Opinion: Oh %#@!, they bleeped the indecency rules!
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The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘fleeting expletives’ rule on Tuesday, saying the prohibition on broadcasting ‘patently offensive’ language was unconstitutionally vague. ‘We do not suggest that the FCC could not create a constitutional policy,’ the three-judge panel wrote. ‘We hold only that the FCC’s current policy fails constitutional scrutiny.’
The reaction from proponents of decency rules was muted, but the other side wasted no time saying, in effect, good riddance to bad rubbish. ‘The FCC’s excessively broad, incomprehensibly ambiguous and utterly subjective indecency policy has put creative, challenging, controversial, non-homogenized broadcast television programming at risk,’ said Jonathan Rintels of the Center for Creative Voices in Media. ‘In many cases, the very kinds of television programs that parents want their children to watch -- high-quality documentaries, histories and dramas -- have been affected.’
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was characteristically noncommittal. “We’re reviewing the court’s decision in light of our commitment to protect children, empower parents and uphold the 1st Amendment,’ he said. Well, duh.
The fact of the matter is that federal law prohibits ‘obscene, indecent [and] profane language’ on licensed broadcast stations, and it’s the FCC’s job to enforce that prohibition by responding to viewer complaints. So what should it do? Take our highly unscientific poll, add a comment below, or do both!
-- Jon Healey
