I wasn't actually thinking about their careers, although I note that several of the hot-headed comments on this thread were addressed in that direction. What I was thinking about is that FCC censure or investigation will cause some middle manager heads to roll at CBS, MTV and the NFL. Kind of a traditional sacrifice to the mob these days.
Well, I partially agreed with you about the powers of the FCC. I am very leery of that type of government involvement too. However, the justification I can see is that the people of the country are turning to government for help, because of the overwhelming power of CBS.
I prefer the direct route myself. I prefer the free market approach. Speak out about it (it is a constitutional right). Let the company (CBS, MTV, etc.) know with your viewing eyes and dollars that you won't support their programming.
And, you know what, some of the middle managers heads should roll for this. They too should know better and they are the ones that were organizing this event. And, while Ms. Jackson has recently (today) said that the agreement to expose her breast was done after final rehearsal, the CBS/MTV/AOL middle managers responsible for producing the halftime show should have been absolutely clear that there was a line that, for the purposes of this show, didn't need to be crossed.
I sort of feel bad for the CBS managers involved in the the pre-game show. Except for that idiot Willie Nelson and the petrified version of Aerosmith, the pre-game was terrific. Contrast the pre-game show to the MTV-produced show at halftime, there is no comparison.
Interestingly, if I mess up at work and alienate a great portion of my current client base, do you think that I might have the possibility of being fired? Sure.
Anyone that works in the real world would easily understand that if you piss off 30% or more of your customers, you are going out of business. And, that is the real problem here.
Ms. Jackson, Mr. Timberlake, and many of the producers at MTV live in a tiny, insolated world where no one challenges their opinions or actions. It is simple groupthink. It is also a fact that this group of folks have a leftist bent to their thinking, so flaunting conventions is a badge of honor. To them, the bigger the stage, the better. But, in this case, the stage was a lot bigger than they are used to and the stage performance was at a different time.
Again, I make a simple statement: it was in poor taste. I will be more specific and say that it was in poor taste for the given venue, at the given time, and the given broadcast medium/network.
Unfortunately, bad decisions have consequences.