Indecency fears hit US television

While browsing the BBC's web site I can across this little story

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More than 20 TV stations across the US have cancelled a broadcast of Saving Private Ryan over fears they could be fined for its violence and language.

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BBC source

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US broadcasting regulators have launched a crackdown on bad language on television and radio.
The Federal Communications Commission ruled that NBC violated a federal law when broadcasting an expletive by U2 singer Bono during an awards ceremony.

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BBC source

Already after the Janet Jackson affaire most live shows, in the states, are no longer live but aired with a time lag of 10 to 15 seconds to make it easier to censor. Was the janet jackson affaire indecent or just blown out of proportion and who deciedes that something is indecent?

Is a 10 second view of janets right ti* worth a fine of 500,000$?

Are we going to see a hollywood that is obliged to be more morally correct in the films made?

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And if recent events are anything to go by, Hollywood appears to have taken note.
Pixar's box office hit The Incredibles has a moral message

"I think the mood of the nation has been read more distinctly by Hollywood - certainly the mood of Hollywood has changed," said Ted Baehr, Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission.

"I'm happy anytime Hollywood decides it's going to be more responsible."

Mr Baehr, who publishes a family-focused film publication, MovieGuide, explained that Hollywood is producing more films with positive Christian references.

The current US box office hit, animation movie The Incredibles, has a strong conservative theme that champions the defenders of justice and the sanctity of marriage.

The film studios have a clear financial incentive to ride the crest of any morality wave. It is a trend that is likely, ultimately, to be embraced by foreign markets.

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BBc source

How far will it go?
How much more are the television and radio stations going to be forced to crack down on "indecency"?
Is americain television and radio going to become a bastion of high moral standards watched over by the angels of the Federal Communications Commission or is it just a phase?

Oh please. The amount of crap that appears on US television. It strikes me as hypocritical that they won't show a movie like Saving Private Ryan but it's ok to show the devastion of war or cops beating some kid (ever watch Cops?). Heck, professional sports are rather violent last time I checked but with the NHL out, that's rather tame. I suppose MTV is exempt from all this on their shows.

The FCC only responds to what it's told to respond to by various groups.

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The film studios have a clear financial incentive to ride the crest of any morality wave. It is a trend that is likely, ultimately, to be embraced by foreign markets.

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Crap and BS. I bet when The Passion of the Christ goes for public viewing they'll allow it. It's a good Christian moral story.

IMHO

The american media has been censored since Bush came into power and 911..

Its news media is "fear mongering"..and the Bush administration is squashing stories.

Such as not showing injured or dead from the war on Iraq...or is it the war on Osama...or the war on terrorism...I am so confused what this war is actually about :confused:
(OIL)

Also squashing music videos...such as Incubuses Meglomanic...not allowing it on daytime rotation cause of its anti bush sediments....It was only allowed on MTV between the hours of 2-6am....

From up north here...I think the US is being feed huge propaganda...scaring the american people into supporting this war..

And now this with Saving Private Ryan......

I guess they dont want to scare all the young kids signing up for the reserves.....or else they will have to reinstae the draft :eek:


MLF

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Such as not showing injured or dead from the war on Iraq...

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Actually, that's not true. I've seen "dead people" on CNN. They have a reporter that's part of the group that surrounded and took over Fallujah. And when one group got stopped by one insurgent, eventually taking him over, the reporter was showing pictures of the dead insurgent (I distinctly remember his hand with flecks of blood on it).

I won't doubt however that there is some censorship as they want to avoid another Vietnam and the realities of war being seen.

MsMittens, I believe what he was referring to was the lack of showing injured or dead US soldiers. Mr. Bush would have us believe it's only the insurgents getting bloody and dead.

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MsMittens, I believe what he was referring to was the lack of showing injured or dead US soldiers. Mr. Bush would have us believe it's only the insurgents getting bloody and dead.

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Yes ..you are right ...thats what I meant

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Actually, that's not true. I've seen "dead people" on CNN. They have a reporter that's part of the group that surrounded and took over Fallujah. And when one group got stopped by one insurgent, eventually taking him over, the reporter was showing pictures of the dead insurgent (I distinctly remember his hand with flecks of blood on it).

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I "Think" MSMittens is being.....sarcastic here :)

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Crap and BS. I bet when The Passion of the Christ goes for public viewing they'll allow it. It's a good Christian moral story.

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MsMittens....I totally agree with you here on The Passion of The Christ....

I recently saw this movie...I think there was more blood in it the Saving Private Ryan...

But then again...there was no foul language in The Passion of the Christ :rolleyes:

MLF

Most media that would favor Bush is "censored” by those in control of the mega stations. I think Janet was blown way out of proportion. The DIFFERENCE being; When you watch Saving Private Ryan you know it's a war movie and you can make a choice to see it. Everyone knows the first 20 minutes of the film is an amazing account of D day and the invasion of Normandy. Or as the media would put it today, the "occupation" of France. And if one is clueless about its content, American media broadcasts a warning before each segment "Warning mature content, viewing discretion is advised."

At the half time show there was a huge surprise to see an UGLY tit during a football game. The real issue is the producers most likely knew in advance that she was going to show her saggy nasty teet. So the FCC sent a warning to back down. The fallout from Private Ryan is just a backlash from the producers getting pissed at the fine. Bottom line, football games are about football and if you want to show Britney Spears' new boob job a family oriented Disney movie or a football game probably isn't a good choice and if you get fined, suck it up. There have been MANY cases in American Television history where strong and passionate movies were shown unedited with content warnings and after a certain time of day. It's either 9 or 10 pm when the FCC relaxes its rules. If you don't like what’s on national broadcast television, there are 500 more channels to choose from. :D

The stories I see being squashed are intelligence reports about what Saddam was doing with the Food for Oil that came out yesterday, which countries are involved and how corrupt the United Nations is. In addition only bad news comes out of Iraq, if Bush controlled the media then he's an idiot. Let's see then there is STILL Sandy Burger, no media there. And the political climate in Iran, along with the huge financial sector of European countries with ties to Iran. Also the hypocracy of christian discrimination while supporting the indoctrination of muslim tradition into American culture when those tradition are religious in nature. Next, when was the last time American media supported stories on border control that did not paint enforcement officers as evil? And lastly ANY news that the economy is strong or a foreign country actually supports some things we, as a nation, do. Oh and there are other major muslim conflicts in the world, not a peep. In a Bush controlled world 60 Minutes would be hammering these issues. My humble opinion of course.

Finally, war dead. The left want's to show them. Their motivation is political. They want people to see them and cry foul and drop support for violent action against another nation. The right wants to respect them and hide the reality of war and keep moral high among the youth over there fighting and their parents back home. Good or bad, they both seem. The effect of a dead body or a casket has a different effect on someone based on their "stuff". To a liberal it's a tragedy. To a conservative it's a hero.

Road all true but that still leaves us with the main issue of my original post :) - Is America becoming more puritan? It is not weather the film to save the soldier ryan is a political statement and as such should be censored by one side or the other it is more about a number of television stations not screening the film because they were worried about being fined. It is about the fact that a 10 second flash of a breast or the use of as in Bonos case one explative can not only get you sanction but also heavily fined. Also most of the so called live transimissions are not truely live but time lagged just in case some one says fucbleep on air. This is more aimed at the moral implications on who decides what is acceptable rather than the political question of who is controlling who?

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if Bush controlled the media then he's an idiot.

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I thought you knew he is an idiot :p. sorry that was too irrestiable.

Just like Janets tossing a close up of her breast on TV, the reaction to the reaction is blown out of proportion. Is American becoming more puritan? Not a chance. We are on a slow moral decay to the side of liberalism. ;) We are becoming more like Europe and Europe is becoming more like us. :D

\\EDIT To be honest I never thought there was a live feed, I thought they were all lagged. It was considered to be the modes operani of Live TV when I was a child. At least that is what I understood it to be.

I have long disagreed with our society's censorship of sex and violence in the media. We are a nation of great strength, yet our own societal pressures keep such enforcement in place. All over Europe, and in most other countries, if a person wants to get naked at the beach, he can, without so much as a second glance from others. In Germany in particular, one may do so in a public park on his lunch hour and again not be noticed. In Japan, communal bathing is quite common. In fact, they have a really cool saying - "Nudity is often seen, but rarely noticed." To apply this back to the media, I challenge each and every one of you to watch a game show on Italian television sometime, where the contestants compete in trivia, and the loser has to do a strip tease for the audience. Many will say it's 'sinful' or 'morally corrupting' to us to view such images on our televisions. I say to them in advance that they might as well throw away their computers and disconnect HBO from their cable. Ok, Janet showed us a little tit on tv - (not an appealing one, but hey, if you're into that sort of thing...). I distinctly remember an episode of NYPD Blue where a certain pudgy little actor got away with showing his bum. The word 'bitch' is now rampant across virtually all shows aired after 8pm, and it's quite common to see homosexual and lesbian couples kissing nowadays. When will we get over the prudishness?

Why does America have such a hang up with nudity? If we saw it commonly in our daily lives, it would become commonplace, and wouldn't shock and excite us so much. Who really cares if college students run the naked mile, if nude joggers are seen in parks each morning? Who would help build a multimillion dollar empire out of 'girls gone wild' if women ran around topless during recreation?

Just a few things to ponder...

|3lack|ce: Yeah, naked joggers.. then a crazed madman who doesn't get any see's them and the mere fact that they are naked will only add to the possible rape/murder situation. The rape/murder rate would skyrocket (among other things).

Anyways, IMO there are arguments for/against it. I guess because it's so evenly weighed (or something like that) you might as well leave it the way it is, see where I'm getting at?

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The american media has been censored since Bush came into power and 911..

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I have to disagree Morgan....

In my 15+ years of experience of the American broadcast media it is the most, (IMO pathetically), censored media in the western world.... Add to that the fact I left a country with 4, (yes four), available TV stations to watch and could always find something "watchable" to come to a country that had cable.... So "silly here" bought into cable..... 109 channels.... Magnificent.... I was in like Flynn.... having scouted, surfed and squatted the 109, (yes I know it's more now....), I found that England's 4 channels had more watchable stuff than America's 109....

Now, I'm not looking for porn or anything.... I can get that from the net.... I'm looking for _adult_ content..... Fun, humor... that kind of stuff..... But here in the USA it's all dumbed down to 5 year olds.... If it's more advanced than Sesame Street we can't watch it without the censorship kicking in....

It's been that way for 15+years..... Bush did nothing to change it.... Jackson and Timberlake put it into recession..... But they are both liberals aren't they??????

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Spyder:

If your countrymen are sooooooooo friggin' dumb as to relate this stuff to real life then you need to look at your countrymen......

I know your countrymen..... Most of them aren't like you see them..... They don't see a tit on TV and decide it's a mandate to rape or murder every woman they see..... Those that do don't even need incarceration...... Just fry them.... they were worthless to start and they give _you_ a bad name...... unless you think that seeing a tit on TV gives you a mandate to rape and pillage......

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And on a side note: getting naked on the beach (or anywhere else for that matter) is illegal in Europe. If you'd get naked on the streets, you'd probably get away with a small ticket (depending on the cop). On the beach, a woman can probably get away with taking her top off, but it depends on the country... it still wouldn't be legal... it'd be "tolerated".

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If your countrymen are sooooooooo friggin' dumb as to relate this stuff to real life then you need to look at your countrymen......

I know your countrymen..... Most of them aren't like you see them..... They don't see a tit on TV and decide it's a mandate to rape or murder every woman they see..... Those that do don't even need incarceration...... Just fry them.... they were worthless to start and they give _you_ a bad name...... unless you think that seeing a tit on TV gives you a mandate to rape and pillage......

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TigerShark: I understand what your saying, however notice how what I said included the word's "crazed madman" in it. I'm not saying your average Joe, I'm saying someone sick. The motivation factor would drastically increase. When refering to this, you must seperate the two.. especially when deciding to group a class of countrymen as a whole.

Stations being censored and fined but Comedy Central gets away with what it calls it's secret stash which is all completely uncesored. Just watch Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back the other night.

Tiger....

We have over 500 now. That includes Europe programing, Middle East, Asia, even Eastern Europe. But this is true look at the fall lineup of shows....

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But here in the USA it's all dumbed down to 5 year olds

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LOL. Well check out ALL the Discovery Channels then the History Channel, then FoodTV and my favorite when I get the chance..... BBC America. :D But in America broadcast TV is overly censored.

You can also get Hardcore porn via satelite. In some ways Americans aren't really as censored as Europe like Americans seem to believe. Like Negative said nudity isn't any more legal in Europe than it is here. But it is tolerated a bit more. It depends on the country and the good nude beaches aren't in Europe. Well not the old world Europe. They are in a muslim country, how is that for Irony?

They have license to create more disturbing porn without the government oversight we have but that is about it. And the last time I was in England hard porn was illegal. I used to think is was ok to not censor anything until I was in line at McDonalds in Amersterdam and there were large hard core gyno style porn posters right next door. I was like Dood! Do I have to see that eating my Big Mac. I am talking LARGE.

I would not use Japan as an example. While their tolerance to violence is way for forgiving than America or Europe. They cannot show a woman's... um how do i put this; "Bush"... in any form of mass produced media.


//EDIT Love Jay and Silent Bob. Yes it's simple toilet humor. but I dig those guys.

Comedy Central get's a little leanency (sp?) for some reason because they air movies such as Jay and Silent Bob, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut, etc. I guess the word's "toilet humor" is kinda the case in the above mentioned situations.

Comedy Central is subscription based, it's not a broadcast station or superstation with national cable ties and broadcast affiliates.