Tuesday, May 09, 2006

A Benton Headline: CBS BLASTS FCC FINES [SOURCE: Variety 5/7, AUTHOR: William Triplett] CBS has accused the Federal Communications Commission's indecency cops of making an unprecedented and unjustified power grab in levying record fines for an episode of "Without a Trace." Left unchallenged, the recent "Without a Trace""Without A Trace" ruling could establish the FCC as essentially a governmental story editor, CBS implied. On the same day last month when the four major nets jointly took the FCC to court over three other indecency rulings, CBS separately filed an opposition with the agency over its "Without a Trace" decision, which slapped more than 100 stations with a total $3.35 million fine. The episode included two brief scenes suggesting a teen sex party, which the Commission said was "unnecessary" to the story. CBS argued that this is a new assertion of authority that constitutes a "deep intrusion into the editorial process," according to the filing. For the FCC to decide what is or isn't necessary to a storyline "places the government at the heart of the editorial process, a role the Commission previously avoided. This is a sharp break from the past," filing said. The papers then quote a 1970 FCC ruling that "there can be no governmental arbiter of taste in the broadcast field." Subsequent FCC actions hewed to that line. 4:47:01 PM    comment []