ABSTRACT
The value of expressing the pornographic, obscene, violent, sexual, or repulsive has long been recognized by comedians, lovers, artists, advertisers, and entrepreneurs. The significance for broadcasters is that questions of morality have been on the regulatory table for years, but the FCC has mostly left it to stations to exercise self-regulation. Mass media historian and legal scholar Margaret Blanchard writes that Americans have had and continue to exhibit a history of tolerance for suppression of objectionable speech. Conservative trends in political and economic life are strongly connected with clean-up campaigns. The definition of “indecent” seems to range from simple profanity to later attempts by the FCC to judge sexual innuendo, to being synonymous with pornographic obscenity.
