US braces for flood of celebrity F-words

An American judge has given warning that a landmark court ruling on the use of "fleeting expletives" could open the gates to a flood of celebrity 'F-words' on primetime television.

US networks were celebrating today after a US appeals court threw out a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling against the Fox television network, saying that the agency's new policy on indecency was "arbitrary and capricious".

At issue was Fox's broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards in December, 2002, at which the singer Cher used the phrase "F*** 'em", and the same awards show a year later at which Nicole Richie asked: "Have you ever tried to get cow s**** out of a Prada purse? It’s not so f***ing simple.”

Although both were considered "fleeting" or one-time use of expletives, the FCC later ruled that the broadcasts failed its indecency test - which had just been modified after the Irish rock star Bono swore on live TV at an earlier awards show - and handed Fox a reprimand.

Fox, backed by other television networks and stations, appealed and yesterday the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, found in its favour, ruling that the FCC had failed to explain properly why it had changed its long-term policy on the fleeting use of profanity. Fox is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times and Times Online.

In a 2-1 verdict, the court ruled that the FCC's action had been "arbitrary and capricious", breaching the Administrative Procedure Act. But although it agreed with the networks' suggestion that the FCC had acted unconstitutionally - setting up a potential Supreme Court challenge down the line - it limited its judgment to the issue of whether the FCC's rule change had been lawful.

But in a lengthy judgment, the court also examined the wider issue of profanity on American TV and in public life, and First Amendment protection of profanity, as it rejected the FCC's policy that the words 'f***' or 's****' always had a sexual or excretory connotation.

Specifically it noted that both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney were on record as having used those words in a non-literal way, Mr Bush when he told Tony Blair that the United Nations needed to "get Syria to stop Hezbollah to stop doing this s***' and Mr Cheney when he told a senator, on the floor of the Senate, to "f*** yourself'.

The court also rejected the FCC's argument that an exemption for fleeting expletives would "permit broadcasters to air expletives at all hours of the day so long as they did so one at a time" - saying that had never happened in the past.

In his dissenting judgment, however, Judge Pierre Leval argued strongly against that particular finding. Apart from disagreeing with the key ruling against the FCC, Judge Leval said that he would "put his money" on the FCC's prediction that any relaxation in the law would give broadcasters a "virtual free pass" for indecency.

"The majority's view presupposes that the future would repeat the past. It argues that because the networks were not flooded with discrete, fleeting expletives when fleeting expletives had a free pass, they would not be flooded in the future," Judge Leval wrote.

"This fails to take account of two facts. First, the words proscribed by the Commission's decency standards are much more common in daily discourse today than they were thirty years ago. Second, the regulated networks compete for audience with the unregulated cable channels, which increasingly make liberal use of their freedom to fill programming with such expletives."

That warning was taken up by Kevin Martin, the FCC chairman, in a fierce statement responding to the court's decision - itself peppered with the F-word.

Mr Martin said he completely disagreed with the court and was disappointed for American families. "I find it hard to believe that the New York court would tell American families that "s***" and "f***" are fine to say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most likely to be in the audience.

He added: "If ever there was an appropriate time for Commission action, this was it. If we can't restrict the use of the words "f***" and "s***" during prime time, Hollywood will be able to say anything they want, whenever they want."

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*QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Do you agree with Judge Leval’s ruling?

What sorts of things should be restricted on television?

What role should parents play?

Do you think that if the Supreme Court rules that the FCC restrictions are unconstitutional, television will be flooded with swears?

Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article18889...