Glad We’ve Got Our Priorities Straight

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. More than 150 ABC TV affiliates — including Denver’s Channel 7 — are being accused of violating FCC obscenity rules for airing the Oscar-winning war movie, Saving Private Ryan.

But apparently it’s perfectly OK for Channel 7 to air this:

AURORA, Colo. — Imagine being so overweight that you are confined to a wheelchair. You can no longer walk, much less work. That’s how Sandy Fuller, of Aurora, lived for several years until doctors went to work removing 47 pounds of skin and fat from her body.

…

Now she is taking another drastic step. She is having the apron of skin and fat that hangs down on her knees surgically removed. See Dramatic Pictures From Surgery (Warning: Extremely Graphic).

Extremely graphic? Seeing long strips of fat and flesh pulled off a 481-pound woman on the 10 p.m. news is a lot more than “extremely graphic.” But, as I’ve said, it’s apparently not nearly as offensive as an Academy Award-winning film that was aired on Veteran’s Day as a tribute to America’s men and women in uniform.

On Monday, the FCC confirmed that had received formal complaints over the airing of the movie.

Groups affiliated with the American Family Assn., a conservative Christian group that monitors the airwaves, pledged Thursday to flood the FCC with complaints about the language and violence in Steven Spielberg’s film.

As we reported previously, almost a third of ABC’s affiliates bowed to pressure and didn’t air Saving Private Ryan. To its credit, Channel 7 was not among those stations. A spokesperson for the station tells 5280 that while Channel 7 did receive complaints from viewers over Private Ryan, she is unaware of any actions against the station being filed with the FCC.