WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators reached a deal Wednesday on legislation that would raise the fines broadcasters and on-air performers would face for smutty language and behavior, but Democratic insistence on other media restrictions could derail the legislation, industry and congressional sources said. Under the deal worked out by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, broadcasters and on-air performers would face fines of as much as $500,000 for each indecent act, with a maximum of $3 million a day. The commission could lower or raise the fines if a number of conditions are met, including the ability of the accused to pay, whether the programming was recorded, the size of the audience and how much control the broadcaster had over the programming. The commission also could order public service announcements in addition to the fines.
- 10/7/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- At least one senator is pushing to have language that exponentially increases the fines for indecent broadcasts stricken from legislation that reauthorizes the Defense Department. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., asked the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the panel's senior Democrat to remove the language because he fears that it endangers passage of the Defense Department bill. Ensign is a member of the Armed Services and Commerce committees. "I respectfully request that the entire issue of indecency and media ownership be dropped from consideration of the conference report on (the Defense Department bill)," he wrote. "If, however, you decide to proceed regarding this matter, I strongly suggest that you retain the core provision to increase fines."...
- 10/6/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Critics of the tobacco industry on Tuesday urged Hollywood to treat onscreen smoking the same way it treats indecent language. They called on the MPAA to give an R rating to movies in which people smoke. In making his point before the Senate Commerce Committee, Dr. Stan Glantz, a University of California professor of medicine and a leading tobacco industry adversary, violated Senate decorum by using the F-word. "When are we going to treat smoking as seriously as we treat the word 'fuck'?" Glantz asked the panel. "If you use the F-word once in a sexual context, you get an R rating." Glantz was reprimanded by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who warned Glantz and other witnesses to use only appropriate language. While Glantz apologized for using the word, he told Ensign he used it to make his point. "I did it quite deliberately", he said. "The use of the word will get you an R rating. It doesn't kill you."...
- 5/12/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
WASHINGTON -- Hollywood lobbyists will be busy this week as lawmakers examine smoking on film and legislation that could undo some key portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The hearings, one in the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday and one in the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday, make nice legislative bookends for the entertainment industry's current troubles in Washington as one focuses on content and the other on copyright. The entertainment industry has been under considerable pressure to rein in indecent broadcasts on TV and radio and now may face the same criticism for depictions of smoking. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., pushed for the hearing after several recent meetings between anti-smoking advocates and entertainment industry executives.
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