Censorship
What is Censorship? The suppression of speech or communication that may be considered “harmful”... Who determines what's “harmful?” Always triggers...DING...First Amendment Protects against censorship, except corporate censorship In South Park/Media?
Reasons for Censorship FCC regulation To appease audiences To appease advertisers To attract advertisers To appease certain groups: usually extremist political or religious Fear or threat or risk of action against; usually national security Copyright and intellectual property law
FCC & Censorship FCC: Regulates content on TV and radio broadcasting; NOT cable, satellite, or internet Obscenity: pornography and often nudity; images/film NEVER legal! Network TV or Cable (but pay cable) Profane (language): language that's grossly offensive context of use, may be profane but lawful Indecent (programming): language/material that's about sexual or excretory material but not obscene context of use, may be indecent but lawful Safe harbor: aka watershed, 10pm-6am when can air indecent/profane content
First Amendment Free press, free speech, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, petition government Indecency Protected as free speech, can air during safe harbor Profanity Obscenity Not protected, can never air Oregon is the only state where obscenity is legal (still illegal on the federal level)
George Carlin "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" (based on Lenny Bruce 8 words) shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits...there are more that FCC doesn't like 1973, “Filthy Words” uncensored on Pacifica's WBAI Morality in Media
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) Supreme Court ruling on indecency/free speech based on WBAI's airing of “Filthy Words” Ruled in favor of FCC, but was indecent NOT obscene Defined FCC's control over indecent material in broadcasting FCC could prohibit indecent material during certain hours Established “safe harbor” FCC could define what counted as indecent broadly Formally established indecency regulation in US
“Death” (1997) Blaming TV for children's behavior; assisted suicide Condemnation of censorship Maybe some value to poorly animated show with toilet humor??? Self-reflexive critique of toilet humor Self-reflexive of backlash and outrage by parents about South Park But, everybody likes a good shit/fart joke Episode the model for Bigger, Longer & Uncut
South Park and Censorship Self-censors; Comedy Central does this to keep advertising companies happy Standards & Practices departments self- regulate Comedy Central has only censored South Park in respect to portraying Muhammed
“Good Times with Weapons” (2004) Aired one month after “Nipplegate” Satires of American public's ludicrous concern towards nudity and sexuality in entertainment rather than gratuitous violence and gore
Wardrobe Malfunction
Aka Nipplegate Super Bowl XXXVIII Feb. 2004 .5 second of shielded breast, indecency, ½ million complaints FCC fines CBS $550K ($8M in fines in 2004) Indecent violation from $27,500 to $325,000 Jackson content has been banned by Viacom/CBS and Clear Channel/Infinity Broadcasting Viacom paid $3.5M in indecency complaints Infotainment? Sensationalism? Legal Aftermath... After this, the FCC fined heavily and networks self-censored
“It Hits the Fan” (2001) Says “shit” 162 times Parody of hype around Chicago Hope episode Use of the word “fag” by Mr. Garrison (4th wall) HBC a parody of NBC Profanity in context Choksondik: as a noun or adjective meaning bad, or as an exclamation of disappointment, the word is acceptable, but as a noun or adjective referring to feces, it is apparently unacceptable Parody of FCC indecency standards Comedy Central didn't approve “shit” until season 15