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Who Handles Indecency Complaints
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The FCC devotes considerable staff resources to processing, reviewing and
investigating allegations of obscenity, indecency and/or profanity. Most of
the staffers who work on these issues are located in the
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
(CGB) and the
Enforcement Bureau
(EB). CGB's
Consumer Inquiries & Complaints Division, Information Access and Privacy
Office, and Reference Information Center intake complaints and work to
provide information to consumers on indecency as well as various other
matters. CGB generally refers indecency complaints to EB.
EB has 17 attorneys and 16 other support personnel that work on matters
involving obscenity, indecency and profanity. EB increases staffing as
demand requires. The
Investigations and Hearings Division
(IHD) handles
most complaint review in EB, but senior staff in EB are involved at all
levels of the investigative process. Following an initial review of the
complaint, IHD staff may request additional information from the
complainant, or issue a letter of inquiry, Notice of Apparent Liability for
Forfeiture, or denial. We have also prepared a
flow chart
describing how
complaints are handled from receipt to notification provided to the
complainant.
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