Chicago chapter director of Parents Television Council wants FCC Chair Julius Genachowski to leave

[alp227]

Wow...what a bold statement right there. Bob Sherman, director of the Chicago chapter of the Parents Television Council, begins his Southwest News-Herald editorial like this:

It’s time for Julius Genachowski to step down. His leadership of the Federal Communications Commission has been a shameful failure. Since being sworn in as chairman last June 29, he has done nothing about the backlog of consumer indecency complaints. Under his leadership, this backlog has grown to 1.6 million.

His responsibility is clear. The FCC is required to enforce the Communications Act, which holds broadcasters accountable for their use of the public airwaves. This includes reasonable restrictions on sex, nudity, profanity, and gory violence.

Because of the failure of the FCC, the situation is getting out of hand. According to USA Today, viewers are about to see full frontal male nudity, group sex, and graphic scenes rarely — if ever — seen on mainstream TV.

And then he brings up the case that children are influenced by the media easily and calls on responsible parents to complain to the government...but missing from this editorial is something else that "responsible parents" should be doing. Do you know what it is?

PTC has encountered much attention and criticism for its online complaint-bot that allows members to file complaints en masse to the FCC whether or not the complainer actually watched the show during its broadcast time. PTC successfully got the FCC to levy fines for indecent episodes of NYPD Blue and Without a Trace and filed several thousand complaints about the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed.

Unfortunately, without Genachowski, who will stand up for net neutrality? :(

[mikesm]

1. Julius is useless!

The network neutrality order was toothless! They aren't going to enforce anything, esp after the Comcast guys whooped the FCC in court and will vacate the FCC's judgment against comcast. Plus the vaunted national broadband plan will do nothing about the broadband duopoly - it's as pro corporatist as the health care reform proposal is!

He should be removed, not for not dealing with indecency complaints, but because he's more in the pocket of incumbents than even the Bush FCC chairman was, and that's hard to do!

Name me one thing he's actually do for the progressive agenda? Or any agenda for that matter - he's a tool for the status quo. He takes up space and prevents real reform from happening. Just look at what EFF and other public interest groups are saying about him and the plan...

[FrenchieCat]

2. How was the Net Neutrality (not Network) toothless.....

please explain. Thanks!

[mikesm]

5. Because the order that the FCC approved is vague and

has lots of outs in it. See here for the following write-ups on the topic by people who know what they are talking about:

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/EFF-Urges-FCC-To-Fix-Wimpy-Neutrality-Proposals-107233

http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/pic-nn-comments-20100114.pdf

http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/joint-comments-copyright-nn-20100113.pdf

In general, the Chairman talks a lot, says little, and does even less. See these writeups:

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Afraid-To-Tackle-Open-Access-107139

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Hey-Julius-100-Mbps-To-100-Million-Is-Easy-107209

Yet another corporate sellout...

[Doctor_J]

4. Maybe, but the PTC would want him replaced with a god-fearing repuke

who lets Fox "News" lie every day but won't let a gay character on TV.

[KoKo]

13. It's up to Obama to replace him with a "god-fearing repuke," though.

Maybe on the second try Obama will stand up for better FCC Regulator. Michael Copps should have been made Chairman. Sadly Copps's term is over in April. He was the only one on there who listened to complaints and held hearings around the country. The FCC is by law supposed to hold hearings with groups but under Michael Powell and that other Repuke they had to be pressed to do it and finally Copps went out on his own and had hearings with consumer groups.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. My old friends from the PTC! Oh, how we love them. It was for

them that the term 'bat shit crazy' was first added to our lexicon. They are out of their minds. Out of their ever loving minds. The FCC should use an ignore-bot on their complaint-bot.

[KoKo]

6. I Agree! This Obama Appointment has been a TOTAL FAILURE...

Obama...PLEASE GET RID OF HIM!

[FrenchieCat]

7. So you agree with the PTC and DU 8 post member?

Wow!

[mikesm]

8. I am new but I found

DU because I was disgusted with the HCR process and read it every day now. But if my low post count is suspicious to you (everyone has to start somewhere), just look at the links I posted. I did not make those up, and EFF and PK and others I posted are hardly the Faux News of telecom reporting.

And hey, if you think Julius has done a great job at the FCC, then tell us why.

[FrenchieCat]

9. The Parents Television Council (PTC) is an American advocacy group founded by conservative activist

PTC was founded in 1995 by longtime political activist L. Brent Bozell III. Bozell is a prominent conservative activist who has, among other things, served as Executive Director of the Conservative Victory Committee, a political action committee that has supported the election of dozens of conservative candidates over the past ten years. He was also National Finance Chairman for Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign, and later president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee.

The PTC also has an Advisory Board consisting of politicians and entertainers working to assist the council in their goal of protecting children against profanity and violence in the media. Notable members of the advisory board include singer Pat Boone, former football player Mel Renfro, actor Coleman Luck, country musician Billy Ray Cyrus, Republican U.S. Senator of Kansas and former presidential candidate Sam Brownback....

Over the years, the PTC has launched several campaigns in response to perceived indecency on television programs. Such campaigns have also involved filing complaints with the FCC, and the organization has generated the majority of FCC complaints over perceived indecent television content. Programs for which it has filed complaints that were later deemed indecent by the FCC include NYPD Blue, the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show, and Without a Trace. Beyond television programs themselves, PTC's activism has spread to urging advertisers to withdraw sponsorship from programs that the group deems offensive, criticizing companies for offensive advertising, and advising on other branches of entertainment media.

In response to its activism, positions, and campaigns, the PTC has faced much support and criticism. Since the PTC was found in 2004 to have filed the majority of complaints with the FCC, some have questioned the PTC's method of filing electronic complaint forms. Additionally, critics have objected to PTC's advocacy of greater government involvement in indecency regulation.

In 1989, the Media Research Center (MRC) began monitoring the entertainment industry for alleged liberal bias through its Entertainment Division and newsletter TV, etc.<2> MRC founder and president L. Brent Bozell III later felt that decency was declining on most prime-time television programming.<3><4> The PTC began operations in 1995 following private planning meetings with Charlton Heston, Michael Medved, and other entertainment industry leaders, who would eventually make up the Advisory Board of the PTC. After the release of its first annual Family Guide to Prime-Time Television following the 1995-1996 television season, the PTC hoped to hold the entertainment industry accountable for the indecency that it perceived to be prominent on prime-time television.<5> By 1996, the organization had the support of several members of the U.S. Congress, including Joe Lieberman and Lamar S. Smith.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parents_Television_Council

[mikesm]

10. That's all true and they should be ignored, but

I am not trying to criticize Julius for not doing anything about indecency fines. What I am upset about is that he is not doing anything about the duopoly and selling out to AT&T and VZ and Comcast, and watering down the network neutrality order so it means nothing. Prices are going up because of lack of competition, and yet he does nothing but talk about generalities while playing ball with the monopolists.

That's why he should be sacked, not because he's not trying to enforce puritanical morality on the airwaves. Why people are concerned about "dirty words" on TV and Cable and not that mega corporations are monopolizing access to TV and phone service is beyond me. Oh I forgot, they are "conservatives" - dirty words are bad but monopolies are good. Idiots.

[depakid]

11. These idiots are still whining about "indecency?"

[mikesm]

12. What's indecent is how the Bushies

allowed all our telecom companies to merge and reform the monopolies that were broken up in the 80's. Prices keep going up and your freedom keeps going down...