FREE SPEECH WATCH : Parents Know Best

The Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to impose an around-the-clock ban on “indecent” programming is well-intended but a mistake.

The FCC standard is that programming is indecent if it contains “language that describes--in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium--sexual or excretory activities.” The commission already bans such material from radio and television between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Congress approved a 24-hour prohibition in 1988, but its implementation was stayed by a federal appeals court until the FCC produced evidence that children were part of the late-night audience. The commission’s most recent decision is based on data the regulators say shows that youngsters under 17 “are in the broadcast audience . . . at all hours of the day and night.” The court’s evaluation is pending.

So, too, is a constitutional challenge to the FCC’s vague standard--which allows no defense based on material’s redeeming social value. As the challengers put it: “Even if material has serious merit--plays, films or even such things as dance--it may be found to be indecent.”

So far, complaints made under the ban have been almost entirely against radio stations, but the FCC refuses to rule out applying the 24-hour prohibition to episodes of popular television series, like “L.A. Law” and “thirty-something.”

The better approach is to rely on parental supervision.