FCC Is Investigating Super Bowl Show: Entire Halftime Performance Faces Indecency Standards Test

Washington Post ^ | February 3, 2004 | Frank Ahrens and Lisa de Moraes

[new cruelty]

The Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation into Sunday's controversial Super Bowl halftime show yesterday and FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell telephoned Mel Karmazin, president of CBS parent Viacom Inc., to express his outrage, saying the entertainment giant should have known what was going to transpire during the show.

The FCC probe will encompass the entire halftime program -- including the brief exposure of singer Janet Jackson's breast and the sexualized dance routine precipitating it -- to determine if it violates indecency standards set in law and enforced by the FCC.

If indecency violations are found, each of Viacom's 200 owned and affiliate stations could face a penalty of up to $27,500. FCC officials said the agency may also pursue penalties against CBS and the individual performers, Jackson and Justin Timberlake

[kellynla]

Do you work at CBS? no? I didn't think so. I don't know what it is about you people on Free Republic that no matter what is posted you have to contradict every piece of information that is posted no matter how reliable. Bottom line WV, CBS is licensed by the FCC and it is CBS' responsibility to make sure it abides by the laws. There is a time delay that allows television networks to view events before they are released on the airwaves. CBS failed and they are responsible. Hence it is libel. Now if you want to argue whether the sun is going to rise in the east this am find someone else to argue with 'cause I am too busy to waste any more time with you. ROFLMAO

[kellynla]

Okay MT, I don't know where you get your info but according to the FCC, Viacom owns over 200 stations and there are another 300 affiliates. Every one of those over 500 stations is libel and at $27K each that is over $13 Mil. And no matter how many stations Viacom actually owns each one of those stations is subject to up to a $27K fine and when and if they are fined those stations whether they are directly owned by Viacom or not will be suing CBS to recover the fine they had to pay. PERIOD! Again, I don't know what it is about you people on Free Republic that you feel you have to argue every issue whether you have any credible sources or not. But if you want to argue whether the sun is going to rise in the east this am find someone else 'cause I have more important things to do. ROFLMAO

[thinktwice]

While I have no problem with the performance. Broadcasting this junk during the family hour is unacceptable.

Junk is junk, and kids love junk.

Whoever was in charge of the overall Super Bowl programming should be identified and properly punished. It is probably some person within CBS pulling down seven figures per year, with numerous helpers making six figures, and they all should be gone.

[Timesink]

Do you work at CBS? no? I didn't think so.

No, but I've worked at two other networks. Do yourself a favor and stop posting laughably incorrect information (showing a breast on TV is libel? LOL! Not using a 7-second delay is against the law? LOL!), before you embarrass yourself even further than you already have.

[Jerez2]

Quit telling people to 'take their morality elsewhere.' This is our country too. Why don't you take your LACK of morality elsewhere, hmmm?

[rwfromkansas]

Definitely true. The Puritans were well....puritanical. Just not so they never had fun or enjoyed life like that idiot Menken (sp) tried to make them out to be.

Thank goodness for the scholarship of Perry Miller.

[kellynla]

FRONTAL NUDITY ON PUBLIC AIRWAVES IS AGAINST THE LAW! AND CBS IS LIBEL FOR NOT CUTTING AWAY BEFORE SCREENING THE FRONTAL NUDITY! THE ONLY THING EMBARRASSING IS YOUR IGNORANCE OF THE LAW AND FCC REGULATIONS!

[GOPJ]

MTV Flash --Grown men don't watch porn/whores with their mothers, wives, and children in the room

[FBD]

Ah yes,
Very logical for us ‘limited government’ conservatives to demand that the Federal government step in and take care of this situation for us.

We can’t after all, as a free society, and as responsible individuals, call representatives of the NFL and CBS, and simply demand that they clean up their act, or we won’t watch them.

No, that would require individual responsibility, and that takes effort. No, let’s demand that the FCC act as our servant, and do it for us. I suppose it is necessary to yield our responsibility to the Feds… {/sarcasm off}

---

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” ~ William Pitt

“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

“When government takes responsibility for people, then people no longer take responsibility for themselves.”~ George Pataki

“Government is not reason; it is not persuasion; it is force -- like fire, a dangerous servant and a terrible master.” ~ George Washington

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society.
-As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.
-We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education.” ~ Frederic Bastiat -’The Law’

[nopardons]

I had forgotten that episode. LOL

Do you know WHY "THE MOON IS BLUE" was banned in some cities and considered " shocking" ? For one word......." pregnant ", being uttered. That's it; that's what the fuss was all about; that and the fact that the woman who said it was not married. No, she wasn't pregnant, she just said the word.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Do you know WHY "THE MOON IS BLUE" was banned in some cities and considered " shocking" ? For one word......." pregnant ", being uttered. That's it; that's what the fuss was all about; that and the fact that the woman who said it was not married. No, she wasn't pregnant, she just said the word.

Just damn! I've never seen the movie, so I didn't know why it had been banned. My impression was that it was too risque for the times. It's interesting how a word like pregnant back then would be like uttering a 4 letter word today, and the word pregnant is as common in the American lexicon these days as just another word.

My how times change. LOL

Thanks for that bit of trivia BTW! One learns something new everyday on this board. LOL

[nopardons]

I've actually seen the movie; it's as tame as tame can be. LOL

Few people here know what America REALLY was like, prior to their own lives.They make all kinds of assumptions, which are 100% in error. I know what life in America was, prior to my own time here, because I was fascinated hearing my grandmother tell me what her girlhood had been like and my great grandmother was also a great teller of past times too.

People really should talk to their parents and grandparents, before it's too late and also listen to what older people remember. Old newspapers are great fonts of news, but also open a window into what the world and culture and mores were like.Just reading the adds , is an eye opener.

I was a little girl, when " THE MOON IS BLUE " came out. I didn't see it the....children did NOT see " adult " movies back then! :-)