March Colloquium: “Censorship we all abhor, but…”: Viewer Complaints and the Demand for Government Intervention in Early TV Content

Many stakeholders traveled the road leading to the 1952 Television Code—the industry’s self-censorship document—but none was more powerless than the television audience. Having no investment in the TV industry, viewers were equipped with two resources: their purchasing power and their citizenship. Activating that citizenship, angry viewers flooded the Federal Communications Commission with letters of complaint, decrying the abundance of murder, mayhem, and nude women on TV. Dr. Deborah Jaramillo examines the perspectives of viewers who chafed at trends incompatible with their understanding of what television should be. By subscribing to a very specific definition of decency—one rife with sexism and heteronormativity—and by openly pleading with the government to censor television, these viewers inserted themselves into the fight over early television regulation.