2008 Woodie Awards
He said what?
The evolution of television profanity
Adam Asher
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: Mosaic
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"This is really, really fucking brilliant."
This incident, alongside Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl, had people calling the Federal Communications Commission in droves to complain. As a result, its maximum fine for indecency was raised from $32,500 to $325,000.
It's not just live slips of the tongue that have people up in arms - television is getting dirtier. According to the FCC's Web site, in the first half of 2006, there were more than 327,198 complaints made regarding more than 1,000 distinct programs, resulting in $3,962,500 in fines. Only 111 were reported in 2000. Both network and cable television programming have drawn complaints due to their colorful use of language.
Professor Juliet Dee, who teaches courses in mass communications as well as in media law, says, "It seems that even the family comedies have no hesitation saying, 'He's going to fall on his ass.' That's a word you probably would not have heard on television 30 years ago."
However, that doesn't seem to be silencing foul-mouthed writers and characters.
Dee says it's more of a generational difference than a problem. She says as part of her media law class they discuss a case from the Vietnam-War era in which the F-word was used publicly to protest the draft. It still makes her uncomfortable.
"I can't say those words because of the generation I grew up in," she says. "It's even hard for me to discuss this case with my class."
The FCC controls what can and cannot be shown on television based on words and references that fall into three categories - obscene, indecent and profane.
Obscene speech is defined as something that lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value and is not protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court originally described obscenity this way in reference to hardcore pornography.
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