December 11, 2006 | Sex & Society

FCC insiders dissent

Is there a difference between dropping the f-bomb on live television during a newscast and doing it during an awards show? U.S. television networks say no, and they're prepared to prove it in court. Taking the Federal Communications Commission to task over some recent rulings, the networks claim that indecency is in the eye of the beholder and that families can filter TV programming on their own.

At issue, according to MediaWeek, is the FCC's new "fleeting reference" policy, which imposes hefty fines on television networks for unplanned "indecency" -- including nudity and foul language -- during live broadcasts. The policy punishes networks such as Fox, for its 2002 broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards, during which Cher said, "People have been telling me I'm on my way out every year? So fuck 'em;"  and CBS, for its now famous broadcast of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show.

According to the networks, which are currently challenging fines against them in court, the FCC's new war against indecency threatens not only free speech, but also the practice of live broadcasting. And at least two former FCC officials agree.

"The Commission's expansive and aggressive new campaign of enforcement goes beyond the limitations assumed by the Supreme Court when it affirmed the FCC's indecency doctrine in 1978," said Henry Geller and Glen Robinson -- both former FCC employees -- in a recent statement supporting TV networks. They were joined by the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Center for Digital Media Freedom (CDFM) in saying that the FCC's new efforts have gone too far.

"[With] a wide diversity of parental control tools now at their disposal, families have the ability to construct and enforce their own 'household standard' for acceptable media content in their homes," said CDMF senior fellow Adam Thierer, according to YNOT.com. "Consequently, government does not have a compelling interest in imposing an amorphous 'community standard’' on Americans since there are less restrictive ways for families to decide for themselves what should and should not be seen or heard in their homes."

While the FCC denies the networks' charges, cases against CBS and Fox are both pending in lower courts and will likely wend their way to the U.S. Supreme Court. We can only hope the networks change the channel  permanently on conservative regulatory censors.

• Broadcast networks pick up potent allies [YNOT Masters]
• FCC rebuts broadcasters on indecency [MediaWeek]