Day: December 7, 2004

Chappy Chanukah.

PAD

So a writer who shall go nameless (because, y’know, why afford him or her the publicity) announced on a radio program that my run on HULK will absolutely end after the current six issues to make way for a “new creative team.”

I’ve spoken with Tom Brevoort because this was news to me. Tom had previously been contacted by other netfolks and had been judicious in his answers because it was news to him as well and he wanted to do just what I was doing: Check with his higher ups to see if it was true.

Long story short: Absolutely nothing has changed from what I told you months ago. I’m on the series for six issues. We’re going to see what the numbers are like. We’re going to see how all parties feel about my staying on board after that.

I can tell you this: Both Marvel and I are looking for a clear signal from the fans. If the numbers are there, that’s one signal. If they’re not, that’s another. So in large measure, it remains up to you.

PAD

Since the last censorship thread has gotten so much traffic, I’d like to point out this article from Mediaweek about those who’d like the FCC to clamp down on what you can see and hear on TV and radio…

Activists Dominate Content Complaints

In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell laid some startling statistics on U.S. senators.

The number of indecency complaints had soared dramatically to more than 240,000 in the previous year, Powell said. The figure was up from roughly 14,000 in 2002, and from fewer than 350 in each of the two previous years. There was, Powell said, “a dramatic rise in public concern and outrage about what is being broadcast into their homes.”

What Powell did not reveal — apparently because he was unaware — was the source of the complaints. According to a new FCC estimate obtained by Mediaweek, nearly all indecency complaints in 2003 — 99.8 percent — were filed by the Parents Television Council, an activist group.

This year, the trend has continued, and perhaps intensified.

Through early October, 99.9 percent of indecency complaints — aside from those concerning the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast on CBS — were brought by the PTC, according to the FCC analysis dated Oct. 1. (The agency last week estimated it had received 1,068,767 complaints about broadcast indecency so far this year; the Super Bowl broadcast accounted for over 540,000, according to commissioners’ statements.)

The prominent role played by the PTC has raised concerns among critics of the FCC’s crackdown on indecency. “It means that really a tiny minority with a very focused political agenda is trying to censor American television and radio,” said Jonathan Rintels, president and executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, an artists’ advocacy group.

The article goes on to highlight how a $1.2 million fine was levied by complaints from less than one in a million viewers of a given show.