Sen. Zell Miller Introduced a Bill to Crack Down on Indecent Broadcasts (S. 2147):
Under Miller’s bill, the Broadcast Decency Responsibility and Enforcement Act of 2004, violators would be fined 25 cents times the number of individuals who viewed or listened to the broadcast. For instance, according to ratings by Nielsen Media Research, an estimated 140 million viewers watched last month’s Super Bowl. Under Miller’s bill, if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were to find the events of the halftime show indecent, Viacom, CBS and the offending artists would all be subjected to a $35 million fine (140 million viewers X 25 cents).
I’ll just let Lawmeme’s James Grimmelman describe the most odious portion of the bill:
But then the act takes a striking turn: after paying for administrative costs, all such fines would be redirected to faith-based programs. This is the part that makes my skin crawl; the BRDEA feels like compelled religious speech, which has to be some kind of First Amendment combo special.
The FCC would also be directed to appoint a Council of Decency: a nine-member board to advice it on “standards of decency as applied to broadcasts over which the Commission has jurisdiction.” Three of these new Decency Nazgul would be ministers.
(via The Importance Of)
