Download or read book The Federal Communications Commission and the Regulation of Indecency written by Roger L. Sadler and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Broadcast Indecency written by Jeremy H. Lipschultz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-12-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Broadcast Indecency (1997) treats broadcast indecency as more than a simple regulatory problem in American law. The author’s approach cuts across legal, social and economic concerns, taking the view that media law and regulation cannot be seen within a vacuum that ignores cultural realities. It treats broadcast as a phenomenon challenging the policy approach of government regulation, and is an exploration of the political and social processes involved in the government control of mass media content.

Download or read book First Report written by Lili Levi and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This First Report, a document prepared at the request of the First Amendment Center, is an account of the FCC's recent shifts in its approach to the regulation of indecency on the broadcast medium. Principally designed to be descriptive and geared to policy-making as well as legal audiences, the Report carefully maps both the procedural and substantive changes in the FCC's indecency enforcement process. In addition, the Report addresses the First Amendment issues raised by the Commission's actions and inquires whether the agency's aggressive enforcement of its indecency rules can viably be extended both to non-broadcast electronic media (such as cable) and to violent programming on the air.

Download or read book Broadcast Indecency written by Jeremy Harris Lipschultz and published by Butterworth-Heinemann. This book was released on 1997 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discussing such controversial issues as 'shock jock' Howard Stern, this book treats broadcast indecency as more than a simple regulatory problem in American law. The author's approach cuts across legal, social, and economic concerns taking the view that media law and regulation cannot be seen within a vacuum that ignores cultural realities. This cutting-edge book treats broadcast indecency as a social phenomenon challenging the policy approach of government regulation. It is an exploration of the political and social processes involved in the government control of mass media content. The author, using F.C.C. documents and other sources, studies the complex issue of broadcast indecency and its impact on the mass media and the public. He also challenges assumptions and attempts to place content issues within an international context and to project the future of regulation while offering practical advice to broadcast managers on how to deal with today's broadcast indecency issues. Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Ph.D., is a former radio news director. He is currently an associate professor of communication and Graduate Program Chair in the Department of Communication, University of Nebraska at Omaha. He holds a Ph.D. in journalism from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and has been active in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Download or read book Regulation of Broadcast Indecency written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two prominent television events placed increased attention on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the broadcast indecency statute that it enforces. The airing of an expletive by Bono during the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, as well as the "wardrobe malfunction" that occurred during the 2004 Super Bowl half-time show, gave broadcast indecency prominence in the 108th and 109th Congresses, and resulted in the enactment of P.L.109-235 (2006), which increased the penalties for broadcast indecency by tenfold. Federal law makes it a crime to utter "any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication" (18 U.S.C. § 1464). Violators of this statute are subject to fines and imprisonment of up to two years, and the FCC may enforce this provision by forfeiture or revocation of a broadcaster's license. The FCC has found that, for material to be "indecent," it "must describe or depict sexual or excretory organs or activities," and "must be patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium." The federal government's authority to regulate material that is "indecent" but not obscene was upheld by the Supreme Court in Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, which found that prohibiting such material during certain times of the day does not violate the First Amendment. In 1992, Congress enacted P.L. 102-356 (47 U.S.C. § 303 note), section 16(a) of which, as interpreted by the courts, requires the FCC to prohibit "indecent" material on broadcast radio and broadcast television from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Under P.L. 109-235, "indecent" broadcasts are now subject to a fine of up to "$325,000 for each violation or each day of continuing violation, except that the amount assessed for any continuing violation shall not exceed a total of $3,000,000 for any single act or failure to act." Fines may be levied against broadcast stations, but not against broadcast networks. The FCC appears to have the statutory authority to fine performers as well (up to $32,500 per incident), but has taken the position that "[c]ompliance with federal broadcast decency restrictions is the responsibility of the station that chooses to air the programming, not the performers." The federal restriction on "indecent" material applies only to broadcast media, and this stems from the fact that there are a limited number of broadcast frequencies available and that the Supreme Court, therefore, allows the government to regulate broadcast media more than other media. This report discusses the legal evolution of the FCC's indecency regulations, and provides an overview of how the current regulations have been applied. The final section of the report considers whether prohibiting the broadcast of "indecent" words regardless of context would violate the First Amendment. This question arises because the Supreme Court in Pacifica left open the question whether broadcasting an occasional expletive, as in the Bono case, would justify a sanction.

Download or read book Broadcast and Internet Indecency written by Jeremy Lipschultz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-02-14 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores broadcast and Internet indecency from social and legal perspectives, using current cases and examples. Case law is used as a starting point from which to explore the social and legal boundaries of speech. Lipschultz argues that broadcast and Internet indecency reflect the outer boundaries of acceptable speech, and "understanding the limits of free speech in a free society allows us to theorize about the nature of communication." With indecency in the news every week, this volume is likely to get much critical and popular attention in the media discipline.

Download or read book The Indecency of Indecency written by Nick Gamse and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the thirty-plus years since FCC v. Pacifica Foundation revolutionized content-based broadcast regulation, much has changed. Although broadcast television was recognized as a dangerously pervasive medium in 1978, it is no longer the dominant force that it once was, with the vast majority of Americans now paying for subscription television services like cable or satellite. And while the Pacifica Court strove to support parents in their struggle to protect their children from pervasive inappropriate content by upholding the FCC's content regulation, technological developments like the V-Chip, cable boxes, DVRs, and satellite boxes have afforded modern parents various self-help alternatives. Many critics have argued that changes like these in the convergent media environment have obviated any need for the Supreme Court to evaluate the constitutionality of broadcast speech regulations with special deference, or so-called “intermediate scrutiny.” They contend that broadcast restrictions should instead be evaluated like all other content-based media regulation, with “strict scrutiny.” Some have suggested that no content-based television regulation could pass constitutional muster under a strict scrutiny test because new self-help media filters like the V-Chip necessarily present a less restrictive means to control indecent or profane speech. These arguments have found welcome ears in some courts, most notably the Second Circuit. Upon hearing Fox v. FCC on remand from the Supreme Court, the court pulled no punches in forcefully arguing that changes in the technology landscape should unravel any special First Amendment status for broadcast speech restrictions. Unfortunately, both law review articles and judicial opinions that have lobbied against content-based broadcasting regulation have generally neglected to offer specific empirical evidence to support their positions. These critics tend to focus on how new technology might be used in theory rather than how it is actually used in practice. This approach is problematic. If the Supreme Court is to uproot three decades of its broadcast speech precedent (as it will have the opportunity to do when it rehears Fox v. FCC this term), it should do so on the basis of specific empirical data that directly address the status of the bedrock governmental interest from Pacifica: parental control over their children's exposure to pervasive content. Thus, it is critical to understand precisely how the changes in media consumption and technology have affected these parents and their perceptions of control. It is equally important to empirically distinguish between the efficiencies of the alternatives that the Court would consider under a strict scrutiny analysis: one regime based on media filters and one based on regulation. Without such empirical considerations, it is impossible to accurately determine which alternative is the less restrictive method of protecting children (or whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has less restrictive ways of accomplishing its mandate). This study is the first to use actual survey data to examine how technology has changed the perspectives of parents. With generous funding from the Media Management Center at Northwestern University, I conducted an original survey of 575 American parents to better understand their perspectives on the intersection between television regulation and media filter technology. Parental views are fundamental to the indecency inquiry because they are at the core of the First Amendment carve-out for the content-based regulation of television broadcasting. The survey results offer clear empirical support for the argument that the FCC's content-based regulation of indecent and profane content should be deemed unconstitutional. Broadcast television is no longer a uniquely pervasive threat to parental control over what their children watch on television. The survey data reveal that there is no statistically significant difference in perceptions of control between parents who consume only broadcast television in their homes and those who receive their television through some other means of distribution (such as cable or satellite). Moreover, there is not a statistically significant difference between those two groups of parents in their perceptions of how much exposure their children have to inappropriate content on television. In other words, the data show that parents do not perceive an underlying practical need for regulations of broadcast speech to be measured with any less scrutiny than regulations on other media. It is not a uniquely pervasive medium. Second, parents overwhelmingly report that media filter technology like the V-chip is at least an equally effective substitute for government regulation of inappropriate content. This is a significant finding that could justify the eradication of the FCC's authority to regulate television content at all. Although most parents would like to rely on a multifaceted defense comprised of both technology and regulation, that position stands at odds with the Supreme Court's strict scrutiny jurisprudence. If media filters are just as effective as regulation at achieving the government's interest of helping parents control what their children see, then the regulations should be deemed unconstitutional abridgements of the First Amendment.

Download or read book United States Code written by United States and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 1506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States of America. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2012 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2013. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, enacted between January 2, 2013, the date it convened, and January 15, 2013. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "U.S.C. 2012 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 26 of the 51 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2012 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Ralph V. Seep, Law Revision Counsel. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office"--Preface.

Download or read book Dirty Discourse written by Robert L. Hilliard and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-02-04 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changes in society, the pluralistic nature of the citizens and thegeographic breadth of America preclude a common definition of whatis indecent, profane, or obscene. What may appear to be 'dirtydiscourse' to some may be considered to be laudable satire toothers. In this fascinating book, renowned media scholars andauthors, Robert Hilliard and Michael Keith, examine the history andnature of indecent program content in American radio. Examines the blue side of the airways with a first-everanalysis of the history and nature of off-color programcontent. Explores the treatment of once-forbidden topics in theelectronic media, investigating the beliefs, attitudes and actionsof those who present such material, those who condemn it, and thosewho defend it. Written from a social and cultural perspective, concentrates onthe means of greatest distribution - radio, with its phenomenalgrowth of "shock jocks" and rap music lyrics. Provides coverage of television and the Internet, showing howand why broadcasting has evolved from the ribald antics of theRoaring 20's to today's streaming cybersex, contrasting thestandards and actions of the FCC v. the First Amendment amidst theover-the-air and in-the-court battles of over-the-top radio. Illustrates political pressures and legal considerations,including Supreme Court decisions, and efforts to protect childrenfrom media smut.

Download or read book The FCC s Indecent Proposal written by Christopher S. Reed and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue of broadcast indecency has recently been on the forefront of congressional and regulatory agendas. Prompted in part by the January 2004 Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed a new regulation that would require broadcasters to maintain an archive of their entire program stream. The FCC believes the recordings would aid in the investigation of indecency complaints against broadcasters.While there are many troubling aspects to the FCC's proposal, this article explores the copyright implications of the proposed rule. The paper argues that if the FCC were to promulgate the new rule, it would force broadcasters to infringe upon the material rights of various programming producers. This issue is illustrative of a fundamental tension between the Copyright Act and the Communications Act that has caused trouble before and will undoubtedly do so again in the future.

Download or read book Sex and the Constitution Sex Religion and Law from America s Origins to the Twenty First Century written by Geoffrey R. Stone and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-21 with total page 935 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection A “volume of lasting significance” that illuminates how the clash between sex and religion has defined our nation’s history (Lee C. Bollinger, president, Columbia University). Lauded for “bringing a bracing and much-needed dose of reality about the Founders’ views of sexuality” (New York Review of Books), Geoffrey R. Stone’s Sex and the Constitution traces the evolution of legal and moral codes that have legislated sexual behavior from America’s earliest days to today’s fractious political climate. This “fascinating and maddening” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) narrative shows how agitators, moralists, and, especially, the justices of the Supreme Court have navigated issues as divisive as abortion, homosexuality, pornography, and contraception. Overturning a raft of contemporary shibboleths, Stone reveals that at the time the Constitution was adopted there were no laws against obscenity or abortion before the midpoint of pregnancy. A pageant of historical characters, including Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Anthony Comstock, Margaret Sanger, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, enliven this “commanding synthesis of scholarship” (Publishers Weekly) that dramatically reveals how our laws about sex, religion, and morality reflect the cultural schisms that have cleaved our nation from its founding.

Download or read book Public Broadcasting Report written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Not in Front of the Children written by Marjorie Heins and published by Hill & Wang. This book was released on 2002 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the history of "indecency" laws and other restrictions aimed at protecting youth ranges from Plato's argument for censorship to modern battles over sex education in the schools and violence in the media.

Download or read book Violent Television Programming and Its Impact on Children written by Kevin J. Martin and published by DIANE Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2007-08 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Television is an integral part of the lives of American families. By the time most children begin the first grade, they will have spent the equivalent of 3 school years in front of the TV set. The Fed. Communications Comm. (FCC) received a congressional request to undertake an inquiry on television violence. This report contains the FCC¿s examination of the problem. Contents: Introduction; The Effects of Viewing Violent Television Programming on Children; Law & Policy Addressing the Distribution of Violent Television Programming; Defining Violent or Excessively or Gratuitously Violent Programming; & Conclusions & Recommendations.

Download or read book Free Speech and the Regulation of Social Media Content written by Valerie C. Brannon and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-04-03 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Supreme Court has recognized, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have become important venues for users to exercise free speech rights protected under the First Amendment. Commentators and legislators, however, have questioned whether these social media platforms are living up to their reputation as digital public forums. Some have expressed concern that these sites are not doing enough to counter violent or false speech. At the same time, many argue that the platforms are unfairly banning and restricting access to potentially valuable speech. Currently, federal law does not offer much recourse for social media users who seek to challenge a social media provider's decision about whether and how to present a user's content. Lawsuits predicated on these sites' decisions to host or remove content have been largely unsuccessful, facing at least two significant barriers under existing federal law. First, while individuals have sometimes alleged that these companies violated their free speech rights by discriminating against users' content, courts have held that the First Amendment, which provides protection against state action, is not implicated by the actions of these private companies. Second, courts have concluded that many non-constitutional claims are barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230, which provides immunity to providers of interactive computer services, including social media providers, both for certain decisions to host content created by others and for actions taken "voluntarily" and "in good faith" to restrict access to "objectionable" material. Some have argued that Congress should step in to regulate social media sites. Government action regulating internet content would constitute state action that may implicate the First Amendment. In particular, social media providers may argue that government regulations impermissibly infringe on the providers' own constitutional free speech rights. Legal commentators have argued that when social media platforms decide whether and how to post users' content, these publication decisions are themselves protected under the First Amendment. There are few court decisions evaluating whether a social media site, by virtue of publishing, organizing, or even editing protected speech, is itself exercising free speech rights. Consequently, commentators have largely analyzed the question of whether the First Amendment protects a social media site's publication decisions by analogy to other types of First Amendment cases. There are at least three possible frameworks for analyzing governmental restrictions on social media sites' ability to moderate user content. Which of these three frameworks applies will depend largely on the particular action being regulated. Under existing law, social media platforms may be more likely to receive First Amendment protection when they exercise more editorial discretion in presenting user-generated content, rather than if they neutrally transmit all such content. In addition, certain types of speech receive less protection under the First Amendment. Courts may be more likely to uphold regulations targeting certain disfavored categories of speech such as obscenity or speech inciting violence. Finally, if a law targets a social media site's conduct rather than speech, it may not trigger the protections of the First Amendment at all.

Download or read book The Story of FCC V Pacifica Foundation and Its Second Life written by Adam M. Samaha and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This chapter provides a back story to FCC v. Pacifica Foundation - the so-called seven dirty words case, which upheld the Commission's authority to regulate broadcast indecency. The history of broadcast indecency regulation is briefly reviewed, along with the emergence of countercultural radio in the 1960s and 1970s. The chapter then turns to George Carlin and his personal transformation, Pacifica radio and its turbulent times, and the complaint of a Morality in Media board member that instigated FCC proceedings. The litigation history of the case is likewise investigated. This research provides insight into why the Department of Justice switched sides when the case reached the Supreme Court, and it identifies Justice Stevens as the likely swing voter. Apparently he was wrestling with issues of statutory interpretation. The chapter includes new interviews with several participants in the controversy, as well as some original archival research. The chapter closes with a few thoughts on the path of indecency regulation since the Pacifica case. It points up the relationship between constraint and creativity; and it suggests that technological change making the broadcast medium less important also makes broadcast regulation less problematic. The 'just change the channel' argument, so rhetorically effective against indecency regulation in the past, is now switching sides.

Download or read book The Television Code written by Deborah L. Jaramillo and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-09-26 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The broadcasting industry’s trade association, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), sought to sanitize television content via its self-regulatory document, the Television Code. The Code covered everything from the stories, images, and sounds of TV programs (no profanity, illicit sex and drinking, negative portrayals of family life and law enforcement officials, or irreverence for God and religion) to the allowable number of commercial minutes per hour of programming. It mandated that broadcasters make time for religious programming and discouraged them from charging for it. And it called for tasteful and accurate coverage of news, public events, and controversial issues. Using archival documents from the Federal Communications Commission, NBC, the NAB, and a television reformer, Senator William Benton, this book explores the run-up to the adoption of the 1952 Television Code from the perspectives of the government, TV viewers, local broadcasters, national networks, and the industry’s trade association. Deborah L. Jaramillo analyzes the competing motives and agendas of each of these groups as she builds a convincing case that the NAB actually developed the Television Code to protect commercial television from reformers who wanted more educational programming, as well as from advocates of subscription television, an alternative distribution model to the commercial system. By agreeing to self-censor content that viewers, local stations, and politicians found objectionable, Jaramillo concludes, the NAB helped to ensure that commercial broadcast television would remain the dominant model for decades to come.