PBS opts to trim nude scene from film ‘Dirty War’

Bowing again to the specter of government censure, the Public Broadcasting Service has decided to edit out the scene of a nude woman in the upcoming television movie “Dirty War” rather than expose its member stations to complaints of indecency and FCC fines.

The film, co-produced by HBO and BBC Films, depicts a fictional terrorist attack on central London. The scene in question shows a woman being scrubbed down after exposure to a chemical “dirty bomb.” The original version will debut next Monday on HBO, a pay cable station that, unlike PBS stations, is not obliged to meet government indecency standards.

Pat Mitchell, the PBS president and CEO, said Saturday that the movie was edited before it was sent to member stations. PBS stations are scheduled to air the edited version Feb. 23.

PBS also announced a new partnership arrangement with HBO at the winter gathering of the Television Critics Assn. (TCA) in Universal City. Mitchell said editing out the nude scene in “Dirty War” was necessary “to protect our stations.”

Over the last year, PBS -- a coalition of autonomous local broadcast stations known for its pay-cable sensibilities -- has been caught between the need for more money and the current indecency crackdown involving record fines from the Federal Communications Commission in Washington.

Mitchell said PBS stations are worried about the chilling effect that has followed FCC reactions to U2 singer Bono using profanity at the 2003 Golden Globes and the record fines against Viacom for airing Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004.

PBS had joined other broadcast stations in petitioning the FCC to clarify its rules.

“As an organization sending out the program to 170 stations, we are sending out the version we think complies with the guidelines as best we understand them,” she said. “Right now we know what we can and cannot do. There are some things that are pretty clear.”

As she understands it, FCC regulations prohibit full frontal nudity, Mitchell said.

Last year, PBS cut three instances of street language from the debut of its series “Cop Shop” to the dismay of production and cast members. At the television critics’ last meeting in July, series star Richard Dreyfuss and executive producer and writer David Black protested the cuts as censorship. Dreyfuss said he agreed to them only after hearing KCET would have been subject to “intimidating fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The series was dropped after one show.

PBS had also excised an expletive from the British import “Prime Suspect.”

Executives’ answers to reporters’ questions revealed the elaborate decision-making strategies stations must now create before airing programs with sex, violence, coarse language, or the showing of body parts in any context.

TCA reporters questioned whether nudity in concentration camp scenes would be cut from movies such as “Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State,” a production of KCET/Hollywood and the BBC, running on PBS stations from Wednesday through Feb. 2.

Jacoba Atlas, PBS senior vice president and co-chief program executive, said the decision in that case is slightly different since there is historical footage to back up the dramatization. In those instances, she said, “We would probably go with that [nudity].”

On the other hand, an image of a naked man being prepared for the gas chamber was blurred because it seemed disrespectful, she said. The full image appeared in a version shown in Europe.

The ultimate decision on whether to air the edited version rests with member stations, Mitchell said.

PBS, a private, nonprofit media enterprise, has also been faced with the difficult transition to digital technology and competition from niche cable networks encroaching on its specialties like science and children’s programs. As stations need to continually seek funds, ubiquitous pledge drives have become an issue along with government censorship.

Last year, PBS lost a major corporate underwriter when Exxon Mobil Corp. said it would no longer sponsor one of the station’s signature programs, “Masterpiece Theater.” In her remarks, Mitchell said a new sponsor has yet to be found.