It’s taken four years, but finally a federal appeals court has ruled on the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” at Super Bowl 2004 tossing out the FCC’s $550,000 fine against on CBS for the incident that put “wardrobe malfunction” into our everyday language and the underlying issue of indecency into public debate and dispute.

A federal appeals court has slapped the Federal Communications Commission for slapping CBS with a $550,000 fine for the boob-flash seen around the world.

In tossing out the fine, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the commission had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when penalizing CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

The Philadelphia court said the FCC fine was based on an unjustified and unexplained change in agency policy.

Last year, another appeals court ruled similarly against the FCC, tossing out the commission’s then-new policy of fining broadcasters for fleeting, one-time expletives. That case, involving language, has been accepted for review by the Supreme Court.

Monday’s ruling was a second damaging blow to FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin’s attempts to crack down on broadcast indecency. While acknowledging that the FCC has authority over such content, the court nonetheless made clear that the agency had overstepped its authority and failed to explain why.

“Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing,” the court wrote. “But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.”

In its 102-page opinion, the court noted that for almost 30 years, the FCC had exempted so-called fleeting instances of indecency, since Supreme Court precedent required that the offending matter be “pervasive” and “repeated.”

“During a span of nearly three decades, the commission frequently declined to find broadcast programming indecent, its restraint punctuated only by a few occasions where programming contained indecent material so pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience,” the court wrote. “Throughout this period, the commission consistently explained that isolated or fleeting material did not fall within the scope of actionable indecency.”

Source: Court tosses FCC Super Bowl fine

Photos: Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime, February 1, 2004 Photo credit: Getty Images

Here is the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction video, showing the last minute and a half of the “Rock Your Body” performance with Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl 2004.



See related posts:

• Video: Janet Jackson on “The View” 6-3-08
• Video: Janet Jackson on “106 & Park” 6-3-08
• Video: Janet Jackson on Ellen DeGeneres Show - Announces Rock Witchu Tour 5-19-08

Janet Jackson Wardrobe Malfunction: Court Throws out FCC $550,000 Fine

ABC’s “The View” co-hosts’ discussion of the “N-word” during the July 17, 2008 broadcast led to verbal sparring that reduced co-host Elisabeth Hassebeck to tears.

In a scene reminiscent of Rosie O’Donnell’s days on “The View,” hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Whoopi Goldberg got into a heated exchange over the use of the “N” word on Thursday morning.

Tempers flared during a particularly sizzling session of the show’s “Hot Topics” segment while the ladies discussed Jesse Jackson’s recent off-air use of the “N-word” while preparing for an appearance on “Fox & Friends” weekend show two weeks ago. Jackson accused Barack Obama of talking down to African-Americans and used the term in question.

Jackson has since issued two statements of apology for his remarks, but nerves were still raw as Whoopi and Elisabeth disagreed about the use of the slur being used, regardless of who is saying it.

We live in a world where pop culture uses that term and we’re trying to get to a place where we feel like we’re in the same place,” Elisabeth said. “How are we supposed to then…move forward if we keep using terms that bring back such pain?”

“I can tell you how, here’s how we do it, you listen and say ‘Okay, this is how we’re using this word and this is why we do it,’ and you have to say, ‘I understand that, but let’s find a new way to move forward,’” Whoopi fired back.

“We don’t live in different worlds,” Elisabeth insisted, “We live in the same world.”

However, Whoopi fiercely disagreed with her co-host, saying, “We do live in different worlds, it’s just that way. It is Elisabeth.”

Source: Whoopi, Elisabeth spar over ‘N-word’

Related post:

• Video: Jesse Jackson Barack Obama “Hot Mic” Comments Controversy

Photo: ABC The View co-hosts (L-R) Elisabeth Hasselbeck Joy Behar Whoopi Goldberg Barbara Walters Sherri Shepherd at “An Evening with the Hosts of The View” at the Paley Center for Media April 9, 2008. (Photo credit: WireImage)




Video: ABC “The View” the “N Word” Heated Debate 7-17-08

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama made an appearance on Larry King Live on July 15, 2008.

Finally, on day three of The New Yorker flap, words from the candidate caricatured on the cover in Muslim dress, fist-bumping his gun-toting black-militant wife in the Oval Office.

“I know it was The New Yorker’s attempt at satire. I don’t think they were entirely successful with it,” Democrat Barack Obama tells CNN’s Larry King in a taped interview to air on Larry King Live at 9 p.m. ET. “But you know what?  It’s a cartoon, Larry, and that’s why we’ve got the First Amendment.”

Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, called the cover art “tasteless and offensive” when it came out on Sunday. Obama took a more detached view today, as you can see in this clip at CNN.

“I think the American people are probably spending a little more time worrying about what’s happening with the banking system and the housing market, and what’s happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, than a cartoon. So I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it,” he said.

“But didn’t it personally sting you?” King asked.

“No,” Obama said, adding he had “a pretty thick skin” after two years of campaigning. He did say the cartoon “probably fueled some misconceptions about me,” such as false rumors that he is Muslim and doesn’t pledge allegiance to the flag.

“That was their editorial judgment,” he added. “Ultimately it’s a cartoon” and not what Americans “are spending a lot of their time thinking about.”

Source: Obama’s take on New Yorker cartoon: Not entirely successful

See also:

• Transcript Barack Obama on Larry King Live
• Obama: I’d consult on Iraq, but war needs to end

Photo credit: Top photo: CNN; Bottom photo: Jamie Fine/Reuters

Related posts:

• Video & Photos: Barack Obama Speech at 99th NAACP National Convention 7-14-08
• Video & Photos: Barack Obama Iraq Policy and National Security Speech 7-15-08
• Video & Photos: Barack Obama Faith Based Initiatives Speech 7-1-08
• Video & Photos: Barack Obama Patriotism Speech in Independence, MO 6-30-08
• Video: Barack Obama Wins Democratic Nomination - Obama Victory Speech 6-3-08

Video: Barack Obama Larry King Live Interview 7-15-08