Kline Votes for Broadcast Decency

Kline Votes for Broadcast Decency

House of Representatives Passes Family Friendly Legislation

WASHINGTON - February 16, 2005 - Congressman John Kline (R-MN) today joined colleagues to pass the Broadcast Decency Act, legislation designed to curb the broadcast of indecent materials on the public airwaves.

As passed by the House of Representatives, the legislation increases fines for stations and individuals found to have "willfully or intentionally" uttered obscene, indecent, or profane material. In addition, the legislation establishes criteria for the FCC to determine the level of transgression and ensuing fine, including:

- Whether the material uttered was live or recorded, scripted or unscripted;

- Whether the violator had a "reasonable opportunity" to review the programming;

- Whether the violator had a time delay;

- The size of the viewing or listening audience; and

- Whether the utterance was during children's programming hours.

"Federal law specifically prohibits the utterance of ‘any obscene, indecent or profane language by means of radio communication.' Congress therefore has a responsibility to ensure material broadcast over the public airwaves does not violate these standards," said Kline, a cosponsor of the bill. "The legislation we passed today takes a strong stand in support of family friendly programming and protecting our children from inappropriate content on the public airwaves."

http://www.house.gov/kline/press050216.shtml