Viacom's Karmazin Defends Howard Stern

[DudeAsInCool]

Karmazin Says Stern Not Indecent

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/16/2004 5:27:00 PM

Viacom President Mel Karmazin today defended Infinity's Feb. 24 broadcast of Howard Stern's show, saying it was not indecent.

He apologized to Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) for an offensive racist remark made by a caller to the show, but said that, too, "does not fall within the ambit of the indecency definition."

Clear Channel, by contrast, had very publicly yanked the same broadcast--which reportedly featured references to anal sex and use of the N-word--both because it feared the broadcast was indecent and because it said the material was inappropriate for its air. That move prompted Brownback to write Karmazin asking him to explain why Infinity had not taken the same steps. CBS hand-delivered the response to Brownback.

At the time of Clear Channels' move, company President John Hogan, on the eve of an appearance before Congress to talk about indecency, described the broadcast as vulgar, offensive and insulting.

For his part, Karmazin told Brownback that "our editors made the good faith judgment that the references which aired were not graphic, patently offensive descriptions of sexual activity."

Karmazin told Brownback that the company was taking "great precautions" to make sure indecent material did not make it to air. In fact, he said a delay was in place, and used, for the Feb. 24 broadcast.

But Karmazin also said the FCC wasn't making it easy.

"Multiple course corrections by the FCC in the context of adjudicatory proceedings typically involving a single party and taking months, or even years, of deliberation underscore the difficult task facing broadcasters." Nonetheless, he said, "we are doing our best to comply with the vague, generic indecency standard and the FCC's often-conflicting rulings in this sensitive First Amendment Area."

Viacom and Stern got some support from the Senate last week, where several Democrats suggested the Stern show was being targeted not for indecency but for his criticism of the Bush administration. Clear Channel called that "ludicrous.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA404065.htm

[Meehowski]

Way to go Mel........

[DudeAsInCool]

Brownback: Karmazin Answer Insufficient

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/17/2004 3:24:00 PM

Viacom Inc. president Mel Karmazin's defense of a Howard Stern broadcast and Viacom's indecency-enforcement philosophy didn't sit well with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.).

The Senator's communications director, Brian Hart, today said the tone of the response to Brownback's request for information, as well as Karmazin's testimony several weeks ago before the House Commerce Committee, "seems like 'business as usual' instead of progressing toward upholding existing FCC regulations and working toward cleaning up our public airwaves."

The Senator is drafting yet another letter to the Viacom President that will include specific references to language on the Stern show "in hopes that Mr. Karmazin will explain how this material is not indecent under their own guidelines," said Hart.

Karmazin had apologized to the Senator for some of the broadcast's language and explained Viacom was taking steps to keep indecency off its airwaves. But Karmazin also said the company had determined the broadcast did not meet the FCC's definition of indecency. He added that that definition was a moving target and thus difficult to hit, though he pledged to try. While Clear Channel had pulled Stern from its airwaves following the Feb. 24 broadcast in question. Viacom's Infinity, which distributes the show, did not.

Also unhappy with Karmazin's answer was the Parents Television Council. "The FCC and Congress should interpret this move by Viacom as blatant contempt for parents and families," said PTC President Brent Bozell yesterday.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/C...&promocode=SUPP