First Report: The FCC's Regulation of Indecency

Abstract

This First Report, a document prepared at the request of the First Amendment Center, is an account of the FCC's recent shifts in its approach to the regulation of indecency on the broadcast medium. Principally designed to be descriptive and geared to policy-making as well as legal audiences, the Report carefully maps both the procedural and substantive changes in the FCC's indecency enforcement process. In addition, the Report addresses the First Amendment issues raised by the Commission's actions and inquires whether the agency's aggressive enforcement of its indecency rules can viably be extended both to non-broadcast electronic media (such as cable) and to violent programming on the air.

Keywords: Administrative law, law and culture, law and society