Charles W. Pickering

Media corporations have a civic responsibility not only to prevent fraud and financial abuse, but also to not corrupt or degrade our culture. ”

A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful. ”

The public airwaves provide a chance to affirm we want to be a good, decent people; a good, decent nation. ”

Lawsuit abuse is a major contributor to the increased costs of healthcare, goods and services to consumers. ”

In addition to fines, violators of decency standards could be required to air public service announcements serving educational and informational needs of children. ”

America does not want vulgarity and sexual exploitation to be our values and we do not want the world to think those are our standards. We want to be a better nation and a better people, with better standards. ”

Our legislation addresses broadcasts over the public airwaves, but I hope the cable and satellite industries see the importance of this issue and voluntarily create a family tier of programming and offer culturally responsible products. ”