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March 23, 2015

Gotta Draw The Line

Sure, you can have all the guns and marijuana you want and you can use your computer like an 8-lane highway for porn, but our gummint still wants to protect you from your TV. As I understand it, WDBJ in Virginia pointed a camera for three seconds at the website of a woman who was volunteering for the rescue squad. The station's staff failed to note a little video ad for porn videos somewhere on the edge of the screen.

The FCC has proposed a fine of $325,000.

For the sake of clarity the FCC report includes this helpful description: "the Station broadcast an image of sexual activity involving the graphic display of an erect penis being stroked during a news report about a former adult film star who had joined a local volunteer rescue squad."

But that's not entirely all. The FCC has described some other things that could be seen in that news report, including "other images of the woman who is the subject of the story displayed at various times during the report, including one in which she appears to be sitting on a bed, wearing a bra." Oh no! Where is Chicken Little to spread the word!

Filed under Libertarianism,Naturism-Nudism | permalink | March 23, 2015 at 09:42 PM

Comments

Owners Schurz Communications of South Bend, IN are appealing the fine and will probably get it cut down to a tenth of what it is now. They are a small market group. Still, this story alone quite a lot of publicity for something that seems utterly irrelevant in the internet tumblr porn age.

Posted by: Ednixon at Mar 25, 2015 1:15:23 AM

A nimber of people have told me that Europeans are far more liberated when it comes to sex...especially in the media. It's not uncommon to see nudity in commercials and sex scenes on TV are much more graphic than what is shown here in the US. Could it be that Europeans are more obsessed with nudity and sex rather than liberated? It's obvious that their laws, regarding this issue, are more liberal but the average Joe in Europe is every bit as messed up as we are.

Posted by: Russ Martin at Mar 24, 2015 9:30:06 AM

My goodness. HWMBO and I watched a couple of (fictional) programs about gay life in Manchester last night. Not only was every fifth word "f*ck" but interspersed between the scenes where 19 year old men are having anal sex (no bits shown) are scenes where one or other of the characters calls another one a "c**t".

This was on Channel 4, a terrestrial TV station here in the UK. In the United States the FCC would put any station that showed that off the air permanently. Here the program is likely to win TV awards. The same guy who wrote "Queer as Folk" wrote this program and several others.

In a companion program, one of the characters is assaulted by the guy he's just had sex with and is shown sitting on a chair with a gaping wound in his head bleeding profusely while his life is "going before his eyes".

Our Ofcom (equivalent of the FCC) is more concerned about misleading advertisements and programs that injure someone personally (like the one where Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand called David Suchet and left a message on his answerphone saying that Brand had had sex with his granddaughter.)

Posted by: Chris Hansen at Mar 24, 2015 1:53:26 AM

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