[Infowarrior] - U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC Indecency Policy

[Richard Forno]

U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC Indecency Policy

By Patricia Hurtado and Bob Van Voris - Jul 13, 2010

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-13/fcc-fleeting-expletive-policy-struck-down-by-u-s-appeals-court-as-vague.html

July 13 (Bloomberg) --A federal appeals court in New York struck down the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s indecency policy, saying it violates the First Amendment right to free speech because it’s “unconstitutionally vague.”

The court considered the agency’s censure of “fleeting expletives” on live television shows. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year in a challenge to the policy by media companies that the “pervasiveness of foul language” and the “coarsening to public entertainment” justified the commission’s more stringent regulation of broadcast programs.

The high court directed the appeals court in Manhattan to consider the constitutionality of the policy, resulting in today’s ruling.

“We now hold that the FCC’s policy violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here,” the three-judge appeals panel wrote.

The case is Fox Television Stations Inc. v. FCC, 06-1760, Second Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York at pathurtado at bloomberg.net; Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris at bloomberg.net.