Washington  -  In the alphabet soup of federal agencies, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a well-known but little-understood organization.

Among its duties of licensing the spectrum of broadcast frequencies and regulating
telephone services, the FCC serves an important function for parents and their

children.  The agency is responsible for policing the airwaves for obscene content.

It is an important, and often controversial, responsibility in the cultural life of our nation. 

Most Americans are familiar with the work of the FCC after the outrage over this year’s
Super Bowl halftime show.  Some celebrities use obscenities to make the news, to revitalize their careers, to shock the public into noticing them or their causes.  Even the storylines of TV dramas use violence, sex, and obscenity to garner a portion of the public attention.  The problem arises when these incidents shock our children as well.

Far from infringing on the freedom of speech, the FCC has instead concentrated on
safeguarding speech for our children.  Obscenity and indecency are not protected under the Constitution, and pose definite risks to young participants in American culture.

Increasingly, television and radio represent the public sidewalks alongside the
information superhighway.  Our children are learning about sex from the innuendo piped into their homes.  According to child psychologists, their behavior is influenced and even validated, by what they see going on outside the home. 

There is no question that the FCC is not responsible for raising our children, and the best way to protect our children from inappropriate content is good, attentive parenting.

However, when a concerned American makes a complaint to the FCC about a half-naked singer in a halftime show on national television, the FCC should, and does, have the authority to act.

Until a couple of months ago, the FCC could only impose fines of up to $27,500 when an obscene word, gesture, or image spills into our living rooms.  Even though the fines could be applied for every station airing the content, the penalty did not have enough of a deterrent effect on the multi-billion-dollar media conglomerates responsible for putting appropriate content on the air. 

Just last month, however, Congress passed legislation to reflect the severity of obscenity in media.  By raising the maximum fine nearly twenty fold – to $500,000 – we are sending a message: indecency will not be tolerated. 

During the hours when children are most likely to be viewing television or listening to the radio, the broadcaster has a responsibility to monitor the content it is distributing and ensure it is suitable for anyone who might be viewing or listening.

An important feature of the law on obscenity as it is now written is that the FCC does
not police the airwaves in search of violations.  The only way the FCC will investigate an incident of obscenity is when an American files a complaint. 

This is a proper arrangement, because parents are primarily responsible for the cultural upbringing of their children.  We are charged with monitoring our children’s access to the radio, television, and Internet.

Here again, the FCC knows its role well, as it publishes content ratings for everything from movies to video games.  Yes, this creates another alphabet soup of abbreviations for different ratings and descriptions of programming.  But the ratings are a worthwhile tool for parents to use.

There is no question that this is a difficult time in history to raise children, so just as law
enforcement keeps our communities safe from crime and indecent behavior, so too does the FCC provide a service parents cannot.  The agency stands guard over the constant stream of information, words, and images traveling the airwaves.

There is nothing wrong with the alphabet soup, unless, of course, the letters are arranged in a certain way.