Will Networks Push the Envelope After FCC Indecency Rules Are Thrown Out?
Filed under: Features, TV News
Today, a U.S. Appeals court ruled that the FCC’s indecency rules were “unconstitutionally vague,” and overturned the commission’s entire slate of indecency rules.
This ruling was in response to cases of “fleeting” expletives or incidents, like the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction or Bono uttering the f-word at the Golden Globes; the court felt that there “is ample evidence in the record that the FCC’s indecency policy has chilled protected speech.”
But the impact of this ruling will reverberate much more than you think; the court threw out the entire set of indecency rules the FCC had been using since 1978, after a radio station played George Carlin’s ‘Seven Dirty Words’ routine on the air. The court just felt that it didn’t pass constitutional muster that, for instance, the commission could judge that the use of ‘bulls–t’ in an ‘NYPD Blue’ episode was indecent, but the use of ‘d–k’ and ‘d–khead’ were not.
Of course, most people who have never been a fan of the commission’s random indecency rules could have told you that years ago. But the big question now is: what does this mean for the broadcast networks?
That answer seems pretty easy: Until the FCC can come up with an indecency policy that can be deemed constitutional, the broadcast networks are likely going to use this opportunity to push the envelope even further than they do now, especially after 10PM.