A federal appeals court on Tuesday tossed out a government policy that can lead to broadcasters being fined for allowing even a single curse word on live television, concluding that the rule was unconstitutionally vague and had a chilling effect on broadcasters.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan struck down the 2004 Federal Communications Commission policy, which said that profanity referring to sex or excrement is always indecent.
"By prohibiting all `patently offensive' references to sex, sexual organs and excretion without giving adequate guidance as to what `patently offensive' means, the FCC effectively chills speech, because broadcasters have no way of knowing what the FCC will find offensive," the appeals court wrote.
"To place any discussion of these vast topics at the broadcaster's peril has the effect of promoting wide self-censorship of valuable material which should be completely protected under the First Amendment," it added.
The court said the FCC might be able to craft a policy that does not violate the First Amendment. FCC spokeswoman Jen Howard had no immediate comment.
"The score for today's game is First Amendment one, censorship zero," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, policy director of Media Access Project, which joined the case on behalf of musicians, producers, writers and directors.
The 41-year-old, an American-born Kuwaiti national, was arrested on 2 March while visiting family in Kuwait.The...
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning international journalist, has been detained for over a month by the Kuwaiti...
Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed on Wednesday in what appeared to be a targeted...
A federal judge dismissed President Trump's $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and...
