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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  145 
 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS 


 Re:  Retention  by  Broadcasters  of  Program  Recordings,  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking 
 The  process  by  which  the  FCC  has  enforced  the  indecency  laws  has  for  too  long  placed  inordinate  responsibility  upon  the  complaining  citizen.  When  someone  sends  in  a  complaint,  he  or  she  is  usually 
 told  to  supply  a  recording  of  the  program  or  a  transcript  of  the  offending  statement,  or  the  complaint  will  be  dismissed.  This  policy  ignores  that  it  is  the  Commission’s  responsibility  to  investigate  complaints  that 
 the  law  has  been  violated,  not  the  citizen’s  responsibility  to  prove  the  violations. 
 That  is  why  I  have  long  suggested  that  broadcasters  retain  tapes  of  their  broadcasts  for  a  reasonable  period  of  time.  Many  broadcasters  already  retain  such  recordings.  That  way,  when  someone 
 complains  about  what  went  out  on  the  public  airwaves  we  can  have  a  record  to  see  how  those  airwaves  were  used  --  or  abused.  Yet,  over  the  past  years,  broadcasters  continue  to  respond  to  FCC  letters  of 
 inquiry  that  they  do  not  have  a  tape  or  transcript  of  what  they  broadcast. 
 I  am  pleased  that  my  colleagues  seem  to  be  coming  around  to  the  idea  that  we  need  to  address  this  issue.  I  am  also  pleased  that  the  Commission  appears  to  be  accepting  the  idea  that  a  tape  or  transcript 
 from  the  complaining  citizen  may  no  longer  be  necessary,  especially  if  we  can  obtain  the  record  of  the  broadcast  from  the  station. 


 Today’s  NPRM  is  a  step  forward  towards  reforming  the  complaint  process.  I  hope  we  will  complete  this  proceeding  expeditiously. 
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