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I thought you might be interested in the article from the FAIR web site. The following article will be appended to your message: The FCC, Radio & Censorship: Defining Decency The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently fined a community radiostation for airing a political rap song that attacks sexual exploitation anddegrading lyrics in popular music. On May 17, the FCC issued a $7,000 fine to Portland, Oregon's KBOO, alistener-sponsored station, charging that Sarah Jones' "Your Revolution"violated the Commission's decency standards, which were revised in April.The song, which challenges the sexualization of women in rap, asserts that"your revolution will not happen between these thighs." The FCC ruled that "Your Revolution" contained "unmistakable patentlyoffensive sexual references" that "appear to be designed to pander andshock." This ruling came after the FCC issued an order, nearly seven yearsin the making, to "provide guidance to broadcast licensees regardingcompliance with the Commission's indecency regulations." The FCC's indecency rules define indecent speech as "language that, incontext, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured bycontemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual orexcretory activities or organs." Far from clarifying the FCC guidelines, the Jones case reveals howunqualified the FCC is to determine the bounds of decency. Much of whatmight be considered "indecent" in the song are references to the sexism inthe songs Jones is criticizing. The Jones case received less attention than the FCC's June 1 decision toimpose a fine-- also $7,000-- on commercial radio station KKMG in ColoradoSprings, Colorado for airing an edited version of "The Real Slim Shady," asong by rap artist Eminem. The FCC determined that the song violated itsindecency standards, despite the fact that expletives had been bleeped outor removed. Ironically, "The Real Slim Shady" also includes ananti-censorship message, pointing out what Eminem sees as double standardsabout what kinds of speech are considered acceptable in popular culture. To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1683 This article was published on Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's Website (http://www.fair.org).

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