FCC Working on Broadcast Indecency Complaints; Seeks Comment on Adopting Egregious Cases Policy

Since September 2012, the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has reduced the backlog of pending broadcast indecency complaints by 70% (more than one million complaints), principally by closing pending complaints that were beyond the statute of limitations or too stale to pursue, that involved cases outside FCC jurisdiction, that contained insufficient information, or that were foreclosed by settled precedent. The Bureau is also actively investigating egregious indecency cases and will continue to do so. The FCC now seeks comment on whether the full Commission should make changes to its current broadcast indecency policies or maintain them as they are.

For example, should the Commission treat isolated expletives in a manner consistent with its decision in Pacifica (1987) (“If a complaint focuses solely on the use of expletives, we believe that . . . deliberate and repetitive use in a patently offensive manner is a requisite to a finding of indecency.”)? Should the Commission instead maintain the approach to isolated expletives set forth in its decision in Complaints Against Various Broadcast Licensees Regarding Their Airing of the “Golden Globe Awards” Program (2004)? Should the Commission treat isolated (non-sexual) nudity the same as or differently than isolated expletives? Commenters are invited to address these issues as well as any other aspect of the Commission’s substantive indecency policies.

For purposes of this proceeding, we are establishing a new docket, GN Docket No. 13-86. All comments should refer to GN Docket No. 13-86.