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The SCOTUS-FCC Follies on Election Day
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 03:39:18 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks) Date: November 8, 2008 12:44:24 AM EST To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] The SCOTUS-FCC Follies on Election Day [Note: This item comes from friend Janos Gereben. DLH] From: janosG <janosg () gmail com> Date: November 7, 2008 9:11:45 AM PST To: Dewayne <dewayne () warpspeed com> Subject: The SCOTUS-FCC Follies on Election Day <http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/carroll/> Jon Carroll SF Chronicle/November 7, 2008These are some of the things that happened on Nov. 4, 2008, election day:
-- The Supreme Court debated whether the Federal Communications Commission was correct in fining the Fox network for unscripted use of offensive words by Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie. Bono and Cher both used adjectival forms of a commonly heard expletive that is, in some contexts, a rude synonym for sexual intercourse; Richie, more creatively inclined, used several expletives while describing the difficulty of getting cow manure out of a Prada purse.
To sum it up: It is difficult indeed.The stakes are high. The FCC fined the network $50,000 per station for the gaffes. In doing so, it claimed the unilateral ability to decide what words were offensive, in what contexts they were offensive, precisely how offensive they were and how large the penalties should be. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg noted, the FCC had determined that the swearing in "Saving Private Ryan" was OK - even though a lot of stations bleeped the words anyway - whereas the swearing by blues musicians in a Martin Scorsese documentary was a threat to civilized discourse.
This despite the fact that the actors in "Saving Private Ryan" were reciting scripted lines, while the blue musicians were just making offhand comments. Of course, the musicians were not involved in pretending to kill Nazis when they used the unacceptable words.
Justice John Paul Stevens inquired about the word "dung." The government lawyer said "probably" that would not be offensive. Stevens also suggested an interesting standard: If a joke was funny enough, it could escape sanctions. Although the FCC is already at work on its funny-o-meter, the government had no comment.
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- The SCOTUS-FCC Follies on Election Day David Farber (Nov 09)