It's hard to imagine that regulators are still fretting over Janet Jackson's naked nipple more than three years later, but somehow this contretemps is still working its way through the courts.
According to The New York Times, CBS (NYSE: CBS) has asked a three-judge panel in a federal court to reverse a $550,000 fine levied on the company by the Federal Communications Commission for broadcast indecency. A lawyer for the company argued that CBS had taken steps prior to that 2004 Super Bowl to install an audio delay system to allow for the blocking of profanity, but did not yet have visual equipment set up to do the same thing.
Michael K. Powell, the FCC Chairman at the time of the stunt, had said that he and his family were outraged by the ""classless, crass and deplorable stunt."
Oh please! Janet Jackson's nipple was on television for half a second. We have daily coverage of violence on the evening news, often with graphic pictures of bloody corpses. We have exhaustive coverage of Larry Craig's footsie-playing in public restrooms, and there's even a reality show version of Lord of the Flies.
And we're still talking about Janet Jackson's nipple. CBS appears to be appealing the decision on purely symbolic grounds. The $550,000 fine is in no way material to such a large company, but they're standing up for some kind of principle, however obscure. That's a rarity in business these days.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-12-2007 @ 5:53PM
Judity said...
I've often wondered about the double standard. We can see a man's nipples every day on TV, but not a woman's nipples. Why?
Judity
"Seraglio of the Gods" is sequel to "My Sweet Satyr"
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9-12-2007 @ 6:13PM
Enrique said...
Well, we're always reaching aren't we. I remember the days when a toilet couldn't even be seen on TV. Things were seen as tasteful or distasteful. I guess distasteful wins out again. I also remember when acting was a telent that communicated through art. Implication challenged one's imagination to understand. And we did. We didn't have to see naked bodies across a screen. There was more time for an actual story. Of course, in those days, we could keep our keys in the car and our houses unlocked. As T.V. tries to make things more real rather than helping us to reach ideals, this continues. Now we have more crime, more hatred (just read AOL comments), more aggression, and more disunity. The only way to aovid it is to keep the computer, T.V., movies, music, comedy, and any other publication away from our kids. Hollywood is raising them.