Shielding Children from Indecency

Byline: Bruce Fein, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Indecent broadcasting coarsens. The indecency warps sexual attitudes and behaviors of impressionable youths unless healthy parental guidance and example arrest the process. The emotional and psychological traumas and preoccupations of adolescents exposed to sex will eclipse scholastic pursuits. Their adult sex lives may be twisted and dysfunctional. Thus, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in Pacifica Foundation v. FCC (1978) that indecent broadcasting could be banned from the airwaves when children were likely to part of the audience. Writing for a plurality, Justice John Paul Stevens acknowledged the compelling government interest in the "well-being of its youth."

Since Pacifica Foundation, public concern over indecency has spread from broadcasting to cable and satellite TV. Video over the Internet is around the …

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Publication information: Article title: Shielding Children from Indecency. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: April 29, 2005. Page number: A21. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group.

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