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NAB Chief Happy With Supreme Court Indecency Appeal

  • RadioInk, Wednesday, March 19, 2008 10:45 AM

Dennis Wharton, executive vice president of NAB, says the organization is happy the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an FCC appeal of a lower court ruling that overturning its policy on "fleeting indecency." Wharton says the high court will "provide badly needed clarity to both broadcasters and policymakers on this critically important First Amendment case."

Further, "we're confident that whatever the outcome of this case, local radio and television stations will be mindful of broadcasting's long history of providing programming that will reflect and respect the audiences that we serve."

In June of 2007, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out an FCC policy change making fleeting, single-word incidents of indecency enough to trigger fines, calling the change "arbitrary and capricious" and noting it raises First Amendment concerns as well.

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