Censorship

What is Censorship?

• The suppression of speech or communication that may be considered “harmful”...

• Who determines what's “harmful?”

• Always triggers...DING...First Amendment

– Protects against censorship, except corporate censorship

– In South Park/Media?

Reasons for Censorship

• FCC regulation

• To appease audiences

• To appease advertisers

• To attract advertisers

• To appease certain groups: usually extremist political or religious

• Fear or threat or risk of action against; usually national security

• Copyright and intellectual property law

FCC & Censorship

• FCC: Regulates content on TV and radio broadcasting; NOT cable, satellite, or internet

• Obscenity: pornography and often nudity; images/film

– NEVER legal!

• Profane (language): language that's grossly offensive

– context of use, may be profane but lawful

• Indecent (programming): language/material that's about sexual or excretory material but not obscene

– context of use, may be indecent but lawful

• Safe harbor: aka watershed, 10pm-6am when can air indecent/profane content

First Amendment

• Free press, free speech, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, petition government

• Indecency

– Protected as free speech, can air during safe harbor

• Profanity

– Protected as free speech, can air during safe harbor

• Obscenity

– Not protected, can never air

– Oregon is the only state where obscenity is legal

George Carlin

• "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" (based on Lenny Bruce 8 words)

• shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits...there are more that FCC doesn't like

• 1973, “Filthy Words” uncensored on Pacifica's WBAI

• Morality in Media

FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)

• Supreme Court ruling on indecency/free speech based on WBAI's airing of “Filthy Words”

– Ruled in favor of FCC, but was indecent NOT obscene

– Defined FCC's control over indecent material in broadcasting

– FCC could prohibit indecent material during certain hours

• Established “safe harbor”– FCC could define what counted as indecent broadly

– Formally established indecency regulation in US

“Death” (1997)

• Blaming TV for children's behavior; assisted suicide

• Condemnation of censorship

• Maybe some value to poorly animated show with toilet humor???

• Self-reflexive critique of toilet humor

• Self-reflexive of backlash and outrage by parents about South Park

• But, everybody likes a good shit/fart joke

• Episode the model for Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park and Censorship

• Self-censors; Comedy Central does this to keep advertising companies happy

• Standards & Practices departments self-regulate

• Comedy Central has only censored South Park in respect to portraying Muhammed

“Good Times With Weapons” (2004)

• Aired one month after “Nipplegate”

• Satires of American public's ludicrous concern towards nudity and sexuality in entertainment rather than gratuitous violence and gore

Wardrobe Malfunction

Aka Nipplegate

• Super Bowl XXXVIII Feb. 2004

• .5 second of shielded breast, indecency, ½ million complaints

• FCC fines CBS $550K ($8M in fines in 2004)

– Indecent violation from $27,500 to $325,000

• Jackson content has been banned by Viacom/CBS and Clear Channel/Infinity Broadcasting

– Viacom paid $3.5M in indecency complaints

• Infotainment? Sensationalism? Legal Aftermath...

– After this, the FCC fined heavily and networks self-censored

“It Hits the Fan” (2001)

• Says “shit” 162 times

• Parody of hype around Chicago Hope episode

• Use of the word “fag” by Mr. Garrison (4th wall)

• HBC a parody of NBC

• Profanity in context

– Choksondik: as a noun or adjective meaning bad, or as an exclamation of disappointment, the word is acceptable, but as a noun or adjective referring to feces, it is apparently unacceptable

– Parody of FCC indecency standards