"CAN YOU SAY THAT ON TV?": AN HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JANUARY 28, 2004 Serial No. 108-67 Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house 91-578PDF U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 2004 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE RALPH M. HALL, Texas W.J. "BILLY" TAUZIN, Louisiana, Chairman MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida JOE BARTON, Texas FRED UPTON, Michigan CLIFF STEARNS, Florida PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio JAMES C. GREENWOOD, Pennsylvania ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky VITO FOSSELLA, New York GEORGE RADANOVICH, California JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan Ranking Member HENRY A. WAXMAN, California EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania JIM DAVIS, Florida JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas DAN R. BROUILLETTE, Staff Director REID P.F. STUNTZ, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 1 CONTENTS Bozell, L. Brent, III, President, Parents Television Council Corn-Revere, Robert, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Solomon, David, Chief, Enforcement Bureau, Federal Communications Wertz, William J., Executive Vice President, Fairfield Broadcasting Com- Berman, Gail, President, Entertainment Group, Fox Broadcasting Com- pany, letter dated February 5, 2004, to Hon. John D. Dingell, enclosing Franks, Martin D., Executive Vice President, CBS Television, letter dated February 9, 2004, to Hon. John D. Dingell, enclosing response for Wright, Frank, President, National Religious Broadcasters, prepared Wurtzel, Alan, President, Research and Media Development, National 102 "CAN YOU SAY THAT ON TV?": AN EXAMINATION OF THE FCC'S ENFORCEMENT WITH RESPECT TO BROADCAST INDECENCY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:40 a.m., in room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Fred Upton (chairman) presiding. Members present: Representatives Upton, Bilirakis, Barton, Gillmor, Deal, Whitfield, Shimkus, Wilson, Pickering, Bass, Walden, Terry, Tauzin (ex officio), Markey, Rush, McCarthy, Davis, Stupak, Engel, Wynn, Green, and Dingell (ex officio). Also present: Representatives Pitts, Issa, Gonzalez, and Osborne. Staff present: Kelly Zerzan, majority counsel; Will Nordwind, majority counsel and policy coordinator; Neil Fried, majority counsel; William Carty, legislative clerk; Gregg Rothschild, minority counsel; Peter Filon, minority counsel; and Ashley Groesbeck, staff assistant. Mr. UPTON. Good morning, everyone. To start, I would like to just say that we have three Members that are not on the subcommittee that would like to sit in. I am going to ask unanimous consent that they are allowed to sit at the dais and be able to ask questions at the end, following the members of the subcommittee. They would include Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Pitts and Mr. Osborne. Without objection, that will be ordered. Good morning again. Today we will be examining the FCC's enforcement of broadcast indecency laws. This hearing is about protecting children from indecency over the public airwaves or, in other words, broadcast TV and radio. This has nothing to do with the issue of censorship and the case of Lenny Bruce at the Cafe A-Go-Go, as some critics have highlighted. That case is simply irrelevant in today's debate. Nor does this have anything to do with things outside the scope of the public airwaves. In fact, the courts have upheld the constitutionality of our broadcast indecency laws, although they have limited the FCC's enforcement to only that content which is aired between the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when children are most likely to be listening or viewing. (1) |