http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080721-court-whacks-fcc-janet-jackson-fleeting-exposure-fine-ready2edit.html

Quote :

"In a devastating blow to the Federal Communications Commission's crackdown on "fleeting" expletives and images, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the agency's $550,000 fine against CBS for broadcasting Janet Jackson's famous quickie breast exposure scene from the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl. The court not only calls the new policy "arbitrary and capricious," but held that CBS was not responsible for the actions of the dancers: Jackson and Justin Timberlake. "Both performers were acting as independent contractors for the limited purpose of providing entertainment services for one isolated, brief program," the justices ruled. In the end, the court ruled that CBS did its best to control Jackson and Timberlake's performance within the context of its independent contractor relationship with the two performers. "When a broadcaster endeavors to exercise proper control, but ultimately fails, to prevent unscripted indecency, it will not have acted with scienter [knowledge of deliberate wrongdoing]," the justices argued, "if its actions were negligent rather than reckless." Today's ruling represents yet another defeat for the FCC's new policy of punishing broadcasters for "fleeting" expletives and images. Last summer the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the agency's sanctions against Fox Television affiliates for broadcasts of Cher and Nicole Richie saying "shit" and "fuck" during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards. The FCC has appealed that decision to the United States Supreme Court, which will hear the case in the fall. 9/16ths of a second Over half a million people filed complaints with the FCC following Janet Jackson's famous breast exposure Super Bowl half time scene. But the Third Circuit's skepticism of the FCC's fine is obvious from the getgo. The Opinion notes CBS's research indicating that over 85 percent of those complaints came from forms produced by activist groups. Many of the protests were filed in duplicate, "with some individual complaints appearing in the record up to 37 times,” CBS asserted. And very early in the court's 102-page ruling, the justices also note that in the last three decades since the Supreme Court's Pacifica vs. FCC ruling, the agency has showed a great deal of restraint in punishing broadcasters. "Throughout this period, the Commission consistently explained that isolated or fleeting material did not fall within the scope of actionable indecency," the court observed, with said policy in effect up to and including the Jackson breast-exposure scene, which the Opinion's very first paragraph notes lasted "nine-sixteenths" of a second. "Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court declared. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of, and a reasoned explanation for, its policy departure." The Second Circuit made a similar call in the Billboard cases. "

About fucking time.

7/21/2008 10:37:53 PM

something that has bothered me about that entire incident, over 4 years ago, that has never gotten any attention.
It's not that there was a fleeting, mostly covered boob shown on air that bothered me, which is what seems to have gotten everyone else in a tizzy. It was the fact that it was Justin Timberlake forcibly, and it could be said violently ripping the clothes off of a woman. Obviously the whole thing was staged on both of their parts, so I'm not suggesting he started tearing her cloths off without her knowledge or consent. But the little act they put on was to make it appear that it was without her consent - i.e. she acted surprised and ashamed and covered up really quickly.

Does nobody care about that? If this had not been a little choreographed show, he would have been charged with assault. Men simply cannot go around grabbing women's boobs and tearing their fake bras off. What kind of message is that sending to both Timberlake's and Janet Jackson's fans? If I was a parent, I wouldn't be upset that my little boy or girl saw a part of a nipple for less than a second on TV; I would be pissed that whoever put that show together thought it was OK to show a man sexually assaulting a woman as entertainment.

7/21/2008 10:57:07 PM

I never saw it as sexual assault. IIRC, it ends on the line "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song" and the "wardrobe malfunction" was a (poorly executed) visual expression of that. A kid could definitely process it the wrong way though.

7/21/2008 11:32:07 PM

[Edited on July 21, 2008 at 11:43 PM. Reason : .]

7/21/2008 11:37:07 PM

I was at the game but had gone to get some foot at halftime

When I came back some guy next to us was like "Hey, her titty flopped out lol"

and I lol'd back, but I never thought it would have been that big of a deal

7/21/2008 11:38:00 PM