Swearing Cher 1, FCC 0

Big news in the ongoing battle over TV indecency today: A federal appeals court in New York struck down some FCC fines against networks in cases that involved "fleeting expletives" -- swear words uttered on broadcast TV. (Fox, for instance, had been fined for airing potty-mouth moments from Cher and Nicole Richie during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards.) The court noted that President Bush himself has been caught uttering such words on television, which suggests the FCC was acting at least a little bit arbitrarily.

A roundup of some official comments:

From Jonathan Rintels, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, which represents TV writers and producers and intervened in the case:

"These overly broad and arbitrary Commission decisions put creative, challenging, controversial, non-homogenized broadcast television programming at risk."

From Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, an advocacy group that has argued for stricter FCC regulation:

"As we predicted several months ago, a court in New York City has cleared the way for television networks to use the F-word and S-word in front of children at any time of the day."

From Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, a group financed by the TV industry that advocates against government controls:

"Today the court affirmed that parents can and should control television viewing, not special interest groups or the government."

One final thought: Wouldn't "The Fleeting Expletives" make an excellent name for a band? Or have I been reading too many FCC rulings?