I’m aware of the George Carlin skit, but are those all of the words that you can’t say on television?
There is no list. Many of those have been spoken on broadcast TV without any significant issues. It’s all context and audience.
Anyone can file a complaint about anything - http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgb/fcc475B.cfm
That’s what drives FCC actions.
Carlin later expanded his “seven words” because of the obvious reality that there are dozens or hundreds of such words.
Which words depend on a lot of things, including the type of show, the time of day, and the context they are presented in. There is not a master list. Nor are the words technically censored. The FCC can fine stations that air the words but it cannot ban their use. And the fines only apply to network television outlets (not the networks themselves). Cable stations can air anything they please, but most voluntarily bleep the words. Again, which words depend on lots of factors.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dorf/20090504.html
Any word that depicts sexual acts or excrement.
While nothing is explicitly banned, the chilling effect means that:
On broadcast television, you can’t say fuck, shit, or asshole.
On basic cable, you can’t say fuck or shit, but I think you can say asshole. At least it’s not censored on The Venture Bros.
On fancy cable like Showtime, HBO, or Bravo, you can say fuck. I believe I’ve heard Bravo censor sometimes, so who knows what their logic is.
You missed that episode of South Park didn’t you.
Wrong. “Asshole” has been spoken plenty of times on broadcast TV. I hear “shit” all the time on 60 Minutes, and that show is practically made for 90-year-old busybodies. What can and can’t be said is a matter for each network’s standard and practices office to decide on a case-by-case basis, based on how much they think people will complain and what their advertisers will think.
Nope. Have you ever watched South Park?
And dozens of other words depending on time and context.
There are no outside restrictions for cable. None. All restrictions are self-imposed by each individual cable content provider. Comedy Central, for example, broadcasts movies and roasts that are bleeped at other times uncensored late on Saturday nights. It is entirely voluntary. There are no rules. Same for satellite broadcasting.
Bravo is basic cable, not fancy, assuming you mean premium by fancy. It’s certainly not in the same category as Showtime or HBO.
As for what words you can say where, following Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction brouhaha, things started to get more strict again. Network shows had been allowing more and more use of words like bullshit (seemed like they said it at least once a week on NYPD Blue for a while) but now even bitch seems to be cut back on. It didn’t seem to affect cable, and shows like Breaking Bad or various BBC America imports will allow shit quite often, but still bleep fuck.
I’ve always found this an interesting topic.
Here’s the FCC’s page dealing with this. It discusses obscenity, indecency, and profanity. My take on it is that obscenity=hardcore porn, indecency=softcore porn, and profanity=swearing.
So what words are considered profanity?
The FCC says:
Thanks for the elucidation everyone!
This I don’t understand. Wikipedia says that the FCC is an agency of the US government, and you say that they can fine TV stations for using “bad” words - not content that’s against the secrecy act, not content that is inflammatory or insulting, but words like shit and fuck.
Given all the chest-beating about Freedom of speech that Americans do with regard to other countries’ laws, how can a federal agency fine and thus restrict the free speech on TV in the US? Why has this not been struck down by the Supreme Court?
The self-censorship with bleeping on Cable is another thing, since it’s not done by the government, though I still think it’s very stupid.
My favorite one was Joy Behar (sp?) saying on The View, “Thank you Jesus”, for having lost weight, getting “Jesus” bleeped on the West coast airing, when re-broadcast there, but not when she said it in New York. There are so many nuances here … “Jesus” is a swear word? Or was it the thanking? Or the frivolous topic? Or was it a west coast thing? Did a committee of producers meet, and ponder and debate the topic? It was never more clear – there are no dirty words, it’s all what the producer “feels” like they have to do to avoid letters, that cause loss of ad revenue. Or in the case of South Park and trhe Venture Brothers, what they feel like saying, to generate buzz – even negative.
Because the Federal Communications Act of 1934 (and for that matter, earlier legislation) declared that the broadcast airwaves are a limited resource, and that licenses to use them were to be granted on the basis of the public’s “interest, convenience and necessity.” And the agency of the government that regulates those airwaves, the Federal Communications Commission, has determined that obscene speech falls into none of those categories. And because the courts have consistently upheld that determination, and Congress has declined to change that law, for the past 75 years.
For that matter, there are a number of federally mandated requirements that one may or may not feel fall under the category of freedom of speech:
A portion of the broadcast frequencies is reserved for use by only non-commerical stations
Stations must identify themselves by their call sign and city of license
Stations must disclose that an announcement or program has been paid for, and by whom
Stations that provide time for a candidate for political office must provide “equal time” to all candidates for the same office, and must charge those candidates the same price
Stations may not broadcast “hoaxes” – information that they know to be false, that causes “substantial public harm” and that a station could reasonably forsee would cause harm
Stations must keep a file detailing their efforts to provide programming in “the public interest, convenience and necessity” and make that information available to the general public
(There are some others, but these are the ones I know off the top of my head.)
One week ago today the Supreme Court sided with the FCC
The case was against Fox, who have appealed it:
I can vouch for this - about 10 - 15 years ago, I was watching public television (local broadcast station) and there was liberal use of a lot of nasty words, including racial epithets and the word ‘fuck’ on an answering machine message replayed as part of a documentary on some hate group. None of the words were bleeped out. It kind of startled me, cause I wasn’t used to hearing language not bleeped out on broadcast TV. To the best of my knowledge, there wasn’t any kind of backlash.
Let us not forget that Cartoon Network turned Professor Farnsworth’s “Sweet Zombie Jesus” into “Sweet Zombie”. I’d say that’s on the “take extreme caution to not possibly offend someone” side of things.
Somewhat ironically, the FCC is often very reticent to strictly define the meaning of obscenity or any other category of speech that cannot be transmitted over the airways so as to avoid exercising (unconstitutional) prior restraint upon the stations. This can be quite frustrating for the stations.
TBS, voluntarily, censors the line “you’re my savior, man, my own personal Jesus Christ” from The Matrix. I have no idea why.