PTC Disappointed by SCOTUS Refusal to Hear Janet Jackson Indecency Case

Praises the Court for Putting the Networks on Notice and Urges the FCC to Act

 

LOS ANGELES (June 29, 2012) – Today, the Parents Television Council® expressed disappointment that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case regarding the Janet Jackson striptease during the 2004 Super Bowl. However, PTC praised the High Court for putting the networks on notice. There is no longer any question: So-called fleeting images and four letter words will be subject to fines.

“Today’s decision to allow CBS off the hook for the infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl striptease is profoundly disappointing to families across the country. The American people expressed unprecedented outrage after the incident and as a result, Congress passed the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, increasing ten-fold the fines against broadcasters for airing indecent content,” said PTC president Tim Winter.

“However, American families should be comforted that future ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ will not go unpunished. We are grateful for the statement issued by Chief Justice John Roberts that broadcasters have now been issued fair warning. The bottom line of the two broadcast decency decisions is this: there is still a broadcast decency law in place and the networks must abide by it. The onus is now on the FCC to begin enforcing that law and rule on the merits of more than 1.5 million backlogged indecency complaints,” concluded Winter.