JAN. 18, 2005

POP CULTURE
Desire and decency: Do Americans really want cleaner TV?

Jaws dropped across the country a year ago when Janet Jackson had a "wardrobe malfunction" that resulted in millions of Americans catching a glimpse of the singer's breast during the Super Bowl halftime show. Almost immediately, phones began ringing at CBS affiliates throughout the country and, more significantly, at the Federal Communications Commission. Before long, the regulatory agency had logged more than half a million complaints.

The incident seemed like a watershed moment in what most Americans considered to be indecent on TV. That's because complaints came from people in red states and blue states and of all faiths, races and socioeconomic backgrounds. The smoke from the game's fireworks had just cleared when FCC Chairman Michael Powell called for an investigation and Congress moved to create a bill that would increase fines against networks and local stations that violated FCC indecency rules.

The uproar seemed to signal a seismic shift in Americans' attitudes about how far is too far on TV. Religious leaders of all faiths proclaimed that the average American had finally said, "Enough is enough!" and drawn a moral line in the sand. But a year later, the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" appears to be just a blip on the American radar. Mark Silk, director for the Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., says the incident says less about what Americans consider indecent on TV and more about how they feel about the Super Bowl, which he calls an exercise in American civil religion, iconic and patriotic.

After all, even though networks are offering a few more family-friendly shows that draw good ratings, sexually charged and explicitly violent programs continue to attract large audiences. In fact, although the FCC recorded a record number of complaints about television content in 2004, analysts discovered that after taking out the Super Bowl complaints, 99.8 percent of the grievances could be traced back to one group, the Parents Television Council. So one year after the "wardrobe malfunction," what Americans say and what they watch is a muddled issue.

Questions for reporters

• How did members of your community and religious leaders initially react to the "wardrobe malfunction"? What do they think about it a year later?
• Did the incident have any lasting impact on local religious organizations?
• What TV shows are popular in your community? Check with your local stations to get local ratings. What kinds of shows have gained or lost popularity over time? Do shows with violent and/or sexual content draw bigger audiences than family-friendly programs?
• What do local religious leaders make of the viewing trends in their communities?
• How do people in your community square what they watch on TV with their moral values?
• Where do parents draw the line on what their children can watch? Do they talk to their children about what they see on TV and how to understand it?
• Many Americans - including a lot of parents - say they wish TV didn't include so much sex and violence, but they differ on how to address that concern. Some want the government to act, while others think the networks should police themselves. What leads different people to different opinions on this issue?
• The fact that most FCC complaints have been traced to one advocacy group raises the question: Does this group represent the interests of a large number of Americans, who wait for others to address the issue for them? Or are Americans' concerns about television content much more varied? What do people in your community think?

Why it matters

Moral values were considered a pivotal issue in the 2004 election, but as American television viewing habits show, moral values, whether they are religiously based or not, mean different things to different people.

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National sources

IN FAVOR OF TIGHTER FCC RESTRICTIONS ON TV
• Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Contact 202-547-8105.
• Katherine G. Grincewich is assistant general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She delivered testimony before Congress in which she stated the group's support of tighter FCC indecency rules. Read an excerpt of her Aug. 27, 2004, testimony. Contact 202-541-3200.
• Rabbi Yehuda Levin is founder of Jews for Morality, an Orthodox Jewish group based in Brooklyn, N.Y., that promotes family values. Contact 718-469-6999.
• David Blankenhorn is president of the Institute for American Values. Founded in 1987, the group bills it self as a private, nonpartisan organization "devoted to contributing intellectually to the renewal of marriage and family life and the sources of competence, character and citizenship." Contact 212-246-3942, info@americanvalues.org.
• James Dobson is head of Focus on the Family. The group champions family values and is pushing for tighter FCC indecency rules. Contact Paul Hetrick, 719-531-3336, hetricpl@fotf.org, or Sonja Swiatkiewicz, 719-548-4634, culturalissues@family.org.
• Tim Winter is executive director of the Parents Television Council, a nearly 10-year-old Los Angeles-based advocacy group whose mission is to bring more family-oriented programming to television. It sponsors the web site Cleanup.TV, which promotes greater restrictions on what can be aired. Contact Kelly Walmsley, 703-683-5004.
• The Rev. Donald Wildmon is chairman and founder of the American Family Association, based in Mississippi. The group fights pornography. Contact Tim Wildmon, president, 662-844-5036, comments@afa.net.
• Tony Perkins is president of the Family Research Council. The group wants Congress to pass an indecency bill that will raise fines against offenders. Contact 202-393-2100.

AGAINST TIGHTER FCC RESTRICTIONS ON TV
• Jordan J. Ballor is a communications associate at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., which promotes "a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles." While he believes that the "wardrobe malfunction" was a symbol of the nation's declining mores, he does not advocate government intervention. Instead, he promotes voluntary changes by broadcasters. Contact John Couretas, 616-454-3080, jcouretas@acton.org.
• James Steyer is the founder of Common Sense Media, a politically neutral San Francisco-based group that offers information to help parents make good choices for their families. Contact Alisa MacDonnell, 415-401-2029, alisa@commonsensemedia.org.
• Andrew Jay Schwartzman is president of the Media Access Project, a nonprofit, public interest law firm that represents listeners' and speakers' interest before the FCC. It's based in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-454-5681.
• Rabbi Marla Feldman is director of the Commission on Social Action of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. One of the organization's missions is to support First Amendment rights. Contact Alexis Rice or Dena Wigder, 202-387-2800.
• Gene Policinski is acting director of First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. The center offers comprehensive research of key First Amendment issues and topics. Contact 615-727-1600, gpolicinski@fac.org.
• Nadine Strossen is president of the American Civil Liberties Union, which works to promote First Amendment freedoms and prevent censorship. Contact 212-431-2375, nstrossen@aclu.org.
• The National Coalition Against Censorship fights censorship in many places, including television. Contact Gary Daniels, 212-807-6222 ext. 22.
• Ralph G. Neas is president of People for the American Way, which fights against censorship. Contact Priscilla Ring or Peter Montgomery, 202-467-4999, media@pfaw.org.

Background

• Read the FCC's listing of its rules on indecency. See a list of incidents in which the FCC gave notice of apparent liability for violating indecency standards and a chart of the FCC's indecency complaints and notices of apparent liability from 1993 to 2004. The FCC also has a page that explains indecency standards to parents.
• Read a statement from Concerned Women for America on the fines the FCC assessed to CBS and its affiliates for the "wardrobe malfunction."
• Read a statement from the Acton Institute warning religious leaders about wanting more government intervention in broadcasting matters.
• A March 2, 2004, letter written by the National Coalition Against Censorship and other Free Speech groups to lawmakers on Capitol Hill condemning congressional efforts to expand FCC indecency rules.

ARTICLES
• Read a Dec. 6, 2004, Mediaweek.com article that analyzes who is behind FCC complaints.
• Read a Dec. 4, 2004, ABC News article that asks whether the FCC's crackdown on TV standards is a result of the views of the majority of Americans, or just a vocal minority.
• Read a Nov. 15, 2004, Christian Science Monitor article on how the elections influenced the culture wars.
• Read a Sept. 23, 2004, New York Times article on the fines the FCC issued against CBS.
• Read a March 23, 2004, Associated Press article posted on the First Amendment Center's web site that explains broadcast indecency.
• Read Feb. 5, 2004, Christian Science Monitor article about how shock is used as a marketing tool.
• Read a Feb. 5, 2003, article written by Jim Wallis, head of the Sojourners, commenting on the Super Bowl halftime show. The letter appears on the Faithandvalues.com web site.

POLLS
• Read a 2004 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation that looks at how parents feel about media content and ratings systems.
• Read about an Associated Press poll posted Feb. 21, 2004, on the CBS News web site that gauged Americans' reaction to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. The poll found that 54 percent of Americans found the incident to be in bad taste but not illegal.
• A Gallup Poll conducted Feb. 6-8, 2004, found that 75 percent of Americans said the entertainment industry should make a serious effort to reduce the amount of sex and violence in its movies, television shows, and music, while 24 percent say that wasn't necessary. isn't necessary. In 1995, Gallup said, 83 percent of Americans said the entertainment industry needed to make a serious effort.