Broadcast industry breathes a sigh of relief

[WA3WDR]

The skyrocketing fines were scaring the broadcast industry, but they are relaxing a little bit now.

F.C.C. Rebuffed by Court on Indecency Fines
New York Times, June 5, 2007
Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html?ref=media)
Quote[/b] ]If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can use vulgar language, then the government cannot punish others for doing the same thing on television.

That, in essence, was the decision today when a federal appeals court struck down the government policy of fining stations and networks that broadcast programs with profanity.

The decision, by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, was a sharp rebuke for the Federal Communications Commission and for the Bush administration. It was a major victory in a legal battle being waged by the four television networks — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — that had filed the case.

[ad4mg]

Quote[/b] (WA3WDR @ June 04 2007,20:20)]The skyrocketing fines were scaring the broadcast industry, but they are relaxing a little bit now.

F.C.C. Rebuffed by Court on Indecency Fines
New York Times, June 5, 2007
Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html?ref=media)
Quote[/b] ]If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can use vulgar language, then the government cannot punish others for doing the same thing on television.

That, in essence, was the decision today when a federal appeals court struck down the government policy of fining stations and networks that broadcast programs with profanity.

The decision, by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, was a sharp rebuke for the Federal Communications Commission and for the Bush administration. It was a major victory in a legal battle being waged by the four television networks — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — that had filed the case.
The Bible thumpers are gonna hate this ...

[KB9YCO]

I'm so glad to see the industry having at least some modicum of consensus on this issue and fighting the religious extremist inspired brand of 'social' censorship that somehow became fashionable in the post-Janet Jackson era. Most of this kind of recent censorship (within the last 20 years or so) has had more to do with the philosophical intolerances of a very vocal minority of zealots and less to with the supposed notion or 'protecting the children' that is reiterated time and time again.
More than likely these types of laws will go back and forth for some time, but this is at least a step in the right direction in terms of free speech protection.
In a society with a free media any notion of having one group decide what is acceptable for everyone else is simply contradictory to the very foundations and spirit of our system and way of life. You decide what you choose to support or not, and you decide what your children should see or hear, it's not the job of the government to make that decision for us, at least it never should have been. The FCC, via the Communications Act of 1934, was designed to regulate spectrum and allocation rules, not to control content.
I hope this positive trend continues and free speech and expression return to being the norm. The mostly commercial broadcast mediums regulate themselves by virtue of the fact that the general public will decide for themselves what they deem acceptable or not by their support or lack thereof. Again, not the job of one governmental bureaucracy or a various philosophies to decide for us.

[w2amr]

Quote[/b] (ad4mg @ June 04 2007,17:22)]Quote[/b] (WA3WDR @ June 04 2007,20:20)]The skyrocketing fines were scaring the broadcast industry, but they are relaxing a little bit now.

F.C.C. Rebuffed by Court on Indecency Fines
New York Times, June 5, 2007
Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/media/05decency.html?ref=media)
Quote[/b] ]If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can use vulgar language, then the government cannot punish others for doing the same thing on television.

That, in essence, was the decision today when a federal appeals court struck down the government policy of fining stations and networks that broadcast programs with profanity.

The decision, by a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, was a sharp rebuke for the Federal Communications Commission and for the Bush administration. It was a major victory in a legal battle being waged by the four television networks — Fox, CBS, NBC and ABC — that had filed the case.
The Bible thumpers are gonna hate this ...
Why not, they seem to hate everything else. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[kb2vxa]

Duplicate thread.