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Fox Intentionally Broadcasts 'F-Word' During Prime Time Football Playoff 1/16/2007 You can file a complaint with the FCC right here. Families joining together in their homes to watch a football game shouldn't expect the network to send the pig along with the pigskin into their parlor. "Pig in the parlor" is the term the Supreme Court used when it upheld the right of the FCC to enforce federal decency laws on broadcasters. Patently offensive words - including the F-word - belong in a barnyard, not your parlor.
The Fox network did just that during Saturday night's broadcast of the NFL playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the Philadelphia Eagles.
As a camera scanned the stadium crowd of 70,000, the camera operator managed to find a woman wearing a T-shirt clearly inscribed with the words "F--k Da Eagles" (spelled out - no dashes). A director or producer saw the shot among all of the other camera shots he had to choose from and made the decision to air the shot of the woman and her profane shirt. The camera stayed focused directly on the woman and her shirt for several seconds. There can be no doubt that this was an intentional and gratuitous airing of patently offensive language by Fox on the public airwaves. All of the V-chips on the planet couldn't have blocked the shot from your home and your family -
Fox subjected viewers on the East Coast to this display of indecency during the Family Hour (8:30 p.m. ET). Even worse, it aired at 5:30 p.m. on the West Coast.
The courts have upheld the right of the FCC to find that using the F-word on broadcast TV and radio during prohibited hours is a violation of federal law. But the FCC can't act unless viewers like you are offended and file a complaint.
If you believe that a national television broadcast of a football game containing the F-word is patently offensive, then you should file a complaint with the FCC today. And you can do so from our Web site at: http://www.cwfa.org/main.asp. Just scroll down to "Hot Topics" and click on "FCC Indecency Complaint form" to file your complaint.
You can bet that if you ignore this offense, it will become commonplace in future sporting events. There are always attention-seeking sensationalists like the woman with the T-shirt who are seeking a few minutes of fame. And networks, determined to ignore the law and broadcast any filthy words and pictures they wish, will be there ready to exploit them.
The public airwaves belong to people like you, not mega-media giants that care only about making money. Make no mistake, it's why the Fox network has filed suit in federal court claiming it should have the right to air unlimited offensive language at any time of day. The Fox network believes it has that right - but it doesn't.
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