IN OUR OPINION
Side with free speech on salty TV language
NOVEMBER 10, 2008
Television broadcasts shouldn't be filled with curse words uttered without regard to purpose, time of day or relevance.
But it's equally true that the Federal Communications Commission, which has adopted increasingly aggressive but vaguely defined standards for punishing broadcasters who air curse words, shouldn't have such a free hand in suppressing speech.
So the Supreme Court, which last week heard a case testing the FCC's latitude to regulate "fleeting expletives" that appear on television, would do well to insist on more restraint from the commission. Better yet, the court could also make a firm point about the protections afforded even offensive speech under the First Amendment.
Assuring decency is one thing. Rogue censorship is another. And the FCC seems to have forgotten the distinction.
The case at the high court springs from FCC declarations that several awards shows were indecent because of curse words (specifically, the f-bomb) that were uttered during the broadcasts.
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http://freep.com/article/20081110/OPINION01/811100305/1069/opinion