Oral arguments were heard by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Fox Television v. Federal Communications Commission. Fox Television was challenging the FCC’s indecency standards and the way it punished broadcasters for airing shows that contain profanity. The network argued that the government violated the First Amendment by embarking on a “radical reinterpretation and expansion” of its power to punish broadcasters for indecent speech. The network contended that the FCC sharply changed its standards for profanity, that the standards were vague and made little sense in the face of industry changes. The FCC fined Fox for language used by Cher and Nicole Richie on the live broadcasts of the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards, respectively.

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