Pacifica Foundation Case Study

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Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation Possibly the most important case dealing with indecency, FCC v. Pacifica Foundation called attention to the radio broadcasting use of indecent language. A comedian named George Carlin recorded a satirical monologue about the way society views language in a routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Use on Television” (Ray, 1990, pg.83). WBAI, a radio station belonging to the Pacifica Foundation, aired the monologue one afternoon after warning audiences before hand that the segment would include graphic language. According to William B. Ray, in the bit, Carlin mentioned the seven words multiple times, “shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits,” using them in non-sexual sentences (p. 83). However, a father riding in a car with his teenage son tuned in to the broadcast after the content warning, heard Carlin’s use of these words, and filed an …show more content…

The FCC claimed that two of Fox’s previous on-air broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards were in violation of the new indecency policy (Zelezny, 2010). The first incident referenced was at the 2002 Billboard Music Awards when Cher said “I’ve also had critics for the last 40 years saying that I was on my way out every year. Right. So fuck ‘em” when accepting her award (Zelezny, 2010, p.481). The second Notice was issued for the Billboard Music Awards broadcast from the following year where presenter Nichole Richie said in reference to her reality TV show, “have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple” (Zelezny, 2010, pg. 481). Fox challenged the FCC’s policy claiming that it violated the station’s First Amendment rights and fell under the category of “arbitrary and capricious“ outlined in the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. §702). (Denniston, 2009; Zelezny,