Before the Federal Communications Commission continues fining broadcasters — almost exclusively radio stations with shock jocks such as Howard Stern who talk about “indecent” subjects such as sex, sadism, bondage and domination (and the accompanying humiliation) — it should watch TV news and talk shows. And then read the First Amendment. If you watched those programs lately on our local broadcast stations or on cable and satellite channels, you chose shows with frank discussions about grossly indecent issues such as the depraved behavior of our troops who had been guarding Iraqi detainees. And you saw X-rated pictures of sexual and sadistic psychological torture. Those shocking images and the incessant gabbing about them almost make the Jerry Springer show look decent. Almost. The FCC says it allows indecent programming to be broadcast only from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., supposedly to protect children from anything inappropriate. Commission indecency fines for radio stations have totaled $1.6 million in four months, according to Inside Radio, a daily radio industry publication owned by Clear Channel Communications. The FCC has levied only three indecency fines against television stations — ever, according to Inside Radio editor Tom Taylor. It takes only one complaint to start the process. No radio station showed the disgusting indecent pictures of naked Iraqi men being forced to pose as if they were having a hooded gay orgy, or of a prisoner being lead by his dog collar leash or another who thought he was on the verge of being electrocuted. All this while a trashy female guard, smiling as a cigarette dangled from her mouth, pointed to their genitals. Yet there seem to be no complaints about TV indecency. What is wrong with this picture? Nobody understands the FCC standard, according to Robert Corn-Revere, a Washington, D.C., attorney who focuses on First Amendment and media issues. Now that the FCC seems to be broadening its interpretation of indecency, Corn-Revere said, “What was impossible to understand now becomes virtually incomprehensible.” The commission has at least two dirty little secrets. The five commissioners in Washington ultimately determine what the local community standards supposedly are in each city. How many of them have been in Pittsburgh is anyone’s guess. The other outrage has mostly gone unnoticed by many of my fellow lovers of the First Amendment. This de facto censorship — when adults are not allowed to experience whatever broadcasts they want from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. — is being done in the name of a small minority. The rationale is that children must be protected from indecency … unless those kids are watching TV news and talk shows, naked people on “Survivor” or any cable or satellite channel, since indecency rules do not apply to subscription services. Roughly 67 percent of American households do not even have children, according to Corn-Revere. Taylor knows this is about the big picture. “This is the beginning of a big national debate about what should be on the air. How deeply do we want the government wading into the minefield of content regulation?” As I was writing this, there was breaking news on TV. Iraqi terrorists beheaded an American. You can see photographs of the execution on the Internet.

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