In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, we find that WDBJ Television, Inc. (WDBJ or Licensee) . . . aired graphic and sexually explicit material over the Station on July 12, 2012, at approximately 6:00 p.m., in apparent willful violation of federal restrictions on the broadcast of indecent material . . . [and] is apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of three hundred twenty-five thousand dollars ($325,000).
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4. The materials submitted by WDBJ confirm that it broadcast a naked, erect penis and sexual manipulation thereof during an early evening news broadcast. . . . The recording submitted by WDBJ shows that the broadcast included images of the former adult film star. The first image is video in which only her face and shoulders can be seen. in the video, she has her finger in her mouth, moving it up and down on her tongue, with her lips partially open and then closing as she appears to suck on her finger. . . . At the time that the image is displayed, a reporter goes on to state: "he's a former porn star." The Licensee obtained the video image online from the website of a distributor of the woman's adult films. The website, which was partially displayed along with the video image, is bordered on the right side by boxes showing video clips from other films that do not appear to show the woman who is the subject of the news report.
5. One of these video clips, displayed in a box, contains the image of sexual activity involving manipulation of an erect penis. Although the box does not show the entire body or face of the apparently nude male depicted, the image shows a hand moving up and down the length of the shaft of the erect penis. WDBJ asserts that this image was displayed for less than three seconds. There are also other images of the woman who is the subject of the story displayed at various times during the report, including on in which she appears to be sitting on a bed, wearing a bra.
6. The Licensee claims that the smaller boxes, including the image of the penis, were not visible on the monitors in the Station's editing bay, and therefore, the Station's News Director and other management personnel who had reviewed the story did not see the indecent material prior to the broadcast. However, a photojournalist on the Station's staff, who prepared the report, obtained the screen shots from the adult video distributor's website used in the broadcast. . . . The photojournalist does not claim that those boxes were not visible when he downloaded the material from the adult website, but rather simply that he did not notice them.
