Indecency on the hill.(Fast Track)(SENATE approved a raft of indecency-related amendments )(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, June, 2004

The SENATE last week approved a raft of indecency-related amendments to a non-related DEFENSE DEPARTMENT appropriations bill, including one that, if it survived, would invalidate the FCC's June 2 rewrite

of media-ownership regs. The amendment was voted or before the Philadelphia appeals courts threw out those rules last Thursday (see page 4).

The amendment, from SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R-Kan.), raised FCC fines for indecency. That amendment and one from SEN. CONRAD BURNS (R-Mont.) making those fines proportionate to market size/ability to pay passed 99-1 (Louisiana Democrat JOHN BREAD) was the only holdout). Then came the add-ons. Those included an amendment creating a TV-violence "safe harbor" and another provision to roll back ownership limits to...

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