PTC Calls on NAB's Smith to Join Indecency Fight

Parents Television Council says new NAB president's recent remarks both encouraging and "unclear"

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2009 11:41:59 AM

The Parents Television Council is trying to enlist new National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith in its fight against broadcast indecency.

Citing the former Oregon senator's "strong record of public service on behalf of children and families," PTC President Tim Winter (in a letter to Smith supplied to B&C), said he was encouraged by public comments Smith made on the issue, including to this publication and in a Media Institute speech. But he also said he found them at odds with stations' pushback on court rulings upholding FCC enforcement of fleeting profanity and nudity. 

"While these comments are both factual and encouraging, they run contrary to the actions and statements of NAB members in federal court," wrote Winter. "Consequently, I am unclear as to what the position of the NAB actually is with regard to the continuation and enforcement of indecency law." 

Smith has said broadcasters are not in the business of being indecent, and that the price they pay for their spectrum is being responsive to community standards, likening it to the price ranchers pay to graze their cattle on public lands

But Smith also has said he believes in and values free speech, and that technological solutions that empower parents can help broadcasters "balance the First Amendment with the need to be competitive and the need to empower parents and shield children from things that they ought not to see." (See related article, "NAB's Smith Talks Indecency, Retrans.") 

Winter points out in the letter that Smith voted for a tenfold increase in FCC fines.
"I am eager to understand how your recent comments, combined with your voting record as senator, comport with the actions of members you now represent at the NAB," Winter wrote.

But Smith has drawn a distinction between that vote--which he points out was joined by the 99 other senators--and his current charter. "[My vote] was a reflection of the sentiments of the people I represented. I now represent the National Association of Broadcasters, and I will help them with that issue because they don't want to be tagged as promoting indecency. That is not what they are in business for."

An NAB spokesman declined to comment on the letter.