Press Release

Group asks Congress to investigate FCC

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Contact: Randy Sharp
American Family Association
Dr. Donald E. Wildmon, Chairman
P.O. Drawer 2440
Tupelo, Mississippi 38803
Phone 662/844-5036, Ext, 218
Fax 662/842-7798
URL: www.afa.net

For immediate release: March 7, 2003

TUPELO, MS - The American Family Association (AFA) has asked Congressional House and Senate committees that oversee the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to begin a thorough and in-depth investigation of the department for “failure to properly protect the viewing public from indecent broadcasts on network television.”

On March 5, AFA Chairman Don Wildmon sent letters to Representative Billy Tauzin, Senator John McCain, and 53 other lawmakers. "It is obvious the television networks have chosen to ignore a self-imposed code of conduct by escalating the amount of sex, violence and profanity at breakneck speed, especially during prime-time hours when children are watching," he wrote.

"It is equally apparent the FCC has failed to enforce broadcast indecency laws, as evidenced by the fact they have not fined a single television station in at least 25 years! All the while, network television continues to grow bolder in their broadcasts of indecent programming."

Wildmon cited a February 25 broadcast of ABC's NYPD Blue as a prime example. In one scene, a six-year-old boy comes face to face with his father's live-in sex partner. The woman is totally nude, covering her breasts and pubic area with her arms and hands.

The FCC is charged under Section 1464 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1464, to enforce laws prohibiting the broadcast of obscene, indecent, or profane language. Wildmon says a shake-up of FCC commissioners may be needed in order for the plight of the American family to be recognized. "People are tired of television filth, plain and simple," said Wildmon. "Because the airwaves belong to the public, and not the networks, the people’s outcry for common decency should not be ignored."