PTC Pans FCC Decision on Indecency-Related Petition

PTC PANS FCC DECISION ON INDECENCY-RELATED PETITION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission rejected a challenge to Clear Channel's license for KLRT-TV Little Rock. But Parents Television Council President Tim Winter argues that the FCC's decision appeared to be the rationalization for a foregone conclusion. The PTC had wanted the station's license pulled for the airing of alleged indecencies and profanities. But since they involved the Billboard Awards decision that a court remanded and a complaint against That 70s Show that is still pending, the FCC declined to designate the station's license for hearing. The PTC also complained in the petition that there was no public correspondence on the complaints in the "complaints file" portion of its public-inspection file, but the FCC said the letters and comments just had to be in the file, not necessarily where PTC was looking for them. Winter said: "The ruling’s tenor was such that the burden of proving whether or not the station did what is legally required of them was shifted from the broadcast licensee to the member of the public who registered an objection for what he saw (or, in this case, didn’t see when he viewed the file). The fact that the commission failed to communicate clearly with a station should have no bearing on what is placed into a station’s public-comment file. We now look forward to seeing how the bureau adjudicates the various other license objections that have been filed."
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