WASHINGTON -- The government's new policy that is punishing broadcasters for a slip of the tongue is killing live television as it allows the FCC to look over producers' shoulders and edit content, the Fox network told a federal appeals court in New York on Wednesday in a key case challenging commission authority over indecent broadcasts.
In its brief, the network contends that the FCC is doing "serious violence to the First Amendment" with its policy that finds certain words so vile they are automatically actionable under its indecency rules.
"Under the FCC's new policy, virtually any uses of the words "fuck" and "shit" are prohibited, no matter how isolated or fleeting, no matter how inadvertent, and no matter whether they occur spontaneously during live programing," Fox attorneys argue. "The result is the end of truly live television and a gross expansion of the FCC's intrusion in the creative and editorial process. The FCC now second-guesses creative decisions on a show-by-show basis, levying huge fines if the artist or broadcaster has misjudged what the FCC's current commissioners will find offensive."
In particular the case involved Fox's broadcasts of the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards. During the 2002 show Cher told the audience "People have been telling me I'm on the way out every year? So fuck 'em." While in 2003 Nicole Ritchie said: "Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It's not so fucking simple."
While the commission found that the shows violated the broadcast indecency rules it didn't issue a fine, because the shows predated a policy established in 2004 after Bono said wining a Golden Globe was "really, really fucking brilliant."
The FCC maintains that its policy is necessary to restrain the Hollywood creative community which would go berserk if not restrained.
In its brief, the network contends that the FCC is doing "serious violence to the First Amendment" with its policy that finds certain words so vile they are automatically actionable under its indecency rules.
"Under the FCC's new policy, virtually any uses of the words "fuck" and "shit" are prohibited, no matter how isolated or fleeting, no matter how inadvertent, and no matter whether they occur spontaneously during live programing," Fox attorneys argue. "The result is the end of truly live television and a gross expansion of the FCC's intrusion in the creative and editorial process. The FCC now second-guesses creative decisions on a show-by-show basis, levying huge fines if the artist or broadcaster has misjudged what the FCC's current commissioners will find offensive."
In particular the case involved Fox's broadcasts of the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards. During the 2002 show Cher told the audience "People have been telling me I'm on the way out every year? So fuck 'em." While in 2003 Nicole Ritchie said: "Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It's not so fucking simple."
While the commission found that the shows violated the broadcast indecency rules it didn't issue a fine, because the shows predated a policy established in 2004 after Bono said wining a Golden Globe was "really, really fucking brilliant."
The FCC maintains that its policy is necessary to restrain the Hollywood creative community which would go berserk if not restrained.
- 11/22/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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