Broadcasting

The Supreme Court this week may reopen for the first time in more than 30 years the debate over what qualifies as an "indecent" broadcast. The media environment has changed dramatically since 1978, when the court last ruled on this issue: Today's viewers and listeners are exposed to the more freewheeling cable TV, Internet and "shock jocks" on satellite radio.

One of the favorite rallying cries on conservative radio these days is that the president-elect might face demands from his crazed lefty pals to revive the "Fairness Doctrine" to muzzle Rush, Sean and their allies on the right end of the radio dial. Commentators like Larry Elder of KABC here in Los Angeles have been sounding the warning about the possible imminent return of federal rules mandating that broadcasters balance out political views on radio and television.

In a victory for TV networks but a setback for efforts to shield children from coarse language, a federal court ruled Monday that broadcasters couldn't be penalized for expletives that were considered impromptu. The appeals judges in New York repudiated the Federal Communications Commission's recent crackdown on broadcast indecency, calling its efforts "arbitrary and capricious." Television networks have long complained that enforcement of the rules is inconsistent and unpredictable.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill to give federal regulators the authority to enforce a tougher broadcast indecency policy in hopes of reversing a recent court ruling. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), directs the Federal Communications Commission to maintain a policy that a single word or image can be enough to trigger indecency fines. Broadcasters strongly oppose the legislation, which passed by a unanimous voice vote.

Call it an old-time radio drama with a 21st-century plot twist. Plans for a $35-million American Radio Archives museum and research center that will chronicle the development of broadcasting will be unveiled tonight in Thousand Oaks. But the archives' planned centerpiece -- a collection of hundreds of thousands of historic relics of early Los Angeles broadcasting -- sits locked up and untouchable in a Hollywood basement.

A plan by the head of the Federal Communications Commission to consider major changes to media ownership rules by year's end could be derailed by growing calls for the agency to first complete a long-running study of how broadcasters serve their local communities. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin took a major step toward wrapping up the study, begun in 2003, by holding the last public hearing on the localism issue Wednesday. Most people who spoke at the hearing, including the Rev.

Lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission have formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court's rejection of the agency's policy on broadcast profanity. In June, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York nullified the agency's enforcement policy on "fleeting expletives" by a 2-1 vote, saying the FCC had changed its policy and failed to adequately explain why.

An anchor at KTLA-TV received a customized dining-room makeover worth more than $10,000 for her own home in what a local furniture merchant says was meant to be a special deal in exchange for favorable coverage on the station's "Morning News." Instead, the arrangement soured when the story never aired, leaving the Tribune Co.-owned station scrambling late this week to right a tangled situation that could raise new questions about its ethical practices.

The Federal Communications Commission comes to Los Angeles today to kick off the newest installment of its controversial deliberations into loosening ownership restrictions on the broadcast industry. But, like many sequels, this one may have trouble matching the drama of the 2003 original. Major media companies are focused more on increasing their Internet presence than on buying TV stations. In addition, the FCC is now barred from easing nationwide ownership limits.

With advertising in a slump throughout the newspaper and broadcasting industries, Los Angeles Times parent Tribune Co. on Thursday disappointed Wall Street with lower-than-expected operating profit and sales. Tribune did post a substantial increase in net income for the third quarter. But much of it came from a one-time tax gain stemming from the restructuring of two partnerships with the Chandler family of Los Angeles.