Edited for
posting; some
in-class content
is not included
here.
Regulation of
Media Content
Thursday, October 1
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Types of Regulation
• Economic and content regulation
• Economic regulation tries to ensure a
competitive, efficient media market
• Content regulation tries to prevent the
distribution of “harmful” media content
•
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Protecting the Public Interest:
The Role of the FCC
 Obscene and indecent media content is
regulated to protect the public

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Obscenity and Indecency
 Books banned from various schools and/or
libraries in the U.S.:
 Harry Potter series
 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
 Black Beauty
 Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
 Gone with the Wind
 Frankenstein
 Call of the Wild
 Canterbury Tales
 Lord of the Rings books
 The Bible
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• http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
Mapofbookcensorship.html

How to Define Obscenity and
Indecency
 Who decides what these terms mean? We might all
have different definitions…

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A Case Study
 Courts must provide a working definition…
 1973: Miller v. California

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Supreme Court Decision
 California convicted Miller under state law, and
the Supreme Court agreed
 In decision, developed a three-part test for
obscenity

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The 3-Part Obscenity Test
1. Would the average person, applying community
standards, find that the work, as a whole, appeals
to the prurient interest?
2. Do the materials depict or describe sexual
conduct in a “patently offensive” way?
3.
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Obscenity and the
First Amendment
 Work ruled obscene receives NO
1st Amendment protection
 Can be banned, and creators can be
charged with crimes

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Indecency
 Another category: indecency
 Indecent materials are sexually oriented,
but not to extreme of obscenity

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Indecency and Broadcast Media
 Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl
 $1.75 million settlement with Clear Channel over complaints
about Howard Stern’s show
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Warning: a curse word!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M37wAoK0H2Q

“The Fleeting Expletive”
• Cher at 2002 Billboard Awards
• FCC fined Fox; appealed to Supreme Court
• Jenny Slate on SNL (live on East Coast)...fine?

The Future: More
Regulation?
• Parents Television Council (parentstv.org): mass
actions against “objectionable” TV content
• Regulate violence on TV?
•
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