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Actionable indecency
Actionable indecency is a legal doctrine held by the Federal Communications Commission since the 1978 FCC vs. Pacifica case, that broadcast speech can be regulated even if it does not contain the seven dirty words deemed "indecent".[1][2][3]
The FCC states on its website that indecent broadcasts are not actionable between 10 PM and 6 AM;[4] however, in 1987, it announced that "actionable indecency" had been committed in broadcasts after 10 PM.[5]
- ^ Levy 2008, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Levy 2008, p. 6 "though [George Carlin's] monologue was not obscene, it was indecent".
- ^ FCC 2001 "FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978), provides the judicial foundation for FCC indecency enforcement. In that case, the Supreme Court held that the government could constitutionally regulate indecent broadcasts. In addition, the Court quoted the Commission's definition of indecency with apparent approval."
- ^ FCC 2015.
- ^ Goodale & Frieden 2014, p. 6.58-7 "In 1987, in response to growing public and congressional concern about the amount of sex and violence on television, the FCC announced that it actively would begin to apply the definition of indecency used in the Pacifica case and would punish licensees that transmitted indecent programs. In 1987, the FCC concluded that three different broadcasts, two of which were aired after 10:00 p.m., constituted 'actionable indecency,' subject to punishment under the Communications Act."
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