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“Artistic Expression” of the F-word on Public Airwaves Protected by Second Circuit Court of Appeals 6/11/2007 Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals declared a profanity free-for-all on primetime network television on Monday. The FCC’s rule to protect our children against inappropriate “artistic expressions” during live programming is now under scrutiny.
Matt Barber, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Policy Director for Cultural Issues, said, “With this ruling the Second Circuit has essentially declared a profanity free-for-all on primetime network television, a time when children are most likely to be viewing. The court ruled that it was ‘arbitrary and capricious’ for the FCC to restrict the ‘fleeting’ use – whatever that means – of the harshest of expletives, including the F-word. The Fox Television Network has said, and the court apparently agreed, that the FCC regulation, ‘serves no purpose other than to chill artistic expression in violation of the First Amendment.’ So it now ‘chills artistic expression’ to place even the most reasonable and limited of protective barriers between a four-year-old and the F-word on daytime television? Just when you think we can’t sink any lower as a society, we do.”
CWA is encouraging Congress to address this issue. Networks need to be held accountable for inappropriate language on live programming. Small children should not be exposed to such “artistic expression” on television.

For Information Contact: Demi Bardsley (202) 488-7000, ext. 1020 media.cwfa.org | Printer Friendly Version |