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Supreme Court Strikes Down FCC's Profanity Policy

Broadcasters won't have to pay fines, sanctions

By the Associated Press

Posted Jun 21, 2012 10:14 AM CDT

(AP) – The US Supreme Court has thrown out fines and sanctions against broadcasters who violated the FCC policy regulating curse words and nudity on broadcast television. The justices declined today to issue a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the FCC indecency policy. Instead, the court concluded only that broadcasters could not have known in advance that obscenities uttered during awards show programs and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC's NYPD Blue could give rise to sanctions. The justices said the FCC is free to revise its indecency policy.

This Jan. 25, 2012 file photo shows the US Supreme Court Building in Washington.
This Jan. 25, 2012 file photo shows the US Supreme Court Building in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 28 comments
saucier111
Jun 21, 2012 1:44 PM CDT
Networks are owned and operated by large rich incorporations. They already own our politicians, so it is just a matter of time before they get their way.
coolbreeze55
Jun 21, 2012 1:04 PM CDT
Too bad you don't.  Commercial airwaves are controlled by the public (government).  They are allowed to set standards of usage.  What the court found was: that broadcasters could not have known in advance that obscenities uttered during awards show programs and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC's NYPD Blue could give rise to sanctions. I'm confused, because all of this is under the control of the network.  Network television has been around since the end of WWII and the STANDARDS of Broadcasting have been known since before George Carlin. The network can view in advance their programs like NYPD Blue and they have the ability to micro delay live programming to bleep f-bombs.  What's not to know Supremes?
cheongyei
Jun 21, 2012 12:05 PM CDT
The whole idea that the FCC can control content because they control the spectrum on which TV is broadcast is just plain f*cked up.

Copyright 2013 Newser, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.

 
FCC • indecency • US Supreme Court • Federal Communications Commission

 
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