The Federal Communications Commission levying $550,000 in fines against CBS stations because of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" is ridiculous. And indefensible.
Give me a couple of hours and I can find a dozen things more offensive things on TV any day of the week than Jackson's brief breast-baring during the Super Bowl's halftime show.
That's not a good thing, obviously. But it does point to how the FCC action amounts to nothing more than political grandstanding — avoiding, once again, any sort of serious discussion about television content in favor of what amounts to an empty gesture.
The FCC is trying to get at CBS, and it can't fine a network. It can only fine those who hold federal broadcast licenses, so it is going after the stations owned by CBS — including KUTV-Ch. 2 in Salt Lake City and its satellite station, KUSG-Ch. 13, in St. George. Each of the 20 CBS-owned stations were fined the maximum $27,500.
Frankly, $550,000 isn't a great deal to a huge company like Viacom. But $55,000 is a pretty big deal to KUTV/KUSG.
Lest you think I'm going soft on CBS, I'm completely cynical about networks and the motives of the people who run them. They're all about profit and, far too often, that blinds them to things like common sense and decency.
But the fact that networks are all about self-interest is clear evidence that CBS executives are telling the truth when they say they knew nothing about Jackson's plans in advance. If CBS had been in on the "wardrobe malfunction," the network would have promoted it to draw even more viewers.
There was absolutely nothing in it for CBS. Or for its sister network, MTV, which produced the halftime show.
Jackson herself has said that no one at either CBS or MTV knew of her plans. What she didn't say was that she cooked up this stunt as a way to revive her fading career. (And it worked, by the way.)
Imagine that you invited someone into your home and that person went to your front window, opened the curtains and flashed the neighborhood. And then the cops came and arrested you.
Now imagine that that person went next door and did the same thing in a house that your neighbors rent instead of own. And the cops didn't do anything.
That's pretty much what's happening with the FCC. It's fining the 20 CBS-owned stations and not the 200-plus CBS affiliated stations. Apparently, Jackson's breast-baring was only obscene in cities where CBS owns a station.
According to the FCC, it decided to go this way because of the "unexpected nature of the halftime show and the apparent lack of involvement in the selection, planning, and approval of the telecast" by affiliates. Which, one would think, would also exonerate CBS.
CBS executives have vowed they would fight any fines in court. Now they're considering their options.
Given the current state of affairs at CBS — in the wake of the network finally backtracking on the highly questionable documents used in a report about George W. Bush's military service — perhaps they'll have a hard time climbing on a moral high horse right now.
But CBS is right. And the FCC is wrong.
Again, there is a huge need to have an intelligent discussion en route to doing something meaningful about television content. But this sort of knee-jerk action is not the first step on that road.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com