FCC indecency appeal coming next month

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On November 4 (which happens to be election day), the Supreme Court is slated to hear opening arguments in FCC vs. Fox Television Stations, a case involving broadcasting indecency. This is a landmark case for broadcasters that will surely trump the famous Pacifica (George Carlin) case of the 1970s.

The FCC has been sitting on a whole bunch of indecency complaints backlogged because of this court case. I hope that radio owners large and small (and TV owners, too) are ready to potentially pay up on some potentially really hefty fines if Fox loses this case.

Link to the story

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The SC is in an awkward position here. I'm sure they would rather not be dealing with this at all, since virtually any decision they make will have serious 1st amendment implications for year to come. But since nobody can seem to agree with where "the line" is, they're going to have to decide for us.

The challenge is how to respect 1st amendment rights while also making it clear to broadcasters that it's not open season for profanity bombs.

Three former Commission Chairs have weighed in on the matter, albeit one indirectly. In early August, Newton Minow and Mark Fowler (Kennedy and Reagan guys, respectively) sent an amici curiae brief to the court, begging the Supremes to put the kabosh on what they call the FCC's "Victorian crusade." "The indecency controls that began as a limited tool for reining in a small number of provocative broadcast personalities and irresponsible licensees have become a rallying cry for a revival of Nineteenth Century Comstockery," they wrote.

More recently, FCC Chair Kevin Martin's immediate predecessor Michael Powell said that he now regrets having approved the decision to declare Bono's comments indecent. "It was a terrible mistake and I voted for it," Powell said at a forum on the Commission held in mid-September.

Wow. Some of us tried to tell you... Of course, it was an election year.

An assortment of pro-decency groups have filed amicus curiae briefs with the Supreme Court on this case, including the Parents Television Council, which continues to pursue fleeting expletive scofflaws with great passion. The PTC's latest crusade involves getting the FCC to sanction NBC after a skydiver on the Today Show used a bad word to describe one of his less successful exploits. On September 11, host Matt Lauer asked daredevil Hans Lange what his reaction was to crash-parachuting into a mountain wall from thousands of feet in the air. "I was pretty angry with myself," Lange replied. "I was like... wahhhh! Holy shit!"

The PTC is urging its members to complain to the FCC about this blunder (the s-word, not the crash). "We condemn NBC for its arrogance in choosing not to bleep this profanity, and for its arrogance in choosing not to apologize to its viewers, many of whom included children," PTC President Tim Winter declared.

As is frequently the case, the PTC has provided the public with a Web form with which to lodge a complaint about the show. The link to the form advises readers that: "If you live in the Eastern Time zone, click here to file a formal indecency complaint with the FCC." The program was broadcast in the 7 am hour, eastern daylight time. Note that it does not say, "If you saw this program in the Eastern Time zone, click here..."

This is what has always pissed me off. They treat it like a freaking sweepstakes entry...

Ars Technica e-mailed a representative of the PTC asking whether it was appropriate to encourage people who may not have viewed the program to file complaints about it. We also asked how this Today Show episode harms TV watchers, especially those who did not see the interview. We received no reply.

Of course not. People who like cussing don't deserve a response. Heathen.