{"id":9523,"date":"2006-06-15T16:55:47","date_gmt":"2006-06-15T23:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/06\/15\/can-people-be-offended-by-something-they-arent-exposed-to.html"},"modified":"2006-06-15T16:55:47","modified_gmt":"2006-06-15T23:55:47","slug":"can_people_be_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/15\/can_people_be_o.html","title":{"rendered":"Can people be offended by something they aren’t exposed to?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?<\/p>\n

CBS is disputing the $3.3MM indecency fine it received from the FCC<\/a> for a “teen orgy” scene, based on the claim that none of the folks who complained had actually seen <\/em>the scene being complained about.<\/p>\n

Virtually none of those who complained to the Federal Communications Commission about the teen drama Without A Trace actually saw the episode in question, CBS affiliates said as they asked the agency to rescind its proposed record indecency fine of $3.3 million.<\/p>\n

All of the 4,211 e-mailed complaints came from Web sites operated by the Parents Television Council and the American Family Association, the stations said in a filing on Monday. In only two of the emails did those complaining say they had watched the program, and those two apparently refer to a \u201cbrief, out-of-context segment\u201d of the episode that was posted on the Parents Television Council\u2019s Web site, the affiliates\u2019 filing said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no true complainants from actual viewers,\u201d the stations said. To be valid, complaints must come from an actual viewer in the service area of the station at issue, the filing said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CBS examined the complaints submitted to the FCC based on a FOIA claim. <\/p>\n

About 8.2 million people saw the Dec. 31, 2004 broadcast, which was a repeat of an earlier airing of the same episode that drew no indecency complaints. E-mails about the episode began arriving at the FCC on Jan. 12, the same day the PTC sent an alert to its members, the CBS stations said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So nobody who originally saw the show complained. Nobody saw the rerun <\/em>complained. Complaints only came in once the PTC\/AFA let their supporters know, two weeks later, that something naughty, in their lights, had been shown. Were any of the complainers actual viewers? No way to tell, as they didn’t so identify themselves.<\/p>\n

So people were, as far as can be determined, offended by by something they hadn’t actually seen (except for the ones who clicked on the PTC\/AFA site to see the clip), and, for that, CBS owes the US $3.3MM?<\/p>\n

The FCC in proposing the fines of $32,500 upon each of 103 CBS stations said they had \u201cbroadcast material graphically depicting teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBS stations said the episode included flashbacks aimed at portraying risky behavior that showed actors in \u201csexually suggestive positions\u201d but without nudity or coarse language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The FCC levied the fine based on the places where it was broadcast. But if nobody in those broadcast areas actually saw the show in order to complain about it, how can CBS be fined?<\/p>\n

The segment, by the bye, can be viewed via here<\/a>. The show airs at 10 p.m. Out of context, it’s certainly racy (though, as CBS notes, with no truly naughty bits, and in an overall negative light), but $3.3 million obscene? Hardly.<\/p>\n

(via BoingBoing<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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