Freedom of speech or not?????

[InletBchDweller]

Here is an interview that was on Good Morning America.

Transcript of interview with Diane Sawyer:​

Keaton: "Those lips, I love them. I would like to have lips like that. Then I wouldn't have worked on my f---ing personality. Excuse me, my personality. If I had lips like yours, I'd be better off. My life would be better. I would be married. I have these thin lips."​

Sawyer: "My mother is going to work on your personality with soap in your mouth."​

ABC and your local station has been warned about allowing the f-word on the public airwaves. The network could have easily muted the obscenity. But it chose not to. The network stations purposely chose to violate Federal and FCC law by airing the program.


[Video Deleted]

My question is, should D. Keaton be allowed to get away with saying this on a network television station??? Don Imus was in all kinds of trouble for what he said, so what is the difference??? She said a word that offends many he said a word that offended many. I can understand that she did slip up but ABC should have censored it. THoughts?????​

 

[scooterbug44]

I thought the F bomb was one of the few words they always bleeped and issued fines for.

Not like you can use it in a medical or scholarly context so it's then okay.

 

[NoHall]

What in the world is the justification for dropping the F-bomb on Good Morning America? Potty mouth...

 

[TooFarTampa]

:scratch: Hmmm, well it's ABC's show and ABC controls the content, just like it was Imus' show and he controlled the content.

Thus ABC should have bleeped and should be fined. Tacky tacky tacky! The bleeper must have been asleep at the button.

I don't think its the same kind of "offensive" as an outwardly racist remark, though, however humorous Imus thought he was being. Just tacky and dumb.

Sawyer ad libbed very nicely, I thought!

 

[NoHall]

I wonder how many moms were watching it while their toddlers were eating in their highchairs, though? Nothing is as sweet as a 2-year old running around saying that sort of thing...

 

[Will B]

I saw that video. You can only bleep words if the broadcast is on a delay...usually about 7 seconds. It must not have been. It was definitely there, but it was said during and forth banter. She actually spoke a bit over Diane Sawyer so it you're not paying attention you might miss it. My guess is that there will be no fine from the FCC ...

 

[wrobert]

I saw that video. You can only bleep words if the broadcast is on a delay...usually about 7 seconds. It must not have been. It was definitely there, but it was said during and forth banter. She actually spoke a bit over Diane Sawyer so it you're not paying attention you might miss it. My guess is that there will be no fine from the FCC ...

I read on Reuters that ABC is now saying that they bleeped it out for the Central, Mountain, and West coast feeds. But I thought the Eastern and Central feeds were one and the same.

 

[Smiling JOe]

who is "keaton?"

 

[John R]

diane keaton

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html


It?s Against the Law

It is a violation of federal law to air obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours. Congress has given the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the responsibility for administratively enforcing these laws. The FCC may revoke a station license, impose a monetary forfeiture, or issue a warning if a station airs obscene, indecent, or profane material.

Obscene Broadcasts Are Prohibited at All Times

Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and cannot be broadcast at any time. The Supreme Court has established that, to be obscene, material must meet a three-pronged test:

*

An average person, applying contemporary community standards, must find that the material, as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
*

The material must depict or describe, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable law; and
*

The material, taken as a whole, must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Indecent Broadcast Restrictions

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 standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.? Indecent programming contains patently offensive sexual or excretory material that does not rise to the level of obscenity.

The courts have held that indecent material is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be banned entirely. It 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 indecency statute and federal court decisions interpreting the statute, the Commission adopted a rule that 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 prohibited and subject to indecency enforcement action.

Profane Broadcast Restrictions

The FCC has defined profanity as ?including 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 the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Maybe she was pronouncing it with a "ph" instead of an "f."