The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidental airing of a porn clip during a 2021 newscast on KREM Spokane, Wash.
As part of the decree, Tegna agreed to make a “voluntary contribution” of $225,500 and to implement a compliance plan to avoid possible future violations of FCC rules.
The investigation dates back to an incident that got widespread national media attention. The FCC found that during KREM’s 6 p.m. newscast on Oct. 17, 2021, pornographic material was displayed for about 13 seconds on a monitor that was visible on-air during a weather forecast segment.
The station’s staff quickly acted to curtail the broadcast of the complained-of material by switching to a full-screen shot of weather graphics. KREM also apologized to viewers during its next newscast and, working with local law enforcement, launched an internal investigation into the cause of the incident.
Tegna found that someone used a built-in screencasting feature to transmit the video directly to the monitor via a legacy local wireless network outside of the station’s normal workflows. The Tegna investigation was not able to determine the person or persons responsible.
To prevent any future similar occurrences, Tegna on Oct. 21, 2021, directed all of its stations to disable all screencasting features and all wired or wireless network connectivity on all monitors located in station facilities.
As part of the consent decree, Tegna said it will designate a senior corporate manager to develop, implement and administer the compliance plan, which is laid out here.
Video of the incident is widely available online at Mediaite and other sites.
