TV networks seek new ways to keep themselves covered

In the wake of Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl halftime show, CBS announced yesterday it has implemented a new editing procedure for Sunday's live Grammy Awards broadcast that will allow the network to delete "inappropriate and unexpected" footage and audio before it airs.

Jackson's halftime dance partner, Justin Timberlake, is scheduled to perform on the show. CBS wouldn't comment on whether Jackson will appear. But a network executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the performers would be kept off the air if it turned out they had planned the midgame surprise, in which Timberlake exposed Jackson's breast at the end of a duet.

In the past, the network could only bleep foul language, using a five-second delay technique. CBS said the length of the new delay has not yet been determined. But with this safeguard in place, the network has rated the Grammys TVPG.

Despite CBS's promise to be more vigilant, media observers yesterday expressed skepticism that in the long term the TV business or the government will force artists to tone down sexual content or graphic language.

MTV, which produced the halftime show, has accused Jackson of masterminding the stunt. The Federal Communications Commission has promised to investigate how the Super Bowl incident aired.

"I think the FCC will waste a lot of time doing an investigation into nothing," said Janet Staiger, a professor of women's studies and communications at the University of Texas at Austin. "The size of any fines to any stations will be minimal. It will be a hand slap. There may be a firing of a low-level employee at MTV. But the response will be a token one.

"The reality is, the networks are faced with a huge problem. They have to compete with cable, where the flash of a breast is no big deal."

Already, pressure from cable has led networks to loosen regulations on acceptable language on network TV. At the Golden Globe Awards last year, U2 singer Bono used a four-letter word and was not fined by the FCC because the agency ruled that he did not use it in a sexual context.

The FCC is now reconsidering that ruling.

Thomas Doherty, a professor of American studies at Brandeis University, said he expects "lots of funny jokes" about the Super Bowl halftime show at Sunday's Grammys.

"The FCC's regulatory power used to scare broadcasters in the 1950s. They were afraid of having their licenses suspended," he said. Now the FCC seems almost "impotent" because it doesn't seem to enforce regulations. "Either the FCC should do what it says it's going to do or they should change the laws."

To be sure, live television programs have pushed the limits on indecency in recent years. Hip-hop artist Lil' Kim deliberately exposed one breast (her nipple covered with a pastie) at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. Last fall, Britney Spears ripped off her pants during an ABC football special to reveal an undergarment. And Jennifer Lopez made headlines at the 2000 Grammy Awards when she showed up in a Versace dress with a neckline that plunged past her navel.

"What it takes to outrage people has to be more outrageous than it used to be," said Stuart Fischoff, a professor of media psychology at California State University in Los Angeles.

Yesterday, Fischoff said one of his students reported in class that his 6-year-old brother had tried to rip the shirt off a classmate Monday at school. That youngster had seen the halftime show. "This behavior has an impact. But I don't think it will stop. Hollywood thinks from the crotch down."

The FCC has taken notice.

Recently, Michael K. Powell, chairman of the FCC, asked Congress to consider a bill that would increase tenfold the penalties for indecent acts. Currently, the cap for a single fine is $27,500.

Critics say that isn't enough, arguing that primetime fictional programming is also out of control. "Monday night, there was a really graphic scene in `CSI: Miami' where a man was tortured and we saw his bloody body. Why doesn't Michael Powell look at the rest of TV that isn't so decent? Where the heck has he been?" asked Dorothy Singer, codirector of the Yale University Family Television Research and Consultation Center.

"The violence and indecency are going to continue as long as shows like `The Sopranos' and `Sex and the City' get high ratings," Singer said. "Nothing will change until people turn their TVs off, and people are very lazy about that."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com.