Dear Mr. Graf,
I read with interest the (“Regulate this… or not,” ODE Oct. 25, 2006). While I respect and appreciate your opinion, your complete and utter disregard for the facts is troubling. Perhaps – perhaps – it was a negligent oversight on your part, and a simple clarification will set the record straight for your readers. Or perhaps your lack of factual basis is intentional. Only you know the answer to that one, but for the record, allow me to correct you:
You articulately opine about the Parents Television Council and its concern over the coarsening of content on the public airwaves. And yes, we must reluctantly resort to the FCC as our only available remedy when broadcasters use the public airwaves illegally. Let me emphasize that last word: illegally. Indecent material may legally be broadcast over the airwaves after 10 p.m., but not before 10 p.m. This law was passed by Congress many decades ago, and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court as constitutional almost 30 years ago. The FCC was directed by the Congress to enforce the law. Clearly you don’t like the law. But it is, sir, the law of the land. And when the law is broken, the only remedy the American public has is to petition the FCC for enforcement. Congress recently increased the indecency fines, and we applaud it for its action. And when that law passed the Congress, it was unanimously approved in the Senate, and it passed by a margin of 379-35 in the House. I challenge you to find such overwhelming bipartisan support on any legislation in recent memory.
Reasonable minds may disagree over the issue of the broadcast decency law and its enforcement. But my issue with your column is that you have entirely misrepresented the truth as it relates to how the Parents Television Council views the issue of cable content. We do not endorse, nor do we even suggest, that the FCC should ‘control’ the content on cable television. Your entire column is based on that premise, and your premise is untrue. Our position on cable television content is simply this: Cable subscribers should be free to pick and choose which networks they subscribe to – and more importantly they should be able to pick and choose which networks they elect to pay for – rather than being forced to subsidize programming they find not only offensive but actually harmful for their families. Why should I, as a parent, be forced to underwrite scenes of incestuous necrophilia, bestiality, rape, torture, mayhem and other heinous acts graphically and gratuitously displayed on basic – BASIC – cable television, just in order to bring educational and family-oriented programming into my home? Similarly, why should you be forced to pay for the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon if you don’t want it? The answer is that you shouldn’t. And I shouldn’t. The PTC advocates the concept of Cable Choice – allowing cable subscribers to pick and choose their networks rather than being forced by the corporate conglomerate programmers to pay for a bundled package of channels that most subscribers don’t watch and don’t even want. Think of it as a newsstand. Buy the magazine you want, and others will buy what they want; in the end the market decides which succeed and which don’t. And with Cable Choice your family gets the programming you want; my family gets what we want; and each American family gets what they want, regardless of whether it is SpongeBob or Tony Soprano – or both. Your assertion, sir, and I quote, that “The PTC is the most paternalistic supporter of cable television censorship” is factually bankrupt, and you have done a great disservice to your newspaper and its readers.
Again, I appreciate your opinion on the underlying issues, but before you resort to petty name-calling and other verbal attacks, I suggest you first seek the truth in what you say.
Timothy F. Winter is the Executive Director of the Parents Television Council