Posted on 02/20/2005 8:44:33 AM PST by Valin
NEW YORK -- Worried about the Federal Communications Commission, PBS is taking the words out of the mouths of some soldiers filmed during combat in Iraq.
The public broadcaster is distributing "clean" and "raw" versions of next Tuesday's "Frontline" documentary about the Iraq war, titled "A Company of Soldiers," and is warning that it can't insure stations against FCC fines stemming from the language.
It's an example of the TV industry's continued uncertainty about FCC standards for language and content, and a real-life echo of a decision made last fall by 66 ABC affiliates not to air the movie "Saving Private Ryan."
The documentary contains 13 expletives spoken by soldiers. "Frontline" producers decided to leave them in because it presented a true picture of how these soldiers react to the fear and stress of war, said David Fanning, the show's executive producer.
The producers also made a separate version of the documentary with the words edited out, for use by some of PBS's 170 stations in more conservative parts of the country. "Frontline" is produced by Boston's WGBH, which will air the raw version.
Instead, PBS decided to send the clean version out to all of its stations. The raw version also will be made available, but station managers will have to tape it in advance.
PBS also is warning its stations that if they want to put themselves at risk of an FCC fine for language, the system can't insure them, said senior programming executive Jacoba Atlas. To air the raw version, stations must sign a statement acknowledging the financial risk is theirs.
"It's a financial decision," Atlas said. "It's not a decision that reflects on the merit that we think the film has."
Fanning said he wished this was something that PBS could take a stand on, but understood why not.
"I'm not upset about PBS," he said. "We're upset that we're put in the position of having to make a special circumstance of this, and PBS is put in the position of not being able to have viewers see this."
Because station managers were only in-formed of this on Thursday, Atlas said she had no count on how many stations would air each version.
"A Company of Soldiers,"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/company/
FRONTLINE reports from inside the U.S. Army's 8th Cavalry Regiment stationed in Baghdad for an up-close, intimate look at the dangers facing an American military unit in Iraq. Shot in the weeks following the U.S. presidential election, the film tracks the day-to-day challenges facing the 8th Cavalry's Dog Company as it suddenly has to cope with a dramatic increase in attacks by the insurgents.
Usually they show up right away.
What the carp makes PBS think it can air cursing on the air? ANY other station would have bleeped it out in the first place.
It reminds me of a time my local PBS station ran a life drawing class during prime time. Full frontal nudity on prime time TV and nobody said "boo".
You must have seen American History in Black and White.
I listened to this report on NPR. No one in the government or elsewhere had objected to this broadcast and it was clear no one thought the language use inappropriate considering what the subject matter was.
What was interesting was that towards the end of the report they drew an equivalence between the military cursing and the problem people had with NPR programming that celebrated same sex marriages.
It was clear that NPR was attempting to illustrate how the backlash about same sex marriage programming was having a "chilling effect" on shows about our troops.
Amen! I don't expect marines to sound like Gomer Pile - Shazaam! Gooooly, Sgt Carter.
You can't be serious. This is a documentary on what's happening to our troops in Iraq. It's totally appropriate to have it aired on PBS.
I didn't say the documentary shouldn't be aired. Why the vital need to air curse words?
As long as Bobbi "KKK" Byrd is not denounced on the floor of the senate by Osama Obama, then I figure the KKK still runs the demo rat party.
You could accept a documentary with blasted limbs and blood, yet you have a problem with cursing?
"Frontline has such a strong agenda that it distorts everything they do."
Of course they do. They air documentaries after all. They do not speak infallibly, but rather convey an opinion formed as they reseach the story.
You forget they did the most damming commentaries on Whitewater, Saddam, etc etc as well, which you no doubt would've cheered.
There is a world of difference between a community college airing a video course on drawing (including the nudity) and the use of nudity to boost ratings. There is a world of difference between swearing by soldiers who are being shot at, and the casual swearing in a fictitional script that has run out of original ideas.
Normally, this is called "context". No one tunes into these shows expecting Sponge Bob and being suprised with Janet Jackson's nipple (after her simulated sex dance routine). The context is the key. Anyone who has a list of words or body parts that are "always bad" goes to the land of the Taliban, or the PC speech cops.
yeah, I didn't agree w/ that one at all either.
I'm not sure if that's because I'm sore from all the carping from the left, or because I have doubts on the way we've handled the "peace".
"What the carp makes PBS think it can air cursing on the air?"
You missed something... the article says PBS sent the clean version out to all it's stations. The uncut version is available to other stations with a warning that they risk being fined by the FCC. I don't mind the swearing myself... then again, I don't mind the bleeping outs either since you can usually figure our what's being said anyway.
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