Stopping Indecency on the Airwaves
By Maurine Proctor

If you don't want to hear the "f-word" and the "s-word" when you or your children flip on the TV, then please contact your U.S. Senator! The Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S.1780) has unanimously passed the Senate Commerce Committee and is on its way to the Senate Floor.

The Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act, S. 1780, is critical to restoring the Broadcast Decency Bill passed in Congress in 2006. This law was gutted last month when two New York judges in the U.S. 2nd Court of Appeals ruled that so-called "fleeting profanity" should be allowed on the public airwaves.

Here's the background on the court case. As part of its March 15, 2006 Omnibus Indecency Order, the FCC had determined that the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards broadcasts were indecent because Cher and Nicole Richie each dropped the "f-bombs" on the viewing audience. The judges said to the FCC, no, that's not indecent. If parents don't like it, there are existing blocking technologies.

The court ruling in June 2007 has paved the way for profane language-including the s and f-words to be aired at times when tens of millions of children are most likely to be in the television audience and turns its back on 80 years of jurisprudence on the proper use of the public airwaves.

Because the court did not address the constitutionality of broadcast decency law, merely the FCC's interpretation of it, Congress must act yet again to protect children by clarifying that single instances of indecent language and images are actionable under existing broadcast decency law.

It is imperative that the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act pass to protect America's children and sense of decency!

Take Action:
Contact Your Senator Today

Click here to see a list of which senators are on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. If your senator is one of them, click on the senator's name for his or her contact information to express appreciation for supporting the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780).

Click here to contact your senators to urge him or her to VOTE YES on the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780).