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FCC indecency rule struck down by appeals court

Cold Highway

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Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles —
In a sharp rebuke of the Bush-era crackdown on foul language on broadcast television and radio, a federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down the government's near-zero-tolerance indecency policy as a violation of the 1st Amendment protection of free speech.

The ruling is a major victory for the broadcast TV networks, which jointly sued the Federal Communications Commission in 2006.

Score a victory for free speech.

FCC indecency rule: Court strikes down FCC indecency rule - latimes.com
 
I can see some merit in limiting network and terrestrial radio in what times they can allow the strongest of language even though I personally consider those bad words to be of a very arbitrary nature. That said all it would take to lose a license under that bill would be someone a little too slow on the dump profanity button once and that is a chilling concept. The court got this exactly right.
 
Oh god, I hope this gets taken to where it needs to go. The only legitimate power of the FCC is that to prevent piracy. All their rules about foul language and nudity and what have you is all unconstitutional.

The FCC should be destroyed, networks should control what they put on their stations. I would give the preventing piracy power to the chamber of commerce.
 
And a blow against family values...

Not at all, parents just need to be parents instead of letting the t.v. Be the babysitter. Don't like what's on t.v.? Grow up and be an adult and turn it off. Problem solved.
 
Not at all, parents just need to be parents instead of letting the t.v. Be the babysitter. Don't like what's on t.v.? Grow up and be an adult and turn it off. Problem solved.
The original argument came from the earlier part of the 1900's, been a while since I had to know that stuff but it involved a daytime droppage of strong language and a father was listening with his kids, the argument was there was no warning about the content and the exposure was something they couldn't prepare for. Personally I'm not a fan of limiting content but the points were sound in the argument, these days though I think a rejoin warning should be sufficient in the face of an overall ban but can still see the merits of either.
 
The original argument came from the earlier part of the 1900's, been a while since I had to know that stuff but it involved a daytime droppage of strong language and a father was listening with his kids, the argument was there was no warning about the content and the exposure was something they couldn't prepare for. Personally I'm not a fan of limiting content but the points were sound in the argument, these days though I think a rejoin warning should be sufficient in the face of an overall ban but can still see the merits of either.

Just so I understand you think the warning labels that are on TV now like the TV-14 or the general warning "there maybe some material unsuitable for children" is good enough?
 
The original argument came from the earlier part of the 1900's, been a while since I had to know that stuff but it involved a daytime droppage of strong language and a father was listening with his kids, the argument was there was no warning about the content and the exposure was something they couldn't prepare for. Personally I'm not a fan of limiting content but the points were sound in the argument, these days though I think a rejoin warning should be sufficient in the face of an overall ban but can still see the merits of either.

I like the better warning of, "there may be content on T.V. that you might not want your kid(s) seeing or listening to so turn it off unless it's sesame street or Disney". See problem solved again.

Besides I don't know if you've seen soap operas nowadays, they don't need to be dropping any language bombs to realize they shouldn't be watched by kids.
 
You know what? We should celebrate by having a **** so all of us ****ers can **** and **** each other until the ****ing **** **** **** with ****s until the ****ing can't ****ing go any ****ing more.

What the **** are you trying to ****ing say. There are to ****ing asterisks to ****ing understand you:lamo
 
And a blow against family values...

That is the type of behavior that gave so much power to the FCC and limited the value of good tv. I hate watching movies on FX that have been edited so that no swear words or too much violence will be shown. I like original content. I think networks should rate their shows or movies they show according to the rules already established. R means swear words, nudity, violence, PG-13 means whatever that means, etc, etc.
 
I can see some merit in limiting network and terrestrial radio in what times they can allow the strongest of language even though I personally consider those bad words to be of a very arbitrary nature.

Personally, I think the free market should decide that. If there's enough of an uproar over a content, then that show won't get enough listeners to get enough sponsors to post advertisements to pay for their show.

I also think it would be a good idea if terrestrial radio programs had a rating system like we have for tv shows, movies, and video games. A little self-regulation will help out a long way.
 
Personally, I think the free market should decide that. If there's enough of an uproar over a content, then that show won't get enough listeners to get enough sponsors to post advertisements to pay for their show.

I also think it would be a good idea if terrestrial radio programs had a rating system like we have for tv shows, movies, and video games. A little self-regulation will help out a long way.
If there was uproar over violence in films then all movies would be edited to exclude graphic content. That would make us like Saudi Arabia.

I think that the "uproar" is caused by a few who are really loud. That is all. The majority of the people do not care and they would watch anything as long as they remember what is on at what time.
 
Personally, I think the free market should decide that. If there's enough of an uproar over a content, then that show won't get enough listeners to get enough sponsors to post advertisements to pay for their show.

I also think it would be a good idea if terrestrial radio programs had a rating system like we have for tv shows, movies, and video games. A little self-regulation will help out a long way.
I agree in full, but also had to read up in this exact matter when I was in the broadcasting curriculum. The arguments were very solid for the censure power versus the non-censure arguments at that time.

With the structured timing schedules now and competition I think a good debate should be renewed to allow more content options in programming and especially considering the mandatory ratings system.....applying that to radio is absolutely a great idea as well.
 
That is the type of behavior that gave so much power to the FCC and limited the value of good tv. I hate watching movies on FX that have been edited so that no swear words or too much violence will be shown. I like original content. I think networks should rate their shows or movies they show according to the rules already established. R means swear words, nudity, violence, PG-13 means whatever that means, etc, etc.

Indeed. I refuse to watch movies on TV for that very reason. The editing of them annoys the **** out of me.
 
And a blow against family values...

I guess you'll have to do a little more work as a parent instead of infringing upon other's right to free speech.
 
This really is a simple problem to deal with. If you don't want your kids to watch TV that has bad language or violence in it than don't let them watch shows that are rated for that kind of content. I really don't see how this is a problem. My kid watches what we tell him he can watch. This is the same as trying to ban McDonald's from advertising to kids because it makes them to fat. If you don't want your kids eating there than guess what don't take your kid there. If parents in this country would actually try and be parents than this country would have a much brighter future. But in today's culture who wants to take responsibility for anything any more. Blame someone else. The new American way
 
I guess you'll have to do a little more work as a parent instead of infringing upon other's right to free speech.

Parenting? I do not understand this concept. Explain!
 
I like how the majority here approve of this court rule. Which helps explain that the majority do not care for violence on tv. And that really this whole FCC indecency rule was a bunch of crap. But I bet you nothing will come of this ruling. Many of the news media outlets are owned by conservatives with family values.
 
I like how the majority here approve of this court rule. Which helps explain that the majority do not care for violence on tv. And that really this whole FCC indecency rule was a bunch of crap. But I bet you nothing will come of this ruling. Many of the news media outlets are owned by conservatives with family values.

I am a conservative with family values and I think this is a great ruling. Like I said before it is the parents job to decide what is appropriate for their kids to watch not the all knowing government.
 
Since TV is not a right and Free Speech is, I too am completely in favor of this ruling. I have often suggested to people that they sell their TV if they don't like what is shown. They look at me like I'm crazy. I love it when they do that, because I am certain that it is them that are 'crazy'.

There should be a word for "Fear of not owning a TV".
 
I am a conservative with family values and I think this is a great ruling. Like I said before it is the parents job to decide what is appropriate for their kids to watch not the all knowing government.

But the all knowing government is all knowing due to conservatives with family values.
 
That is the type of behavior that gave so much power to the FCC and limited the value of good tv. I hate watching movies on FX that have been edited so that no swear words or too much violence will be shown. I like original content. I think networks should rate their shows or movies they show according to the rules already established. R means swear words, nudity, violence, PG-13 means whatever that means, etc, etc.
I hate that editing as well. I like your idea of rating shows according to rules already established. With cable, parents can effectively screen those shows. And they should. I posted earlier it's a blow to family values and others disagreed. The rating system would make me happy, though.
 
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