NEW YORK (AP) – Broadcasters say the hesitancy of some CBS affiliates to air a powerful Sept. 11 documentary next week proves there’s been a chilling effect on the First Amendment since federal regulators boosted penalties for television obscenities after Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed at a Super Bowl halftime show in 2004.

“This is example No. 1,” said Martin Franks, executive vice president of CBS Corp., of the decision by several dozen CBS affiliates to replace or delay a documentary – that has already aired twice before without controversy – over concerns about some of the language used by the firefighters in it.

“We don’t think it’s appropriate to sanitize the reality of the hell of Sept. 11th,” Franks said. “It shows the incredible stress that these heroes were under. To sanitize it in some way robs it of the horror they faced.”

Actor Robert DeNiro hosts the award-winning documentary that began as a quest to follow a rookie firefighter on an ordinary day but resulted in the only known video of the first plane striking the World Trade Center and horrific and inspiring scenes of rescue, escape and death. Already broadcast twice before, it will be shown on CBS on Sept. 10 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., profanity intact.

Carter G. Phillips, a lawyer for Fox Television Stations Inc., cited the decision by several dozen CBS affiliates to either replace the documentary or delay its broadcast until after 10 p.m., when the FCC loosens restrictions, when he spoke last week to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

Saying the FCC was chilling free speech rights, Phillips mentioned the documentary to show the court how timid broadcast companies had become since the FCC toughened its position toward profanities after the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show on CBS, when pop singer Jackson’s breast was briefly exposed during a song.

Recently, Congress boosted the maximum fines the FCC can impose for indecency from $32,500 to $325,000. So far, about a dozen CBS affiliates have indicated they won’t show the documentary, another dozen say they will delay it until later at night and two dozen others are considering what to do.

On Friday, Sinclair Broadcasting became the latest company to say it was delaying the broadcast until after 10 p.m. on its two stations in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Portland, Me., saying it was concerned that it could face fines.

The announcement came as the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association readies its 3 million members to flood the FCC and CBS with complaints after the documentary airs, an effort that may trigger a close examination of the program by the FCC.

“This isn’t an issue of censorship. It’s an issue of responsibility to the public,” said Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the group that describes itself as a 29-year-old organization that promotes the biblical ethic of decency in American society.

“It’s a documentary,” he said. “It shows firefighters in action and other people during the very frantic time of the attack on the twin towers. We know how terrible it was. We don’t have to be reminded of how we felt.”

The documentary first aired on the six-month and one-year anniversaries of the Sept. 11 attacks on the trade center and the Pentagon. The latest showing will be on the eve of the five-year anniversary. It includes new interviews with many of the firefighters featured in the original program, describing how their lives have changed.

Franks said it was an easy decision not to edit the language in the documentary, especially since it has won a George Foster Peabody Award, among others. “It was a much more difficult decision five years ago when the emotions were much more raw and fresh,” he said.

Franks said it seemed “dishonest somehow” for the network to cover up the real language five years later because of the current regulatory environment. “What’s frustrating is the chilled environment in which we are having to operate,” he said.

But Franks said he understood the difficulties of small stations that fear FCC fines greater than the net asset value of the station. “I don’t blame these stations in any way,” he said. “We’re not twisting arms.”

He said CBS was explaining its reasoning for airing the documentary as it did the first two times. “We think our reasoning is compelling,” he said.

FCC spokeswoman Tamara Lipper said the commission routinely takes context into account in any decency analysis. “Context is always important,” she said. “We don’t police the airwaves. We respond to viewer complaints. We haven’t seen the broadcast in question. It’s up to individual stations to decide what they should air or not air.”

She noted that “the historical context of 9-11 is important to the context of the broadcast” but she said she could not predict how the commission might view the show if it receives complaints.

Sharp promised Friday that his organization would flood the FCC with complaints, saying 197,681 people already have followed instructions on the group’s web site to tell the FCC that they want the agency to “enforce the law should CBS decide to break it.”

CBS is feeling the heat. “Even if all 206 stations decide between now and the 10th to air the program live, what we have gone through for the past two or three weeks is overwhelming evidence of the chill facing broadcasters,” Franks said.

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