Does Brent Bozell Run the FCC?

Jacob Sullum | November 10, 2005

In a new Progress and Freedom Foundation report, Adam Thierer points out that the FCC's official counts of broadcast indecency complaints have been greatly inflated by two littled-noticed methodological changes: When a single organization sends a flood of computer-generated messages, each counts as a unique complaint; ditto for copies of the same message sent to different offices at the FCC.

As PFF notes, "The FCC in recent years has increased its fines for broadcast indecency and has cited rising complaints as a reason." Yet in 2003 more than 99 percent of indecency complaints came from the Parents Television Council, Brent Bozell's pressure group. The proportion was similar in 2004, if you leave out the complaints related to Janet Jackson's nipple.

"The FCC now measures indecency complaints differently than all other types of complaints," Thierer writes. "In so doing, it permits a process whereby indecency complaints appear to be artificially inflated relative to other types of complaints. Journalists, policy makers, social scientists, and others should weigh this disparate treatment when considering the significance of the reported figures." In other words, who gives a shit what Brent Bozell thinks?

Comments

|11.10.05 @ 11:43AM|#

Add L. Brent Bozell to the list that demostrates that people who use a first initial and a middle name are evil and not to be trusted.

J. Edgar Hoover
E. Howard Hunt
G. Gordon Liddy
F. Lee Bailey
L. Ron Hubbard

|11.10.05 @ 11:44AM|#

That said, this was splattered all over the front of the Chicago Sun-Times this morning...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who participated in a panel discussion in Washington where the Kaiser Family Foundation study was released, warned that the TV industry is ignoring parental concerns "at their own peril."

If the industry "fails to act -- if it fails to give parents advanced controls and new choices -- Congress will," Obama said."

I think the odds against Obama running in '08 just went down considerably. Nothing says "Presidential candidate" like complaining about all the smut on television.

|11.10.05 @ 12:05PM|#

Add L. Brent Bozell to the list that demostrates that people who use a first initial and a middle name are evil and not to be trusted.

Add I. Lewis Libby to that. When they write their name like that, you have to figure that they're hiding something. Say what you want about Lindsey Graham, he doesn't try to cover up his first name by calling himself L. Olin Graham.

|11.10.05 @ 12:13PM|#

Does anyone know how many members the PTC has? Not that it's important, but I'm curious about how many or few people it takes to try to influence FCC policy.

If we had an "a la carte" TV system, where people choose and pay only for channels that they want, Would the PTC be satisfied? Or would they insist that every choice conform to their view of what "should be broadcast?

SoulMan|11.10.05 @ 12:19PM|#

NoStar, Constantine,

Don't forget C. Thomas Howell.

Jesse Walker|11.10.05 @ 12:23PM|#

I think it was Edward Abbey who said you could always tell an asshole from the initial before his first name.

Timothy|11.10.05 @ 12:31PM|#

C. Everett Coop, also.

|11.10.05 @ 12:34PM|#

Maybe we should start a grassroots campaign to flood the FCC with complaints that there isn't enough smut on TV.

|11.10.05 @ 12:40PM|#

Would the PTC be satisfied? Or would they insist that every choice conform to their view of what "should be broadcast?

Hardly. Remember, this isn't about their choices, it's about their God's choices and how everyone should obey them.

|11.10.05 @ 12:40PM|#

What exactly are you trying to say about L. Neil Smith and J. Neil Schulman?

Jim Murphy|11.10.05 @ 12:45PM|#

Don't forget W. Axl Rose, which is how the Guns n Roses front man is "officially" listed on their albums...

I like the idea of flooding the FCC with letters complaining about the *lack* of sex, violence and anti-family content on TV. I'd like to see how quickly they changed their reporting policies once the "we want bare breasts and full penetration" on TV letters started outnumbering Bozell's cabal of kooks....

|11.10.05 @ 12:49PM|#

Don't forget about this asshole!

|11.10.05 @ 12:49PM|#

How about just sending them letters and telling them to stuff it.

Did anyone catch the Family Guy song about the FCC last Sunday? I was crying!

|11.10.05 @ 12:53PM|#

And what about me, you mealy-mouthed, ass-kissing, Spaniard-loving excuses for journalists? Why, I have not seen even the merest example of yellow-journalism in this on-line rag of yours! If you are going to print a smear piece on this Bozell character, then do it properly!

This ranting tires me out. I must have my trusty man-servant, Standish, fetch me a gin rickey and a headache-powder.

|11.10.05 @ 12:58PM|#

The episode may be replayed tonight on Adult Swim. I would recommend it to everyone.

|11.10.05 @ 1:02PM|#

Did anyone catch the Family Guy song about the FCC last Sunday? I was crying!

That was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. The part where Peter starts describing sex with Lois and the FCC beeps him nearly killed me.

|11.10.05 @ 1:03PM|#

Did anyone catch the Family Guy song about the FCC last Sunday? I was crying!

Me too, it was outstanding!

|11.10.05 @ 1:21PM|#

Hey now,

Since today is the birthday of the Corps, let's give props where props are due.

R. Lee Ermey has killed for all our sins.

"God has a hard on for Marines. Because we kill everything we see."

Jeff P.|11.10.05 @ 1:43PM|#

How is this news? Broadcasters have known that thos kind of complaint-box stuffing happens all the time. About 15 years ago a station I worked for came under FCC scrutiny for not "serving the public trust" because we bumped two late afternoon airings of Mama's Family for A-Team episodes. Turns out a group of Vicki Lawrence fans who attended the same church used church letterhead to send out three hundred complaint letters to the FCC claiming we did not give sufficient promotional warning that we were changing our schedule.

|11.10.05 @ 2:00PM|#

Make all the jokes you want, when Janet Jackson's nipple threatened America, who was there to defend us? L. Brent Bozell. The next time, we may not be so lucky.

|11.10.05 @ 2:02PM|#

That's right, Alan Vanneman. We might have been subjected to something far worse, like, say... Jennifer Garner's nipple.

Heaven forbid!

|11.10.05 @ 2:26PM|#

Hmm, maybe I'd better stop signing my name "M. Julian Sanchez"...

Jeff P.|11.10.05 @ 2:33PM|#

Gilbert Gottfried does a routine involving a long list of first-initialled names. I'm searching for it online now.

|11.10.05 @ 2:51PM|#

He also includes three-named people and one-named people, too, right?

Jeff P.|11.10.05 @ 3:34PM|#

Yes, it's a great bit.

|11.10.05 @ 5:28PM|#

Every time I see Jimmy Kimmel doing the mildly amusing "Great Moments In Unnecessary Censorship" segment, I imagine Bozell, sitting before the boob tube, notepad in hand, screaming, "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS 'UNNECESSARY' CENSORSHIP!!!"

|11.10.05 @ 6:32PM|#

Hey now,

You're an all star.

/sorry. old habit.

|11.10.05 @ 10:01PM|#

Isn't it strange that Bozell has never reviewed Lynn Cheney's book, Sisters, that promotes the pleasures of lesbian sex? Nor do I remember a review of Scooter Libby's book, The Apprentice, that delves into prostitution, rape (even by animals), incest, child abuse, etc.

Smart Torontonian|11.10.05 @ 11:24PM|#

Ha ha, Americans suck. They are so worried about Janet Jackson's breast but we superior Canadians are more worried about important things. Like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog mocking French Canadians!

|11.12.05 @ 1:24AM|#

Don't forget D. James Kennedy, the christo-fascist preacher from Florida

|11.12.05 @ 1:24AM|#

Don't forget D. James Kennedy, the christo-fascist preacher from Florida