PBS wimps out.

Byline: The Register-Guard

War is heck. At least it will be on Tuesday when PBS surrenders to fears that broadcasting the harsh language of U.S. soldiers under fire in Iraq could provoke huge fines for violating government decency standards.

In a pre-emptive capitulation, PBS plans to offer two versions - one bleeped, the other unedited - of "Frontline's" 90-minute presentation of "A Company of Soldiers." The high-tension documentary is an uncompromising examination of the dangerous duty undertaken by members of Dog Company in the Army's 8th Cavalry Regiment in south Baghdad. When they are under attack and their comrades are wounded and killed, the men and women of Dog Company do not mince words.

PBS has offered sanitized versions of documentaries in the past, but typically provides the unedited original version as the primary feed. With "A Company of Soldiers," PBS has opted to send the bleeped version as the primary satellite feed. To get the unedited program, individual stations will have to tape it in advance for broadcast later.

What's worse is that the weak-kneed suits at PBS have demanded that stations showing the unedited version sign a legal waiver protecting PBS from Federal Communications Commission fines or legal actions that might result from this unspun depiction of Americans at war.

(High fives to the courageous decision of Oregon Public Broadcasting to air the unedited program at 9 p.m. Tuesday.)

"Frontline" creator and executive producer David Fanning is dismayed that PBS lacked the courage to stand up for his award-winning public television documentary program and defend the principle of editorial independence. Ample precedent exists to support the unedited broadcast, including word that the FCC will dismiss complaints against the ABC affiliates that aired "Saving Private Ryan" on Veterans Day last November. Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning film based on the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II is replete with harsh profanity and graphic violence.

But PBS was too timid, having already been taken to the woodshed by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings for having the audacity to feature real-life lesbian mothers in an episode of the children's show "Postcards From Buster."

The public network went completely limp after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to authorize federal regulators to sharply boost indecency fines for radio and television stations to as much as $500,000 per incident.

PBS feels particularly vulnerable because it is a loose federation of member stations that depend heavily on financial support from local communities.

The worst-case interpretation of "per incident" as applied to programs such as "A Company of Soldiers" is that a potential $500,000 incident could occur every time a soldier uses the f-word.

That's clearly madness, but it's madness spawned by the FCC's politically motivated overreaction to the silly furor that arose when Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunctioned during last year's Super Bowl.

Since then, the FCC has flip-flopped on when the f-word qualifies as indecent, and the resulting confusion prompted more than 60 ABC affiliates to drop plans to air "Saving Private Ryan." Until the FCC does a much better job of clarifying its rules for broadcasters, the result will be continued uncertainty and unintended censorship of quality programming.