At last, the Federal Communications Commission has reacted to the social damage of sex and violence by out- of-control cable and satellite television networks. My dander was aroused by a sleazy cable program that I stumbled onto while surfing the boob tube. What I watched for five minutes was disgusting and alarming. A baggy pants street gang including two girls with bulging halters and peek-a-boo skirts chased a young man. They cornered him and beat him to the pavement. Then, while the boys pinned him down, the girls straddled the victim, hoisted their skirts, dropped their crotch covers and urinated into the victims face. Close up and in living color. I cringe in describing the scene, but cable producers, advertisers and presumably -- cable viewers either enjoy sexual deviation and depravity, or have no moral compass. We seem to be up to our chins in a sea of filth, murmuring, Dont make waves! -- while Howard Stearn, king of cable filth, cruises about in his speedboat. On his tow cable, is the Internet email system open free to purveyors of pornography, cut-rate drugs, stock tips and Rolex watches. The wonderful Google information search engine also is sinking into the quagmire by featuring bloggers with idle time and a $399 computer. Finally, on Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin blew his whistle. At a congressional hearing, he warned cable and satellite providers. If they fail to promote family-friendly viewing, Congress could impose the same decency standards in effect for broadcasters. Over-the-air television was brought to heel 40 years ago by government control of the limited spectrum of public broadcast channels. Technology since then has given us glass-fiber cables and Satellite transmitters with an unlimited number of channels. Now we are in the situation lambasted 44 years ago by then FCC Chairman Newton Minnow. In a landmark speech titled Vast Wasteland -- delivered to the National Association of Broadcasters -- he excoriated them. I am here to uphold and protect the public interest, he declared. Some say the public interest is merely what interests the public. I disagree. When television is good, there is nothing better. But when television is bad, there is nothing worse! Why is television so bad? I have heard many answers demands of advertisers, competition for ever-higher ratings, need to attract a mass audience, high cost of programs, insatiable appetite for programming material. However, I am not convinced that you have tried hard enough to solve them. I am not convinced that the peoples taste is as low as some of you assume. I hope you will agree that ratings should have little influence where children are concerned. It used to be said that there were three great influences on a child home, school and church. Today, there is a fourth great influence, and [broadcasters] control it. The Vast Wasteland speech -- and threat of denying access to publicly owned broadcast frequencies -- persuaded television networks to clean up their acts in general and relegate raunchy stuff after 10 p.m. Even so, some prime-time comedies step over the decency line. They seem infatuated with double entendre wise cracks, copulation and toilets. Chairman Martin offers some simple solutions: * Sell only those channels purchased a la carte, * Offer family-friendly program packages, * Government limits on indecency and violence. How about all of the above? The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would raise the indecency fine on cable/satellite companies to $500,000 from $32,500 -- as is in effect for broadcasters. The bill languishes in the Senate. Ultimate answer to depravity and violence in the market place is societal norms. Yet, society will collapse if we continue down the road of anything goes per ancient Rome. Sadly we grow too soon old, and too late smart. PARTING SHOTS California Congressman Duke Cunningham resigned after admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes. He will give back $1.8 million and faces 10 years in prison. However, he keeps his congressional pension of $60,000 a year. Is this a great country, or what? * * * People who do not worry about politics should have their television set repaired.
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