximum could exceed $4 million. But as McDermott points out, there's a larger issue: "It's still a mark against your license." Complaints about a station could jeopardize the renewal of its license to broadcast.

 

McDermott says she hopes the Ryan incident will be a "trigger" for clarifying the rules. "I think we needed this."

 

Watchdog groups pushing for more restraints on indecency agree. "We've been doing all that we can for years," says Randy Sharp of the American Family Association. "Finally, we're being listened to. Advertisers are listening, the FCC is listening, Congress is listening. We're encouraged."

 

He said e-mails went out Friday to AFA members detailing how to file an FCC complaint about Ryan. "I'm anticipating 10,000 to 15,000 complaints will be filed" in total.

 

Sharp also said he is pleased that his group has been successful in urging some advertisers to pull out of ABC's Desperate Housewives, which depicts a woman having an affair with her high-school-age gardener, and the network's Life as We Know It, a drama centered on the sex lives of teens. "We're going to continue our vigorous approach in making sure our airwaves are safe for our families," says Sharp.

 

Meanwhile, as the Ryan uproar was unfolding, Jerry Falwell, 71, announced the formation of a new group that wants to "keep the momentum" going in the wake of the success of the "values voter." The Faith and Values Coalition is "a 21st century resurrection of the Moral Majority," Falwell says in a posting at www.falwell.com. The Moral Majority, popular in the '70s, was influential in helping put Ronald Reagan in the White House.

 

The coalition, he says, will be "enlisting and training millions of Americans to become partners in this exciting task of bringing this nation back to the moral values of faith and family on which it was founded."

 

Well, there you go. Fucking fundamentalists. I smell a fine coming.

[Slayer 0]

Hey fuckers, you can have your neo-morality, just don't let it get in the way of my entertainment because you want everyone to share in your "moral enlightenment"

[The Czech Republic 0]

Hey, I don't think we should have lots of profanity and nudity on the public airwaves either, but there's no good reason for not airing Saving Private Ryan. The FCC is really a useless organization, operated by minorities on power trips who want to get back at "the Man."

[Guest Chris2005]

I remember reading that the group that used to go after the WWF at the time god I cant remember the group used to pay people to write letters to the FCC and whatever companies that had a sponsorship with the WWF. These people never watched the programming but were paid to write and send letters. I hate people who think they know what is best for me and try to run my life by telling me what I can and cannot watch. Have these people ever heard of a remote control and an on/off button.

[Special K 0]

Most other 1st-world nations are far harsher on violence than sex or language. I'm pro free-speech, but the aforementioned approach makes a lot more sense than having movies with decapitations able to get PG and PG-13, while saying 'Fuck' more than once, or not in the 'acceptable' way gets you an R.

[Slayer 0]

I remember reading that the group that used to go after the WWF at the time god I cant remember the group

Parent's Television Council (PTC)

 

They're one of the spearhead groups in the "War on Indecency"

[The Czech Republic 0]

I don't know what's wrong with the MNF skit.

[iggymcfly 0]

I think the only way to solve this is for someone like Donald Trump or Bill Gates to make a gigantic billboard in every major city at a high traffic point that's 500 feet high and 500 feet wide, and just says "FUCK".

 

Then, maybe everyone will get over that word and its "horrors", and we'll be able to watch what we want without getting hassled again.