But, following several awards shows with cursing celebrities in 2002 and 2003, the FCC toughened its policy after it concluded that a one free expletive rule did not make sense in the context of keeping the air waves free of indecency when children are likely to be watching television.
But Kennedy said the commission did not adequately explain that under the new policy “a fleeting expletive or a brief shot of nudity could be actionably indecent.
“The stepped up indecency enforcement, including issuing record fines for violations, also was spurred in part by widespread public outrage following Janet Jackson’s breast baring performance during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show on CBS.That incident and the FCC’s proposed fine of $550,000 are not part of the current case. The government has an appeal pending of a lower court ruling that threw out the fine in that case.But the 2004 Super Bowl also took place before the FCC later that year laid out its new policy and the possibility of fines for even one time utterances of certain words.Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, said he read the ruling as a “green light” for the FCC to rule against broadcasters in the many pending complaints of indecent material that aired after the FCC explained its new policy. “Once again the Supreme Court has ruled against the networks in their yearslong campaign to obliterate broadcast decency standards,” Winter said.The material at issue in Thursday’s decision includes the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman’s nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of the show “NYPD Blue.
“In December 2002, singer Cher used the phrase “F- ‘em” during the Billboard Music Awards show on the Fox television network. A month later, U2 lead singer Bono uttered the phrase “f brilliant” during NBC’s broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show. During the December 2003 Billboard awards show on Fox, reality show star Nicole Richie said, “Have you ever tried to get cow s- out of a Prada purse.
Victor Arrington is a business journalist based in Orange, California. Victor has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Victor spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.
