Interesting article up at Ars Technica regarding the FCC's curious habit of not publishing what its indecency rules are. Fox is challenging its fines saying that it's unfair that they should be penalized for not following unpublished rules. The FCC's stance is that if they published a rulebook regarding what you could and couldn't say on broadcast TV, they'd be censoring people. By leaving it unpublished and only reacting when there's a complaint, they're encouraging self-censorship and I guess can sleep easy at night knowing that the first amendment is kinda, sorta still in place.indecency-related stories
Fox vs. The FCC: Just what is indecency anyway?
Interesting article up at Ars Technica regarding the FCC's curious habit of not publishing what its indecency rules are. Fox is challenging its fines saying that it's unfair that they should be penalized for not following unpublished rules. The FCC's stance is that if they published a rulebook regarding what you could and couldn't say on broadcast TV, they'd be censoring people. By leaving it unpublished and only reacting when there's a complaint, they're encouraging self-censorship and I guess can sleep easy at night knowing that the first amendment is kinda, sorta still in place.Continue reading Fox vs. The FCC: Just what is indecency anyway?
FCC lets a foul-mouthed ABC and CBS off the hook
The FCC has dismissed indecency charges against ABC's NYPD Blue and CBS' Early Show, but has upheld charges against - oh, delicious irony - Fox. Back in April, the networks sued the FCC and asked an appeals court to invalidate the Commission's charges of indecency against NYPD, Early Show and Fox's broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003 on the grounds that the charges were unconstitutional.
ABC got off easy. The NYPD Blue episodes that used the words "dickhead" and "bullshit" were let off the hook because they aired several years ago - before the FCC upped its fines 10x, post-Janet wardrobe malfunction.
Continue reading FCC lets a foul-mouthed ABC and CBS off the hook
CBS fined for indecency on... Without a Trace?
Here we go again. The FCC just
handed down a big, fat, steaming pile of fines to the big four networks for indecency. Surprisingly, the biggest
fine of all was against Without a Trace. CBS and 111 of its affiliates might have to pay a whopping $3.63
million fine. To put that in perspective, Howard Stern only racked up $3.5 million in fines for the CBS network. What
was so offensive? A scene in a December 2004 episode that depicted teen-agers in an orgy. CBS strongly disagrees with
the fine. The FCC also refused to reduce the fine for the Janet Jackson Super Bowl boobage, which stands at $550,000.
Also for CBS.
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