NRB Amicus Brief Supports FCC On Indecency
NRB Says Second Court Of Appeals Wrong To Reverse FCC Decision.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/9/2008 4:53:00 PM
The National Religious Broadcasters association has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court backing the FCC's defense of its cussing crackdown.
In the filing, according to NRB General Counsel Craig Parshall, the group argues that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong to reverse the FCC's decision that swearing on Fox Billboard awards broadcasts was indecent.
NRB said that the court's decision showed “a callous disregard for the powerful influence, for good or evil, of the medium of television on the hearts and minds of America’s children.”
The FCC has argued it was within its authority to find the broadcast's use of the F-word indecent.
NRB said that free speech "surely does not mean that our nation’s youth must also be required to sacrifice a measure of their childhood as part of the bargain.”
It pointed to what it said were examples where "professional sports leagues, local television management, national newspapers, and courts in sexual harassment cases, have all condemned the same word within adult professional settings that the New York court in this case had judicially protected despite its having been aired during children’s viewing hours."
The Bush administration weighed in last week in defense of the FCC's decision. Fox has until July 2, but is expected to ask for a month extension.
