Tuesday, a case concerning indecent speech during radio and television broadcasts was heard by the Supreme Court, as a result of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) having appealed a 2007 New York federal appeals court ruling that stated the FCC’s ban on „fleeting expletives” was arbitrary. In 2004, after several stars including U2 frontman Bono and Cher had some slips of the tongue and used indecent phrases during awards programs that children might have been watching, the FCC issued a ban on indecent speech, saying that broadcasters who failed to obey the new rule were subject to pay fines of over $325,000.

Until then, the Commission had only punished reoccurring indecent speech, while starting four years ago, a single profanity has been enough to get broadcasters in trouble. This entails that even if a guest on a show utters a foul word, the network who aired the broadcast is in for a fine.

Fox Televisions, the major opponent to the FCC’s ban, alongside other broadcasters, claim that the measure will cause many problems where entertainment and sports shows are concerned and that it also infringes on their right to free-speech, which allegedly renders the ban a violation of the First Amendment.

During the hearing, the Court seemed divided into the liberals and the conservatives, the former group siding with the broadcasters, while the latter with the FCC. Consequently, while the liberals raised the question of how the networks would be able to prevent indecent speech be blurted out during the airing of live events, the conservatives stated they did not want their children exposed even to a single profanity when watching television.

The Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling in the matter at the beginning of next year.