By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today against the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) fine imposed on CBS for airing footage of singer Janet Jackson’s nude breast during the 2004 Super Bowl.
The nearly 90 million viewers tuned into CBS during the Superbowl halftime show heard Justin Timberlake sing the line, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” as he removed a key part of Jackson’s garments in what was claimed by the station to be a “wardrobe malfunction.”
Federal judges, Anthony J. Scirica, Marjorie O. Rendell and Julio M. Fuentes, scrapped the $550,000 fine imposed on CBS Corp., accepting the explanation that the incident was “unscripted.”
The court claimed that the action was not “pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience.” The judges said the FCC “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting nudity.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) was outraged by the decision. “It is utterly incomprehensible that a court would decide that exposing Janet Jackson live on network television to 90 million viewers worldwide was not offensive,” said CWA President Wendy Wright. “The court claims this notorious act was not ‘pervasive as to amount to “shock treatment” for the audience’ but the wardrobe malfunction was clearly intended to shock the worldwide audience. It incited unprecedented outrage and immediate phone calls and emails from viewers to the FCC.”
As a result of this incident, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Broadcast Decency Act to increase broadcast indecency fines in 2006.
Shari Rendall, Director of Legislation and Public Policy at CWA, pointed out that “Broadcasters filed this case in the liberal Philadelphia court which has a history of poor decisions on obscenity. The FCC’s ability to enforce broadcast decency standards has been severely compromised as a result of today’s decision.”
See the ruling online here:
https://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/063575p.pdf
To express concerns email the court here:
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