Will KCET Drop Unnatural Causes?

by: diannah

Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 10:23:59 AM PDT

I belong to Doculink, an email list of documentarians around the world. And today I happened upon the message below.

I felt it deserved posting.  It reeks of interference where there should be none.

Hi there,

I just found out that KCET-Los Angeles has decided to pull the
"Unnatural Causes" series off the air for fear that they will get
fined by the FCC. The supposedly offensive items are a barely audible
swear word uttered by a girl on a cell phone in the background walla
of a scene (that was bleeped out) and a brief beginning of an
amputation scene in a film about rampant diabetes among Native
Americans in Arizona and elsewhere.

It's nice to know that we're focusing on the right stuff as the
country is headed to one of its most devastating health crises ever.

I'm attaching the article below:

Quick Takes
April 5, 2008

KCET pulls series over FCC worries

Officials at KCET-TV pulled its planned broadcast of "Unnatural
Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?," which was to begin airing
Sunday, after concerns arose at the public-TV station this week about
possible fines from the Federal Communications Commission.

The four-part documentary series, which examines the effect of social
and economic inequities upon health, contained a graphic depiction of
body parts and an obscene word that could run afoul of federal
decency standards, station spokeswoman Laurel Lambert said Friday. (A
review of the series appeared in Friday's Calendar.)

To avoid potential fines, the station could run the series between 10
p.m. and 6 a.m., when FCC decency standards are relaxed, she added.

"We don't know yet when or if the series will run on KCET," Lambert
said. "We're still deciding what to do."

-- Martin Miller

I have not seen this series yet.  I do hope I get a chance to so I can decide for myself what the obscenities really are.

UPDATE:
I've been following the thread on doculink and got this link which may be helpful.  This is the show's website.

http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/

The word is that PBS had already vetted the series and has been sending it out to over 300 stations around the country.  So far only KCET LA has canceled it because of the FCC threat.

Another suggestion is to email KCET and protest.
If you're so inclined as I am here is the link:

http://www.kcet.org/about/cont...