The Indecency of the FCC

"The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in FCC v. Fox. In this important first amendment case, the Judges will determine whether to enact significant limitations to the Federal Communication Commission’s power to censor the airwaves. The proximate issue concerns FCC’s fines leveled at Fox for four-letter words spoken by Cher and Bono at awards programs and at ABC for a nudity scene on NYPD Blue. The Court must rule on whether the FCC should continue exercising prerogative in deciding, for example, that a bad word is OK in Saving Private Ryan or news programming, but not on a comedy show."