FCC's ruling: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-23A1.pdf Prudish FCC commissioner Michael Copps' shouldn't-let-the-bastards-off public statement: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-218953A1.txt Copps' attempts to outlaw the televised Victoria's Secret fashion show: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48571,00.html --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,49682,00.html FCC Reversal: Eminem Not Obscene By Declan McCullagh (declanat_private) 2:00 a.m. Jan. 12, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" has passed the nose-wrinkle test of the U.S. government's broadcast censors. This week the FCC decided that it would not punish a Pueblo, Colorado, radio station for airing a bleeped-out version of the wildly popular hit from "The Marshall Mathers LP." "We conclude that (KKMG-FM) did not violate the applicable statute or our indecency rule, and that no sanction is warranted," the FCC said in a five-page ruling (PDF). The fuss started back in July 2000, when a prudish KKMG-FM listener complained to the FCC that even the lyrics on the edited song were "indecent." (Excerpt from one version: "Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell his records/ well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!/ You think I give a damn about a Grammy?") After 11 months of painstaking analysis and repeated listens to "The Real Slim Shady" in the commission's Washington headquarters, officials in the FCC's Enforcement Bureau decided that the song was indecent, that KKMG-FM needed to be taught a lesson and that a fine of $7,000 seemed just about right. Since the Supreme Court ruled in the 1978 Pacifica case that the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech has nothing to do with broadcasting, the FCC has the power to ban smutty talk from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Federal law says anyone who "utters any obscene, indecent or profane language by means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." After careful perusal, the FCC decided two passages were "indecent." They included: "My bum is on your lips/ And if I'm lucky you might just give it a little kiss," and "When I'm 30 I'll be the only person in the nursing home flirting/ Pinching nurses' asses when I'm BLEEP or jerkin'" In its response, KKMG-FM argued that that the passage wasn't actually "jerkin'" -- a direct reference to masturbation -- but "Jergens," a more subtle reference to an alternative use of Jergens' Ultra Healing Lotion. [...remainder snipped...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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