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F***ing Private Ryan: A complaint to the FCC

34 comments on F***ing Private Ryan: A complaint to the FCC

F***ing Private Ryan: A complaint to the FCC

: I just filed this complaint to the FCC regarding the F word on “Saving Private Ryan”:

I am filing a complaint regarding the airing of “Saving Private Ryan” on WABC TV in New York between 8 and 11 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11.

I heard the word “fuck” — or variants of it — three times in one sentence.

I personally believe that the FCC should not be regulating or overseeing speech in any way and should not be in a position to fine speech. I further believe the FCC’s actions in this arena are unconstitutional as is the new indecency legislation about to give you further power to fine.

However, because you have declared that Bono violated the law for saying “fuck” you must find that WABC and every other ABC outlet that aired “Saving Private Ryan” violated the law. There is no difference. Because you have fined Howard Stern far more for what many would argue is far less — even for mere fart sounds — you must fine WABC and other ABC outlets.

You made this bed, FCC. Now lie in it.

I am very serious about this complaint. I am not just making a statement. I am making a formal complaint and believe that you must be consistent in your enforcement of this law and regulation. Yes, I will tell you that I relish your embarrassment at having to fine very ABC outlet that aired “Saving Private Ryan” for every instance of a “bad” word or deed. I relish the opportunity to point out the absurdity and Constitutional offensiveness this law and of your inconsistent enforcement. And thus, I file this complaint with all seriousness. I received no reply to a prior complaint I filed against Oprah Winfrey for the same alleged sins that brought Howard Stern huge fines. I expect a reply to this complaint.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Jarvis

The FCC has received other complaints [via LostRemote]

I urge you to send your own complaint to the FCC along the same lines — force their hand. It doesn’t matter if you just cut-and-paste mine; that’s what most complaints to the FCC look like. So here’s the address: fccinfo@fcc.gov.

: Also… I just got a response to my Freedom of Information Act request on another FCC action and I’ll give you that Buzzmachine Exclusive (drum roll, please) in a day or two.

: These meddlesome moms even turned their complaint factory into an online form revealing just what a crock this really is. Get a load of the organization behind this: They’re trying to create a stink about P&G recruiting homosexuals, teaching creationism, abortion, you name it.

Sane, mainstream Americans stand up and fight this fringe! Don’t let them set the agenda! Show just how absurd their crusade is! They would censor what you can say and hear. Don’t let them! Force the FCC into a corner show reveal just how offensive their offense is!

34 responses to “F***ing Private Ryan: A complaint to the FCC”

  1. Robert McClelland Avatar
    Robert McClelland

    Here you go, Jeff.

  2. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Thanks. Just blogged it.

  3. Richard Moriarty Avatar
    Richard Moriarty

    You’ll probably just make them think they are on to something. I don’t know these organizations and members of these crusades to feel shame at their own hypocrisy. Instead, they embrace and enlargen it.

  4. Loyalty Oaf Avatar
    Loyalty Oaf

    I just visited your site for the first time since, oh, … what? Maybe May or so.
    Anyway, I am interested by this post because you claim to want to “fight the fringe.”
    I’m just sort of wondering here … didn’t you do an awful lot to empower this very fringe with this blog since the attack on and destruction of the World Trade Center by al Qaeda?
    You and other formerly clear-headed individuals were stunned by taoadotwtcbaq into offering strangely unmoored support for causes also championed by the “fringe.” The “fringe,” though, is _very moored_. They know exactly what they want, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it.
    You have too many places you _will_ stop, and sometimes it’s very unclear what you want. You are too, in a word, _nuanced_.
    I’d get used to this sort of thing, sir. There’s more of it on the way. Someday, who knows? The “fringe” may decide to come for you, too.
    Sincerely,
    Someone Who Never Understood Why Public Figures Who Have Relatively Liberal Positions On Cultural Issues Thought They Could Adopt Certain Uncomfortably Hawkish Political Positions And Not Realize The Price That Would Eventually Have To Be Paid

  5. Fred Z Avatar
    Fred Z

    Please have an ‘all parts of speech’ contest.
    I nominate ‘Fuck! The fucking fucker’s fucked!’, which I stole from Paul Fussell. By chance it also describes the FCC (and the CRTC since I write from Canada).
    Points should be awarded for as many uses of the f word in a series of sentences or comprehensible fragments, with points deducted for non-f words. Points to be added for sequential uses, perhaps by powers of 2.
    So I would get 7, being 8 for 3 f words in a row(2 power 3) less 1 for ‘the’.
    Oh fuck, your fucking site, your fucking rules. (a negative score – oh well)

  6. steve talbert Avatar
    steve talbert

    I guess now everyone who voted for Bush thinking that the “issues” were related to “terrorism” now know that the real terrorism is already in the US and they need fear and anger to keep it going.
    These people are not rational. Vote with religious zealots and you have to pray to their god.

  7. steve talbert Avatar
    steve talbert

    I guess now everyone who voted for Bush thinking that the “issues” were related to “terrorism” now know that the real terrorism is already in the US and they need fear and anger to keep it going.
    These people are not rational. Vote with religious zealots and you have to pray to their god.

  8. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    The problem with arguing that people are “nuanced” is that it’s like saying that if someone believes in “a” and “a” and “b” are similar, but not totally congruous, then you have to believe in “b” as well – because they conflict with one another. Hence the reason you can declare yourself independent for political reasons.
    I know what you’re trying to say, Loyalty Oaf, but there’s a reason that everyone doesn’t agree with everyone else on every topic if we shared common threads on some things – it would suck the life out of all of us.

  9. Dishman Avatar
    Dishman

    Loyalty Oaf strikes me as “a ringer”… or a fool. “Falling into line” is wrong and counter-productive in so many ways. I’d even go so far as to say it’s a rejection of the basic principles of America’s political agreement to disagree.
    My understanding is that the online FCC form thing started with Dobson’s “Focus on Famliy” group a couple (several?) years ago for the purpose of raising the number of complaints the FCC receives. Tracking back further, apparently they were told by the FCC that the FCC received very few complaints, which was why it wasn’t taking any action. They got busy.

  10. Misanthronomicon Avatar
    Misanthronomicon

    Don’t you guys realize the sound, logical reason for the FCC to censor speech? You see, ladies and gentlemen, the spectrum is LIMITED. There’s only a certain number of available frequencies. So, in closing, it follows that censorship is not only possible, it is essential. See? It makes PERFECT sense!
    But seriously folks…
    It’s not 1940 anymore. By now we have several technologies that could transmit orders of magnitude more information in the existing FM, AM and TV bands than the legacy technologies currently do. So the spectrum bascially ISN’T limited. We could have hundreds of channels and stations. There’s no longer any need to waste 200 kHz on one lousy sinusoid from Hank And The Goober on KZZO, Omaha’s Krazy Morning Zoo. So even if the “limited spectrum = excuse for censorship” argument WASN’T a total non sequitur, it wouldn’t hold water.

  11. Tom O. Avatar
    Tom O.

    Nice one J – stick it to ’em.

  12. Brad Avatar
    Brad

    Wasn’t the issue with Bono saying “fuck” on air – or actually, was it the Edge? – that the FCC in the end *didn’t* fine him/them/the network because they decided fuck was being used as an adjective and not actually as a reference to sex (their argument not mine)? I could be wrong, but I thought that was the way it shook out.
    Please correct me if this isn’t the case.

  13. Michael Avatar
    Michael

    Brad: I believe that the FCC’s enforcement bureau initially rules as you suggested, but then Powell and the other commissioners overrulled that finding. I’m sure there’s a link out there somewhere. And it was Bono, not The Edge.

  14. carsonfire Avatar
    carsonfire

    Waaait a minute… now I’m starting to hear more about this than I heard before. Am I to understand right that it was Spielberg himself who insisted that this airing include the f-words? Sooo… the previous airings were properly edited for TV and this one wasn’t… sooo… this keeps sounding more and more like what it sort of sounded to me, before… opponents of the FCC trying to make an issue out of “shifting standards” that never bloody well occured, because the only thing that shifted was the director’s insistence on including vulgar language that would have normally been overdubbed.
    Meanwhile, it has never been a “standard” to allow bare breasts on important sporting events aired during the day; just as parents would object to PBS adding a large purple phallus to Barney so that he can pleasure the happy, dancing children. This, to me, is what it sounds like this fight is about: the right to be vulgar in front of everybody else’s kids. And a patriotic movie is being used as a pawn… perhaps by the movie’s own director… to artificially shame all of those nasty, puritanical parents.
    Maybe I’ve got something wrong, here. I understand Howard Stern’s complaints, but this sounds more and more like political manipulation by the media elite (sorry, JJ) against the red state hicks and rubes.

  15. Richard Moriarty Avatar
    Richard Moriarty

    Is it sad that all I got out of that was “It must suck to have initials that match…”? I kid.
    You have an incredibly valid point, carsonfire, but I fear you may be bordering on tin-foil conspiracy theory-ness. It’s more likely that Spielberg doesn’t like his work being edited and Jarvis just loves Howard Stern too much.

  16. Tom Avatar
    Tom

    carsonfire – the previous versions ran unedited (one of the two I know for sure).

  17. rat Avatar
    rat

    For a cogent discussion of the freedom of speech which, shockingly involves the word F**k in the phrase “f**k the draft” take a look at COHEN v. CALIFORNIA, 403 U.S. 15 (1971), a US Supreme Court case, its available at the US Supreme Court web site.

  18. Dr. Beard Avatar
    Dr. Beard

    Sorry, JJ, but I respectfully disagree. There is no defensible reason to air R-rated movies, F-word unedited, in prime time on broadcast networks. In the NPR story on this today was some mumbling about “artistic integrity” but this struck me as B.S., given the probability that the broadcast version would be interspersed with commercials for Pampers or SUVs. And yes, I have cable (which the kiddos are not allowed to surf unaccompanied). The major networks are using public spectrum and I see no reason why I can’t get my gummint to make sure content in the timeframe the kids are up is not profane.
    BBB

  19. Gary B. Avatar
    Gary B.

    I voted for Bush and I’m not being forced to pray. Hell, I’m not even being hounded for not going to church in the last 20 years.
    I don’t have a problem with decency rules being enforced during programing like the Superbowl because many children watch it. I can’t believe “fuck” wasn’t edited out of “Private Ryan” before it aired. Did they really leave it in there? I only remember the definition of “FUBAR” being given one time?
    Oh and in the mail I received from the Bush campaign thanking me for my vote, no instructions were included on when or where I should report to for church services. No directives about how I need to transform my unbeliever ways toward the lord if I want to continue to support the republican party. If they made going to church a requirement in order to vote for Bush, then I’d not vote for Bush. But that’s not the case.
    George Bush is being attacked by the left and being called an “evangelical extremists” because he believes in god and he’s against abortion.
    Christianity is under attack in this country by the left. But the religion that’s actually behind the terrorists attacks throughout the world today is not. John Kerry and the democratic party wanted us to put the security of our country into their hands. They seem to think the best way to prevent another 9/11 is by spying on a “southern Baptists” church instead of a “mosque”. Thankfully, enough of us understood who was the “real” threat to our national security.

  20. carsonfire Avatar
    carsonfire

    No tin foil hat, here. I live more by Scott Adams’ “which is more likely?” rule. In this case, which is more likely? Spielberg, after two previous airings of his edited film on TV, *suddenly* gets artistic scruples up the wazoo, and demands treatment afforded no other movie ever on network TV; or media elites are having a big, fat, loud tantrum?

  21. tony Avatar
    tony

    1. all the stations who ran this program broke the rules laid out by the fcc. this wasnt a live telecast, everyone knew that there was profanity and unforgetable violence, and it was left unedited. therefore the fcc HAS to fine the stations for the maximum penalty as it was a blatant defiance of the laws.
    2. it was shown on a holiday making for a greater chance that children would be at home since many places (like schools) were closed. adding to the defiance of the laws, and therefore the maximum penalty should be enforced.
    3. after everyone is done being fined, there should be a study on whether even One child was effected negatively. there should also be a similar study in relation to the super bowl incident.
    4.if not one child was affected negatively due to primetime nudity, profanity, and violence then the fcc should cease to exist as all this “protection” is for naught. let the free market decide programming. not ridiculous standards that protect children from something that is clearly not any more dangerous than walking down the street.

  22. Steve Rhodes Avatar
    Steve Rhodes

    carsonfire, Saving Private Ryan was not edited for the broacast on ABC in 2001 and 2002. It and Schindler’s List have been shown with no cuts and no bleeps and western civilization survived and no children were harmed.
    It was rated TV-MA, so any parent using a v-chip (which is in all recent tv sets) could have blocked it. There were also warnings about the language and violence after every commecial break.
    There were even complaints filed by Rev. Wildmon’s American Family Association (which the million mon and dad sites are affiliated with) and the FCC ruled there were no violations.
    And many PBS stations used to show documentaries and British programs with profanity and even nudity sometimes (though there usually was an alternative edited feed). It usually was after 10 pm, but not always. I remember seeing a repeat of Danger ___ which was on Masterpiece Theater complete with bare breasts when I was a kid during the afternoon in conservative Indianapolis. I was not harmed. I had already seen breasts in movies. All it did was cause me to start watching British dramas at a young age.
    Now, because of FCC actions, PBS stations aren’t airing unedited programs which made Waxstock almost unwatchable when it was shown on POV a few months ago.

  23. Steve Rhodes Avatar
    Steve Rhodes

    My name is a link to a Washington Post follow-up on the Saving Private Ryan broadcast (free registration required).
    From the article with editing to cut it down:

    An average of 7.7 million people watched ABC’s unedited broadcast of “Saving Private Ryan” … — a remarkable number given that viewers in nearly one-third of the country did not have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether the [film] was appropriate viewing in their homes.
    That’s because 65 of ABC’s more than 220 affiliate stations appear to have refused to air the movie, including such large markets as Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando and Detroit…
    Most of the stations that refused to broadcast the movie are owned by a handful of media companies, including Hearst-Argyle Television, Cox Broadcasting, Scripps Howard Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Young Broadcasting, Citadel Communications, Pappas Telecasting and Belo Corp.
    Officials from some of these companies said they felt it was their civic duty to preempt the flick:
    “Pappas has decided that the interests of the viewers of KHGI, in the Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney, Neb., market, are best served by preempting this program,” that company said in a statement, adding that “Pappas Telecasting and its management have been in the forefront of regulatory efforts to eliminate profanity, indecency and gratuitous violence from network programming, particularly during times when children may be watching.”
    Some other station-owning companies said they were afraid to run the movie because the expletive uttered by Vice President Cheney on the floor of the Senate back in June is heard many times in the movie… According to the American Family Association, a conservative watchdog group, this word is heard 20 times in [the film]…
    “Saving Private Ryan” was cleared for broadcast in just 71 percent of the country Thursday night, according to Nielsen Media Research.
    Even so, ABC managed to beat Fox in prime time night among viewers of all ages with that 7.71 million audience, and tied Fox among 18- to 49-year-olds. It was, in fact, ABC’s best performance this season on Thursday night.
    “The overwhelming majority of viewers were comfortable with our decision to air ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ” ABC said yesterday in a statement, adding, “If the FCC asks us to respond, we will.” ABC has said it will cover any fines the FCC might decide to slap on stations that broadcast the movie. ABC’s deal with DreamWorks SKG to broadcast “Saving Private Ryan” stipulates that the network cannot edit the film…
    Meanwhile, by far the largest segment of the movie’s audience on Thursday were people 50 and older. Nearly the entire audience — 7 million of the 7.71 million total — was 18 or older. It would appear that parents know enough all by themselves not to allow small children to watch this movie.
    Over at the FCC late yesterday, a spokeswoman would only report that they had “definitely received a number of” correspondences about the broadcast. According to one source involved with the situation, that includes not only people who complained that the movie aired in their market but also people who complained that the movie did not air in their market.

  24. kkl Avatar
    kkl

    A big yawn to this issue. The horse died at Stern’s.

  25. Charlie (Colorado) Avatar
    Charlie (Colorado)

    Jeff, no matter what your motives are, haven’t you just validated the argument used by the stations that didn’t show Ryan, ie, that showing it would expose them to censure and fine?
    As I’ve said on a number of previous occasions, I understand and even approve of your motivation, but — as before the election, when you reflexively attacked the Bush Administration for the actions of Democrat appointees — you’re once again firing wildly and wounding the bystanders.
    Or are you planning to go out-of-pocket to cover the defense expense for every little station in flyover country that did show the movie?

  26. UK Avatar
    UK

    I welcome this FCC insurgency. It seems to me to be more of a fleeting cause – one that will most likely wilt after a Bush second-term. Whereas the root of this insurgency is more or less ephemeral, its unintended effects could be long-lasting. The fervor that the FCC has created has helped facilitate alternative mediums such as satellite radio and to a lesser extent, podcasting (on the independent side). In the end, the FCC is merely helping provide support to one of the pillars of micro-economic process

  27. rick_d Avatar
    rick_d

    Good grief, “The Deer Hunter” aired unedited in the 1970s without the Republic collapsing, why are we having this absurd debate today?
    Whatever language-induced trauma Private Ryan might conceivably inflict takes on flyspeck proportions compared to the impact of the violence and mayhem portrayed by the film. Should a child watch it (something no responsible parent would allow) I can assure all that he or she will have nightmares as a result, and not because of the dreaded eff-word.
    You go, Jeff. Saint Mikey has an awfully rubbery yardstick up there on his perch that would be better put to use rapping him soundly on the knuckles. What a waste of a perfectly good suit.

  28. carsonfire Avatar
    carsonfire

    Steve Rhodes: carsonfire, Saving Private Ryan was not edited for the broacast on ABC in 2001 and 2002. It and Schindler’s List have been shown with no cuts and no bleeps and western civilization survived and no children were harmed.
    Thanks! As I said, I was going on info supplied by Angelos… when and how networks show Hollywood films that I rarely watch aren’t something I make a point to keep track of, myself.
    Was Schindler’s List fined, then?
    Or does this still come back to Janet Jackson’s boob? During the Superbowl? When parents shouldn’t have to expect to have their kids flashed with aging popstar boob?
    Some of you obsess on Jackson’s boob in a way that sounds like you think it’s funny and ludicrous that other people cared to complain… but… eh… as a not-parent myself, I could understand the objections of parents; it’s the obsession of defending Jackson’s boob that sounds funny and ludicrous to many of us.
    If you guys are right on Janet Jackson, then there really should be no problem with including topless baton twirlers at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

  29. Alan Kellogg Avatar
    Alan Kellogg

    It all comes down to radical marxists with a Jesus fixation. It’s totalitarian crap promulgated by control freaks with social phobia and the delusion only they know what’s best for you.
    I blame Plato and his obsession with ideals.

  30. Alan Kellogg Avatar
    Alan Kellogg

    If you guys are right on Janet Jackson, then there really should be no problem with including topless baton twirlers at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

    In that weather? The goose pimples alone would put off most viewers. And it would be cruel to the ladies. Save the topless broads for the summer months, when it’s warmer.

  31. cool Avatar
    cool

    Is this what happens when Fine Art majors realize there really is no call for Fine Art outside of higher education? Creating their own Society of the Spectacle, one surreal joke at a time.
    ::::::::::::::::::::::
    cool
    cool@coolass.com
    http://coolass.com

  32. bugscawfey Avatar
    bugscawfey

    Jeff:
    “…create a stink about P&G recruiting homosexuals, teaching creationism, abortion, you name it.”
    Please tell me you’re joking, doc. There are people with so much time on their hands that they want to keep the old Satanic Procter & Gamble urban legend alive?????
    It’s enough to make me “blue.”

  33. Amy Alkon Avatar
    Amy Alkon

    Right fucking on, Jeff!

  34. Mark Avatar
    Mark

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