The Federal Communications Commission has had plenty to keep busy with lately.
In the Super Bowl half-time show on Feb. 1, Janet Jackson’s breast was exposed setting in place a fire-storm of controversy over censorship on television.
The FCC immediately opened an investigation into the incident, and now Congress is debating raising the fines for airing indecent material from $27,500 to $270,000.
Additionally, a woman in Tennessee is suing Jackson, Justin Timberlake, CBS, and half-time show producers of MTV for causing her and “millions of others” to “suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment, and serious injury.”
But even before the Super Bowl, the FCC was speaking out against coarseness on television.
On Jan. 13, FCC Chairman Michael Powell called for the decision that allowed stations to air U2 singer Bono’s acceptance speech at the 2003 Golden Globes, which contained the f-word.
The FCC previously had decided the incident was not indecent because Bono had not used the word to “describe sexual or excretory organs or activities.”
But now with artists letting profanity and body parts slip out on television, the question is who is to blame and who to fine.
“In terms of the two situations, the FCC has no authority over individual performers, so if they are conducting an investigation they can investigate CBS,” said Ralph Izard, Associate Dean of the College of Mass Communication. “What makes it dubious is [the stations] did not know these things were going to happen.”
Louis Day, a mass communication professor said there was no way CBS could have controlled what happened.
“It was a live telecast,” Day said. “CBS had no way to edit it. It is the same thing as getting the f-word on sideline mics at a football game.”
Day said there is no specific law the FCC can use in this case.
“There is no federal rule they can use against them,” said Day. “Even the rules against indecency require more than that telecast. The FCC has no control over Janet Jackson.”
According to federal law, it is a violation to broadcast obscene programming at any time and violation to show material considered indecent during certain hours.
To be considered obscene, broadcasts are subject to a three-prong test.
The material must be considered obscene by the average person. It must depict or describe sexual conduct. And the broadcast must lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Indecent broadcasts are defined by the FCC as language or material that depicts or describes sexual or excretory organs or activities in terms considered offensive by typical broadcast standards.
The FCC may not be able to legally take action against Jackson, but according to Robert McMullen program adviser for mass communication school, the commission can still affect the broadcasters.
“[The FCC] can still make their lives miserable,” McMullen said.
The FCC does not have jurisdiction over CBS because CBS is merely a programmer,” McMullen said. “The commission instead controls the individual broadcast networks that use CBS programming.”
The FCC can punish the broadcasters who were merely showing the feed CBS gave them.
The commission can charge the broadcasters or put pressure on them to use technology to prevent these events.
ABC plans on using a five-second tape delay for the Academy Awards. CBS is going even further by using a five-minute tape delay.
But to some students, Janet Jackson’s breast was not offensive in the least.
“I could care less,” said Steven Smith, a criminology junior. “It’s just a boob, everyone’s seen a boob before.”