TV Censorship – Television Broadcasters Adopt Code of Conduct
Strong social and political pressure regarding “acceptable” programming led the National Association of Broadcasters on this day to adopt an official Code of Conduct.
The television code was similar to the notorious 1934 Hollywood Production Code, which the film industry adopted on June 13, 1934, and which exerted a heavy hand of censorship of movies through the 1960s.
The television Code of Conduct kept many aspects of sexuality off television screens for over two decades. One of the more famous incidents involved the refusal of the popular I Love Lucy show to use the word “pregnant” even though her pregnancy was incorporated into the plot (see December 8, 1952). Another now well-known incident involved and the equally popular Ed Sullivan Show presenting the new rock and roll star Elvis Presley only from the waist up (see September 9, 1956).
Perhaps the most insidious form of television censorship was the blacklist that kept alleged radicals off the air during the Cold War, from the early 1950s until the mid-1960s. In some cases, musicians were required to sign loyalty oaths, which in every case we know about the artist refused to do. See folk singer Pete Seeger’s refusal to sign a loyalty oath demanded by the “Hootenany” TV show on September 14, 1963.
The Television code was suspended in 1983 as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over other issues. In response to changing social mores about sex and violence, and the competition from cable television, broadcast television became much more permissive beginning in the 1970s. The 1959 Fifth Edition of the Code of Conduct is available online (see below).
Read the 5th Edition (1959) of the Television Code of Conduct: http://www.tv-signoffs.com/1959_NAB_Television_Code.pdf
Learn how television changed in the 1970s: Elana Levine, Wallowing in Sex: The New Sexual Culture of 1970s American Television (2007)
View a timeline of the history of television censorship here