Ethics Newsline®

BOSTON
Spooked by uncertainty over federal “indecency” statutes, public TV stations across the nation were forced last week to choose between a sanitized documentary about U.S. soldiers in Iraq or an unexpurgated version that could cost them steeply.

The documentary series “Frontline,” produced by WGBH in Boston, normally offers to protect public TV stations airing the show from penalties imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for content.

But with last week’s episode, which profiled a U.S. Army regiment in the lead-up to January’s Iraqi elections, WGBH broke its normal procedures, saying the FCC’s efforts to skyrocket indecency fines put the station at too great a financial risk.

The “Frontline” episode, “A Company of Soldiers,” included 13 expletives that WGBH believed were helpful to the program’s content, but which also might incur the FCC’s wrath.

Affiliates airing the show were required to either broadcast a bowdlerized version or sign a waiver saying the normal legal protections afforded by WGBH would not apply, reported the New York Times.

Nearly 85 percent of the public stations opted for the sanitized version, with only about 50 choosing to air the full version, most of them bumping the program to a later time slot, reported the Reuters news agency.

Last week’s wave of self-censorship comes as stations struggle to understand the shifting rules of what exactly the FCC considers to be indecent — a confusion amplified by the government’s slow pace in answering questions and resolving complaints, according to press reports.

Last November, nearly a third of ABC affiliates declined to air the network’s Veterans Day broadcast of the lauded World War II drama “Saving Private Ryan,” citing concerns that the FCC would fine them for the show’s profanity and war violence.

The Los Angeles Times last week reported that broadcasters are preparing to sue the FCC over its escalating and unclear indecency penalties, saying the murky situation is impeding content choices and violating their rights to free speech.