"Addiction is an ugly word, but it is a reality. And what are the results of TV addiction? Deterioration. Deterioration of family togetherness, closeness. Deterioration of mind and spirit. We've lost the art of family conversation. We don't read. Our children are not stimulated to read. They are missing the great treasures, the literature of the ages. But the worst result of the addiction is a lack of interest in God and the Scriptures. Divine love as well as human love is leaving the home of the family addicted to television."
So wrote Father Morton A. Hill, S.J. (1917-1985), the founder of Morality in Media, in Twin Circle magazine in 1981. Clearly, the situation has not improved since 1981. Your frustration level is mounting, and you ask yourself the question, "What can I do about it?"
Remember, the battle for decency in TV programming will not be won by "couch potatoes." It will be won by "activists." You cannot be for morality on TV if you remain silent in the face of a growing floodtide of offensive programming. You must take responsibility!
We'll sketch here some things you can do.
In its 1973 Miller v. California decision, the U.S. Supreme Court set forth a three-pronged test for determining whether a "work" (e.g., TV programming) is obscene and, therefore, unprotected by the First Amendment. To be obscene, a judge, jury or the FCC must determine:
- That the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; AND
- That the work depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable law; AND
- That a reasonable person would find that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value.
At present, Federal law does not prohibit "indecent" material on cable or satellite TV. However, Federal law permits cable operators to prohibit indecency on leased access channels (47 USC 532), and permits franchising authorities to prohibit indecency on public access channels (47 USC 531).
Federal law (47 USC 561) also requires cable operators to scramble the signals for channels "primarily dedicated to sexually oriented programming." This scrambling law has been found unconstitutional by a Federal court. The case is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast [or cable] medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs."In upholding the broadcast indecency standard, the U.S. Supreme Court (FCC v. Pacifica, 1978) said that two attributes of broadcasting justified special treatment of indecent material. First, broadcast indecent material confronts the citizen not only in public but in the privacy of the home. Second, broadcasting is uniquely accessible to children, even those too young to read.
In Denver Area Consortium v. FCC (1996), the Supreme Court recognized that these same concerns justify regulation of indecent programming on leased and public access channels. It is time for Congress to ban indecent programming on basic cable between 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.
Federal Communications CommissionYou can also send informal complaints to the FCC via e-mail, but official complaints have to be sent on paper via the U.S. Postal Service or your preferred express delivery service.
Enforcement Bureau
445 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
Phone 1-202-418-1420
In your complaint, make sure you have the actual call letters of the station (e.g., "WNBC-TV New York," not "News4 New York"), the name of the offending program, and the date and time it aired.
The FCC, however, will not act on an indecency complaint unless it is accompanied by a tape or written transcript of the programming. When possible, make a tape of the offending program and send it along with your complaint.
If you think the FCC is not doing its job, tell the President and your U.S. Senators and Representatives.
You can order a copy of Stranger in the House from Morality in Media. The single-copy price is $5.00, postage paid. Bulk prices are also available.
If the advertiser isn't one of the top 100 advertisers, you can find the manufacturer of a product by finding the product in a local store and looking at the label. Once you know the company name, the reference librarian at your local library can help you find directories of companies, with the names, addresses, phone numbers, and other contact info you need.
You can also search on the Internet. You can use a directory like Yahoo or Snap or a search engine like HotBot or Alta Vista or Excite or Lycos or Google or Infoseek or any other you prefer.
If the company is publicly traded (i.e., if you can buy its shares on a stock exchange), the company has to file forms every year with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forms for the most recent years are on the SEC's EDGAR database. The forms most useful to you are the 10-K (annual report) and Definitive 14-K (proxy statement). These will have the names of the top executives and the directors.
Advertisers are very sensitive to consumer complaints. Complaints mean people may be rejecting their products, and complaints mean that the millions of dollars they are spending on advertising may be going down the drain. Therefore, contacting advertisers is an effective way to combat anti-social programming.
N.B. Advertisers frequently buy TV time months in advance, booking a specific time slot without knowing what programs are going to fill that slot. If you get that response, tell advertisers that they should more closely monitor the programs they sponsor and, when needed, screen individual programs prior to airing.
Federal regulations (CFR Title 47, Section 73.658(e)) say that broadcast network affiliates have the right to reject network programming which they "reasonably believe to be unsatisfactory or contrary to the public interest" and to substitute a program "which, in the station's opinion, is of greater local or national importance."
The Importance of Making Complaints
By Robert Peters
President of Morality in Media
TURN OFF TV DAY
Next "Turn Off TV Day: Wednesday, February 14, 2007
"Addiction is an ugly word, but it is a reality. And what are the results of TV addiction? Deterioration. Deterioration of family togetherness, closeness. Deterioration of mind and spirit. We've lost the art of family conversation. We don't read. Our children are not stimulated to read. They are missing the great treasures, the literature of the ages. But the worst result of the addiction is a lack of interest in God and the Scriptures. Divine love as well as human love is leaving the home of the family addicted to television."What Can I Do On Turn Off TV Day?
-- Father Morton A. Hill, S.J., founder of Morality in Media
(Twin Circle, 1981)
History of Turn Off TV Day
- Have dinner with family or friends at a restaurant. Give Mom (or whoever does the cooking) the night off.
- Go to a local museum.
- See a good play.
- Stroll in the park.
- Play Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, chess, or your other favorite board game.
- Read a good book together.
- Help out at a soup kitchen, or other local charity.
- And, most appropriately, take time to write to the broadcasters and advertisers to let them know how you feel about offensive programming.
"We see our nation, in its schools and communities, reaping the harvest of such programming in the truancy, lawlessness and crime our country is presently experiencing. Can you [television executives] deny this, at least partly, is due to what their eyes and minds are being fed via television, one of the most powerful mind-benders ever invented?"Another letter writer, Kathleen P. Whitworth of Ferndale, Wash., summed up the way many American families feel about television:
"Our family of 10 does not watch a lot of TV ... And if you are concerned about ratings, you may want to know why.Originally, Turn Off TV Day was held in November, but later was switched to the second Friday in February. When that day coincided with Valentine's Day in 1997, Morality in Media decided to fix that date -- February 14 -- for Turn Off TV Day.Do you writers, directors, and producers presume that Americans have lost all sense of imagination? Must you show EVERYTHING? We are not anti-media ... But we protest the glut of garbage ... "
- First, most of the shows are inane and insulting to the intelligence . . .
- Second, the concepts and story lines are often so far-fetched from mainstream American life that we can only suppose their creators are quite out of touch with reality.
- Third, the language is appalling, including the expletive use of names of the deity and terms more appropriate to bathrooms, barnyards, and x-rated sex manuals. We may hear such language in public, but we do not use it in our home. So why should we invite it in via the airways?
- Fourth, the sexual innuendos and portrayals are far more frequent and graphic than is necessary ...
- Fifth, screen violence is epidemic and desensitizing, and all too graphic.
Now more than ever, it's time to protest this "glut of garbage" on TV. One way you can do it is to participate in "Turn Off TV Day."
As Dr. James Dobson of "Focus on the Family" advises, screen out the filth and violence as much as you can, but "if the little box can't be subdued, you might try unplugging it, selling it or moving it into the garage ... Then gather the family around and read a great book together."
For more information on "Turn Off TV Day," call Morality in Media in New York at 1-212-870-3222, or write to us at 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 239, New York, NY 10115.
MIM
commends FCC for indecency notice against Fox Television
Howard
Stern's planned radio program on Sirius Satellite Radio is not an acceptable
compromise
Finally,
broadcast network TV is no longer above the law that prohibits indecent or
profane language
MIM Comments
to the FCC on the 'Golden Globes' Case
Jackson/Timberlake
Super Bowl performance 'a national disgrace'
MIM
commends FCC for indecency notice against Clear Channel
MIM
issues Comments in support of review of FCC's 'Golden Globes' indecency
decision
FCC's
order on 'Golden Globes' vulgarism 'a complete breakdown of moral sanity'
| Remember the wise saying: " | A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." |
| Remember also the wise words: " | I am only one, but I am one. What I can do, I ought to do. What I ought to do, with God's help, I will do." |