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AFA ActivismCurrent Action Alert - 9/7/01Parents Beware: Upcoming TV Season To Push Decency LimitsNetwork Television Is In A Moral Freefall
Parents beware! The TV networks are about to launch another fall season, and there is word that Hollywood producers plan to give you plenty of more reasons to turn off your television set. The New York Times quotes Aaron Sorkin, executive producer of NBC's The West Wing, who says he hopes to break a longstanding network taboo this season. He wants a character to use the Lord's name in vain. At Disney-owned ABC, the executive producer of a new legal drama called Philly has proposed having a character use language that takes the profanity already in use on NYPD Blue to new levels. And, according to The Times, not to be outdone, CBS executives say that writers are submitting scripts for programs that include every crude word imaginable. The newspaper says all of these proposals must still clear network censors -- but it says given the experience of the last few years, even more leeway will likely be granted. The Times report says this network push comes because they are feeling pressure from cable channels which gave up on decency long ago. The report indicates that besides the language, sexual content will become even more graphic in the coming season. One Orthodox Jewish rabbi has reacted to the report, which came out over the weekend. Rabbi David Eidensohn, director of the National Non-Sectarian Council of Pro-Family Activists, says caring parents have to make a choice -- put either their TV or their children in the trash. "There is no way that children can have a television with such filth and remain unmoved," he says. "Providing ... entertainment that tells [children] that what parents do and believe is not the real world is child molestation." Eidensohn claims parents generally are unaware they are at war for their families when it comes to entertainment. He wonders why parents are silent when, as he says, "the poisonous messages of a pagan program" are allowed into homes every night. A veteran analyst of network television says he is not surprised that prime time producers are trying to put more sex and foul language into their shows. As reported over the holiday weekend by The New York Times, Aaron Sorkin, executive producer of the NBC drama The West Wing, has announced he wants a character in that series to use the Lord's name in vain. And executives at CBS says writers are submitting scripts for programs that include every crude word imaginable. Ed Vitagliano, director of research for the American Family Association, says network television is in a moral freefall. "A number of taboos that have been just shattered are just kind of mind boggling," he says. "This latest report about the new fall season is no surprise for people who've been paying attention." Network officials say they must use more foul language and include even more graphic scenes in order to compete with cable programming. "Network television may be a lost cause," the researcher says, "[and] as far as the producers and writers of some of these shows, a great many of them, I'm afraid, have those types of things in their hearts. As a result, they just spew forth this stuff -- and that's why these kinds of vulgarities and overt and explicit sexuality and violence appear on these programs." Sources: AgapePress Researcher: Network TV Reflects Values of Producers, Writers Upcoming TV Season May Push Decency Limits Even Further ACTION NEEDEDContact the networks below and politely urge them - for the sake of our children - to reconsider plans to push the decency envelope even further this fall.Network Contact Information: Mr. Jeff Zucker President, NBC Entertainment NBC Entertainment 3000 West Alameda Ave. Burbank, CA 91523 Phone: (818) 840-4444 Mr. Leslie Moonves President & CEO CBS Entertainment 7800 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 Phone: (323) 575-2345 Email (form) Mr. Steven Bornstein President, ABC Entertainment ABC Entertainment 500 S. Buena Vista Ave. Burbank, CA 91521 Phone: (310) 557-7777 Ms. Gail Berman, President Fox Entertainment Fox Broadcasting Co. 10201 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035 Phone: (310) 369-1000 File a informal consumer complaint with the Federal Commuications Corporation (FCC) if the networks do push the decency envelope on our public airwaves this fall. There is no fee for filing an informal complaint. Simply send a letter in your own words describing the problem to: Federal Communications Commission Consumer Information Bureau Consumer Complaints 445 12th Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20554 Phone: 1-888-CALL-FCC or 1-888-TELL-FCC Fax: 202-418-0232 The FCC asks that you include the following in your typed or legibly printed letter/email: Your name, address and the telephone number or numbers involved with your complaint; A telephone number where you can be reached during the business day; Specific information about your complaint, including the names of all companies involved with your complain; Names and telephone numbers of the company representatives that you contacted, the dates that you spoke with these representatives, and any other information that would help process your complaint.
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