Posted on 03/18/2008 9:44:51 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Thirty years after the US government commission that monitors communications began enforcing a ban on expletives on the airwaves, it is seeking to extend its policing to also cover swear words that slip out "fleetingly."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took a key step toward that goal Monday when the US Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on the policy of imposing fines on broadcasting groups that air isolated swear words uttered during live shows.
The FCC had taken its case to the highest court in the land after it was slapped down by a court in New York in June for "arbitrarily and capriciously" fining Fox Television after celebrities used curse words on a live broadcast.
First, singer-actress Cher used the "F" word during the Billboard Music Awards in 2002, when describing what she suggested be done to her critics.
The following year, Nicole Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie, said during a live broadcast of the same awards show: "Have you ever tried to get (the scatological "S" word) out of a Prada purse? It's not so (participle of the "F" word) simple."
The FCC defines indecent speech as "language that, in context, depicts or describes sexual or excretory activities or organs in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium."
In the mid-1970s, it brought a case before the US courts after comedian George Carlin delivered a 12-minute monologue called "Filthy Words", which was recorded and went out over the airwaves.
The case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, where the justices decided by a narrow majority to ban seven words, including the "S" word, "F" word, and a "C" word referring to part of a woman's anatomy.
But when the Supreme Court banned those seven words, it also stated that its decision did "not speak to cases involving the isolated use of a potentially offensive word" -- such as by Cher and, to a slightly lesser extent, Richie on the awards show.
After abiding for decades by the precedent not to fine broadcasters who air expletives that slip out during live, emotion-heavy broadcasts -- such as when Irish rocker Bono described winning an award as "participle-of-F-word brilliant" -- the FCC in 2004 began taking action against broadcasters who aired "fleeting and isolated" expletives.
The broadcasters complained that the FCC reversal "intruded into the creative and editorial process and threatened to bring about the end of truly live broadcast television."
FCC officials praised the Supreme Court decision to reopen the can of dirty words.
It would "give broadcasters clarity regarding the use of profanity, even fleeting profanity, on the public airwaves, at times when children are most likely to be in the audience," Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate said in a statement.
Her colleague, Michael Copps, was also pleased that the Supreme Court had agreed to review the decision against Fox, but emphasized that the FCC was not supposed to run a solo crusade to protect the ears of American children from profanity.
"While the FCC has a statutory duty to enforce the indecency laws, I continue to believe that all of us -- government, industry, and parents -- have a role to play in protecting our children from inappropriate material," Copps said.
Why is it that the usage of obscenities and sexual inuendos on TV at inappropriate hours seemingly increased 10-fold in the last 5 years?
Gimme a break FCC and all you other gravy-slurping Federal leeches!
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