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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

MORE BREAKING NEWS! C-SPAN Will Launch Profanity TV!

In the off again... on again war between broadcasters and the FCC on the use of the “7 dirty words,” the story has taken another new twist.

According to a late breaking story reported in Broadcast and Cable By John Eggerton , “The oral arguments in broadcasters challenge to the FCC's March profanity rulings against Fox Billboard Awards broadcasts will be allowed to be televised.”

C-SPAN will be carrying the hearings live on December 20th. The case revolves around the FOX broadcast where the "F-word" and “S-word" were used live by Cher and others. ( see EMGR Post FCC Says 7 Dirty Words are Still F***ing Dirty) C-SPAN has not received any requests from other news networks for direct feeds of the hearings.


Veteran First Amendment attorney John Crigler of Garvey Schubert Barer called the coverage news "super."

Other comments to B&C included those of Adonis Hoffman, senior VP and counsel for the American Association of Advertising Agencies He said "these kinds of cases don't come along often," and now that the fines have been statutorily increased, there are more than constitutional principles at stake. Plus, everyone wants to know where the lines should be drawn."

This promises to be HD (Highly Dirty) TV at its finest!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So I quess this is a one time offer to see broadcast industry professionals to cuss on TV. This will be fun to see the men and women on capital hill asking why they would allow the F-word and S-word on OTA TV. Finally our tax dollars are going to something that will be fun to watch on the grounds we can now see our lawmakers and poeople that work for us have to sware to get an answer on why we can't sware. Now only if the government classes could show this on the grounds of how Washington DC works and that the lanugage they are using under oath is the real language that they use every day and then claim they never say or act as if it is the worse possible form of sppech of all time yet commit much worse actions without a second thought.

Maybe as a result of all of this people will understand that this form of speech is a reality and that all people from time to time let one slip and that it all comes down to context and meaning in addition to when you say it. Many people in DC like to get people to believe that if you use one of the 7 dirty sware words you are bound for eternal damnation.

If they do use the dirty words how many programs like the daily show and Leno/Letterman will take advantage of this. I get my christmas present early.

Jack Tirak said...

I hate to be the Grinch of bad tidings this holiday season, but this is not before a hearing of Congress. It is before the 2nd or 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. It is before judges in black robes.

Just click on Broadcast and Cable as highlighted for the entire story.

Anonymous said...

opps my mistake but at any rate this issue will finally have to be adressed in a manner outside of what a select few want us to say and the power they have currently to inform us of what we can and cannot say. I don't know if MSNBC, CNN, and FOX will take the risk, but when CSPAN aired the hearings on former REP Jim Traficant of Youngstown they did slip up and allow "Big Jim" to utter a few of the 7 dirty words and when they reaired it the words were in tact. This was also after the hearing had finished and he was greeting his fans and answering reporters questions and it was Jim Traficant at his best and very funny as well. So it is not a first time thing for them.

In fact the Youngstown stations after Jim's trial where he was found guilty in 2002, they too allowed him to give his vulgar colrful remarks on Dick Gepheart, how the media was growding him, and the like. If I am not mistaken, WFMJ, WKBN/WYFX/WFXI, and WYTV in addition to FOX news channel, and CNN who all aired the outside circus side show never got fined for Jim's F-word use (he used it twice) and it was live from Cleveland. The local anchors inculding the late Tom Holden from WKBN really didn't know what to think as it caught them all when they wern't expecting it and had to apologize for his remarks. In his final house floor appearance he used some off color remarks and was warned not to sware but he found a way to thow a few out anyways.