S. HRG. 108–1005 PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM VIOLENT AND INDECENT PROGRAMMING HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 11, 2004 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 20–693 PDF WASHINGTON : 2016 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:35 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\20693.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina, CONRAD BURNS, Montana Ranking TRENT LOTT, Mississippi DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois RON WYDEN, Oregon JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada BARBARA BOXER, California GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire MARIA CANTWELL, Washington FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JEANNE BUMPUS, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel KEVIN D. KAYES, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:35 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\20693.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on February 11, 2004 ....................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Boxer .................................................................................... 2 Excerpt from GAO, ‘‘Child Pornography Is Readily Accessible over Peer- to-Peer Networks’’, June 2003 ..................................................................... 56 Statement of Senator Breaux ................................................................................. 5 Statement of Senator Brownback ........................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Burns ................................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Dorgan ................................................................................. 16 Statement of Senator Hollings ............................................................................... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 7 List of TV and Copycat Behavior cases .......................................................... 53 Statement of Senator Lautenberg .......................................................................... 10 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 Article dated February 2, 2004 from the Washington Post by Tom Shales . 12 Letter dated April 6, 2004 to all Senators from Gene Kimmelman, Con- sumer’s Union ............................................................................................... 13 Statement of Senator Lott ...................................................................................... 66 Statement of Senator McCain ................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 Statement of Senator Snowe ................................................................................... 9 Statement of Senator Wyden .................................................................................. 14 WITNESSES Abernathy, Hon. Kathleen Q., Commissioner, Federal Communications Com- mission .................................................................................................................. 23 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 Adelstein, Hon. Jonathan S., Commissioner, Federal Communications Com- mission .................................................................................................................. 44 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 46 Copps, Hon. Michael J., Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission 28 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 Graham, Hon. Lindsey O., U.S. Senator from South Carolina ............................ 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 Martin, Hon. Kevin J., Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission .. 33 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 36 Powell, Hon. Michael K., Chairman, Federal Communications Commission ..... 19 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX Inouye, Hon. Daniel K., U.S. Senator from Hawaii, prepared statement ........... 79 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:35 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\20693.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:35 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\20693.TXT JACKIE PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM VIOLENT AND INDECENT PROGRAMMING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2004 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room SR– 253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John McCain, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. I welcome the Federal Commu- nications Commission and Chairman Powell, and I thank them for appearing before the Committee today to discuss the pervasiveness of violent and indecent programming on broadcast television. And I’d like to make it very clear this Committee had scheduled this hearing before the Super Bowl aired due to Members’ concerns about increasingly violent and indecent programming. By now, there isn’t a person in this room who’s unfamiliar with CBS and the NFL’s fumble during the Super Bowl halftime show last week, which was viewed by an estimated 140 million Ameri- cans, including millions of young children. And then, in an instant, this issue became the subject of national debate, and rightfully so. This discussion should remind us that broadcasters have been given spectrum for free. As Americans who own that spectrum, we have every right to expect something in return. We call it the ‘‘pub- lic interest.’’ We expect broadcasters to make the best use of that spectrum by providing news and information about our society and political campaigns, children’s programming, and even entertain- ment. But what constitutes entertainment clearly lies in the eye of the beholder. Forty years ago, Jack Paar famously walked off the Tonight Show because a network had censored a joke he told involving a, ‘‘water closet.’’ From censoring a water closet joke to airing nudity, we’ve come a long, long way. However, that is exactly what makes it so difficult to draw a line between what is and what is not appro- priate within the boundaries of the First Amendment. Before the Super Bowl, CBS sister company, MTV, hyped the halftime show as one that would provide a, ‘‘shocking moment,’’ and grab viewers’ attention. Well, they’ve succeeded. They now have the attention of the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and more than several Members of Congress. Chair- man Powell has called for a thorough and swift investigation of the (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:35 Jul 13, 2016 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\20693.TXT JACKIE 2 incident. Senators Allen, Brownback, and Lindsey Graham have in- troduced a bill, S. 2056, that would increase fines for indecency vio- lations. I remind my colleagues that last summer Senator Hollings and I introduced our FCC reauthorization bill, S. 1264, that would not only raise fines tenfold for broadcasters, but also direct the FCC to count each incident—utterance individually and encourage license revocation proceedings in certain circumstances. The bill was re- ported out of this Committee 7 months ago, and it’s unfortunate that the Senate leadership has not seen fit to bring the bill to the floor for consideration and passage. These fines have not been raised since 1989. Now is the time, so companies don’t continue to accept these fines as the cost of doing business. I note, finally, the scope of all these bills are limited to broadcast television. All these bills, the scope is limited to broadcast tele- vision. More than 85 percent of Americans now receive their tele- vision programming from cable and satellite television. In fact, for the first time ever, cable’s combined prime-time viewership recently surpassed that of broadcast. Gene Kimmelman, my old friend Gene Kimmelman, of Con- sumer’s Union, wrote to Senators this week urging Congress to ad- dress indecent content on cable and satellite television. Mr.