An appellate court’s decision overturning the Federal Communications Commission’s fines for the Janet Jackson Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction” could push the indecency fight to post-Bush versions of the FCC and Congress.
The panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia overturned the FCC’s indecency fine of $550,000 against 20 CBS stations, saying the FCC hadn’t provided adequate notice to broadcasters that it was changing its standards on how it would view “fleeting” images of nudity, and that it hadn’t thoroughly established that CBS was responsible either by inadequately supervising Ms. Jackson and co-star Justin Timberlake or acting “recklessly” by failing

CBS spent almost four-and-a-half years fighting the fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission for singer Janet Jackson's flash of nudity during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.
Fighting the Civil War didn't even take that long.
lasted only a half-second. Blink and you would've missed it.

There was a time when the Federal Communications Commission concerned itself with a broader range of issues. In 1961, commission chairman Newton Minow memorably described broadcast television as a “vast wasteland.” We may conclude that things have gone downhill in the interim, as that was back in what are now referred to as television’s “golden days.”
In recent years, the FCC has largely occupied itself with three matters: 1) deregulating everything in sight, so fewer and fewer companies can monopolize the American airwaves; 2) the coming digital train wreck, when analog television will be shut down; and 3) dirty words and pictures.
nd is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court during its fall term as part of a wide-ranging review.

Even though it was a cheap stunt, Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during half-time of the Super Bowl turns out not to have been a threat to the nation’s moral fiber. Yes, the republic survives.
For those who have forgotten or want to forget (sorry), Ms. Jackson’s breast briefly was exposed by fellow performer Justin Timberlake at the conclusion of a song and dance routine that otherwise is not memorable. According to the Federal Communications Commission, the exposure was on the air for nine-sixteenths of one second.
incident itself, an important distinction in that it deviated widely from its own policy and precedent. As the court noted, the FCC or any

By Dimitri Vassilaros The 3rd US Court of Appeals says CBS should not have to pay a Federal Communications Commission fine of $550000 for airing a live

By McClatchy-Tribune News Service Whatever Janet Jackson does in the remaining time she has in this world, she probably can't alter the first sentence of

July 25 (Bloomberg) - To understand why a woman's breast exposed on television for a half-second four years ago still lives on in legal battles, you have to grasp this notion.
It's not about the breast.
et slide.

When Janet Jackson's now infamous "wardrobe malfunction" occurred at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in Houston, any viewer who blinked missed the nine-sixteenths of a second exposure of her right breast as fellow performer Justin Timberlake tugged at her costume.
Not so fleeting was the near-hysterical reaction of the Federal Communications Commission, which launched a four-year morality crusade against indecency on the public airwaves and fined CBS $550,000. FCC officials failed to establish that CBS had advance knowledge of the stunt and wrongly concluded that Jackson and Timberlake were employees of the network.
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