8 - New Age Comstockery: The Indecency Wars

Summary

Chapter 8 explores the rise and fall of the FCC’s policy against broadcast indecency by following the exploits of anti-indecency crusader Brent Bozell, founder of the Parents Television Council (PTC).It traces the beginnings of the FCC’s policy in the early days of radio, and how it was transformed as courts began to develop First Amendment doctrine. It explains the birth of the FCC’s current indecency policy with its action against George Carlin’s “seven dirty words,” and how it was driven by political demands to get tough on broadcasters. This reached a crescendo because of the efforts of Bozell’s PTC and similar groups, who bombarded the FCC with spam email campaigns. Politicians responded by imposing skyrocketing fines based on an increasingly incoherent and confusing policy. The widespread chilling effect on broadcasters led courts to rein in the FCC’s authority in this area. Bozell and his fellow crusaders managed only to discredit themselves, to diminish the influence of their organizations, and to undermine FCC authority over broadcast content.