The New Rules of TV Indecency

6:00 AM PDT 7/17/2012 by Matthew Heller

Bare butts? Not OK. But beyond the F- and S-words, the lines blur as the Supreme Court leaves stations guessing over 'confusing' standards.

George Carlin would have had a field day with the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision on television indecency. The late comic's famous "Seven Filthy Words" monologue prompted the Court's 1978 ruling that regulation of indecent speech on publicly owned TV and radio airwaves was OK under the First Amendment.