On one side, conservative lawmakers pressured by their constituents are pressing for legislators and the F.C.C. to "clean up" what they believe has become an industry that has failed to police itself, allowing DJs like Howard Stern and others push the boundaries past good taste into indecent programming. They especially worry that children will be exposed to this content.
In opposition, there are those who feel the F.C.C and those pressuring it are going too far, trampling on the First Ammendment rights of broadcasters. Some believe the F.C.C.'s recent "crusade" marked by large fines and penalties against broadcasters, is in complete contrast to many years of seemingly lackadaisical concern for "indecent" programming.
Latest Developments
For the latest developments on the Radio Indecency Issue, see the "R.I.P" list ("Radio In Persecution")Background
The F.C.C. has a regulatory duty to oversee radio stations which are licensed - on behalf of the public - to operators who agree to follow the laws and regulations as determined by Congress and the F.C.C.OBSCENE SPEECH
Obscene speech is not protected by the First Amendment and cannot be broadcast at any time. To be obscene, material must meet a three-prong test:
1. An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
2. The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and
3. The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
BROADCAST INDECENCY
The FCC has defined broadcast indecency as "language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community broadcast standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities."
Indecent programming may, however, be restricted in order to avoid its broadcast during times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience.
Consistent with a federal statute and federal court decisions interpreting the indecency statute, the Commission adopted a rule pursuant to which broadcasts -- both on television and radio -- that fit within the indecency definition and that are aired between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. are subject to indecency enforcement action.
PROFANITY
Profane material is defined as including language that denotes certain of those personally reviling epithets naturally tending to provoke violent resentment or denoting language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between 6am and 10pm.
(Some of the above information directly from the F.C.C. website.)
