That’s the backlog of how many complaints the FCC hasn’t gotten to yet.
As the article explains, “indecency” in the eyes of the FCC is sexual or excretory, patently offensive and done during hours children are likely to be watching or listening (6 AM to 10 PM local time). Things that are political, religious or racial are not infractions in the eyes of the FCC.
The list (limited to cable TV) is interesting…. Rachel Maddow using the term “teabagging” is near the top – it is clearly sexual in nature, and probably most people would not want to have to explain what it means to their 5 year old.
On the other hand, Glenn Beck appears on the list three times – 4/9/09, 6/9/09 and 8/6/09. What did Glenn say that provoked 50+ people to write the FCC?
4/9/09 – the most likely issue was immigration reform… harsh criticism of President Obama and his position on runaway spending and not protecting the border. He did mention water pouring over the border. Water = wet, so that was a racial slur!
6/9/09 – Glenn draws a connection between 9/11 “truthers” and the shooting at the holocaust museum
8/6/09 – Mike Malloy suggests that Glenn Beck commit suicide on the air…. oh, that’s not it… Let’s see…. Glenn is warning about Obamacare…. Glenn makes fun of Nancy Pelosi’s cosmetic surgery….
Psssst…… the FCC has NO jurisdiction over cable TV content. None.
I wonder what percentage of those were astroturfing attempts by Brent Bozell’s Parents Television Council– or fans of The Howard Stern Show.
After looking at the original chart on the background story, I find that O’Reilly ranked at 7th and 16th, while Beck ranked 10th, 12th,and 13th. All the while, nowhere on the chart did Howard Stern rank in any place on the chart. How ironic is that ?
Because Howard Stern doesn’t have a Cable TV show? :)