Copps on Patrol

Cleaning up TV

Rankled by racy television and by radio shock jocks, Michael J. Copps, one of four commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has called on broadcasters to adopt a voluntary code of conduct.

In a February 4 USA Today op-ed piece, Copps warned radio, TV, and cable executives that "continued intransigence" -- failure to slap industry-wide restrictions on "sexual material, violence, liquor and drug use, even on excessive advertising" by Easter -- could mean "the government may have to halt the race to the bottom." (It's worth noting that the FCC has no power to regulate content on cable television, which doesn't use the public airwaves.)

Fortunately, Copps is correct: Broadcasters have resisted the idea of instituting even a voluntary code. One radio and TV executive estimates that 90 percent of the profession is solidly against top-level restrictions on what stations can broadcast. Years ago, the industry did have such a code. It was abandoned after the Justice Department charged that portions of it violated antitrust laws.

Says Dennis Wharton, a senior vice president at the National Association of Broadcasters: "I would dispute the ['race to the bottom'] comment. With the multi-channel world out there, you can find every type of programming on broadcast television, from family programming …to something like NYPD Blue."

Copps' threat to censor the airwaves appears to be confined to feisty op-ed pieces, at least for the moment. Nevertheless, he has the industry's attention. "When a commissioner speaks, broadcasters listen," says Wharton. "We'd be stupid not to listen, in particular when they have the power ultimately to pull a broadcast license. That's a lot of power."