FCC: Not One Thing, But Another

Joseph Laszlo | June 04, 2007, 04:47 PM

My coverage at Jupiter has been undergoing a slow evolution away from telecoms and broadband, and toward media (and particularly online video). As such, I kind of thought I'd have less to say about my favorite bugbear: the FCC. But in its content watchdog role I can still pick on it once in a while.

For example, a NY appellate court has just issued a nice, conservative (in the 'avoid government regulation' sense, not the 'family values' sense) ruling against the FCC [TV Week] on "fleeting expletives."

From the ruling: "The FCC's decision [fining Fox for indecency for the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards] is devoid of any evidence that suggests a fleeting expletive is harmful, let alone established that this harm is serious enough to warrant government regulation. The order provides no reasoned analysis of the purported 'problem' it is seeking to address from which this court can conclude such regulation of speech is reasonable."

What does this mean? Well, unless the FCC comes up with a better rationale for why the momentary blurting of naughty words causes deep societal problems, broadcasters can rest easier when folks like Cher and Nicole Richie let slip an F-bomb on live TV.

Seems fairly reasonable to me.