Rick Raw: Supreme Court Rules on Profanity in Broadcasting

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Remembering the Anita Hill hearings in the early-1990s in which Hill denounced Clarence Thomas as a sexist pig for referring to his "large penis" in a conversation designed to entice Hill into an affair with him. Of course, despite Hill’s condemnation of Thomas as not fit for the Supreme Court, he was confirmed by his conservative cronies in Washington. "I was appointed (to the Court) for life, live with it," Thomas said to his critics, especially Anita Hill.

Today, it seems hypocritical that Thomas (who sexually abused Hill ) and the other mostly conservative Justices are deciding a case of profanity on the television airwaves. Specifically, it involves banned words (like the F-word) that Cher, Bono and Nicole Richie blurted out on live national television shows without a time-delay.

Yes, the conservative lap-dogs of the Highest Court in the land are pitted against the American Civil Liberties Union which saw this case as another attempt to throttle free speech and censor broadcast television. The case that went before the Court was the FCC versus Fox Television. The FCC intended to punish the television networks for allowing these "dirty words" on broadcast TV. Thus, the case made its way to the Supreme Court.

The incidents in question go back to a live 2002 and 2003 broadcasts. At the 2003 Golden Globes Awards, U2 singer Bono stated that his award was "really, really, (blanking) brilliant." Then during the 2003 Billboard Music Awards Nicole Richie declared "It’s not so (blanking) simple to remove a cow (blank) out of a Prada purse." During the 2002 Billboard Awards, Cher said, "I’ve had critics for the last 40 years saying that I was on my way out every year. Right. So (blank ‘em) I still have a job and they don’t."

It all seems trivial, but the incidents gave the FCC an opportunity to revise a long standing interpretation of rules about profanity on television. In the 1970s when George Carlin uttered the banned words in context of his comedy routine, the FCC decided that Carlin’s monologue was "patently offensive."

The Supreme Court subsequently agreed but with the caveat that Carlin’s use of the seven banned words was an isolated occurrence as part of Carlin’s "informative" monologue. Thus, it could be considered "verbal shock treatment" of profane repetition. After the recent incidents, the FCC reversed its earlier decision that gave Carlin a pass, which was at the heart of this case. In other words, Bono, Cher, and Richie’s use of profanity was not isolated. It offended God, country, and any little kids watching the shows.

Ultimately, the FCC didn’t fine Fox or the other networks involved. However, the Supreme Court sided with the FCC which puts the onus back on the broadcast networks to make sure there are no slip-ups on live shows. Therefore, in any future live show on network television, there will be a three second delay to edit out any profanity or costume malfunction. In fact, it turns out that one brief flash of Janet Jackson’s naked breast caused more of a furor than the F-words’ slip-ups.

Funny, one can click on HBO, Starz, Showtime, AMC, FX, and other cable networks and hear the free use of profanity and view sexual situations. The same microwaves that carry the networks censored shows carry the uncensored programs. Ah, but the viewer pays for the cable shows and the broadcast shows are supported by advertising, which is the real reason that censorship exists on the broadcast networks. God forbid if the advertisers are offended and pull their advertising. Indeed, TV moguls fears their advertisers much more than the FCC.