How It Started
 October 30, 1973, WBAI broadcasted the late George
Carlin’s monologue, Filthy Words
 Father went straight to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC), to complain about the foul
language his son had heard
 Pacifica claimed they had violated no law and were
simply broadcasting the work of a “significant social
satirist”
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Central Issue
 “Does the First Amendment deny government any
power to restrict the public broadcast of indecent
language under any circumstances?”
 15 months after the program aired, on February 21,
1975, the FCC finally issued it’s ruling
 After characterizing the language as patently offensive,
though not necessarily obscene, the FCC issued a
declaratory order granting the complaint, but not
imposing any formal sanctions
Appeal
 Pacifica appealed the Commission’s ruling to the Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, arguing that the FCC was
improperly censoring them
 March 16, 1977, the D.C. Circuit Court vacated and
reversed the order, holding that “Despite the Commission’s
professed intentions, the direct effect of its Order is to
inhibit the free and robust exchange of ideas on a wide
range of issues and subjects by means of radio and
television communications.”
 January 6, 1978, the Supreme Court Justices voted to hear
the case
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Supreme Court: FCC
 FCC’s two major points: The word “indecent” had a
different meaning in broadcasting than in regular daily
life, and declared that George Carlin’s Filthy Words
monologue fit the description of indecent
 Said Pacifica abused it’s trust by broadcasting explicit
comment in repetition throughout the program
 Concerned about such content being broadcasted at a
time when children were likely to be listening
Supreme Court: Pacifica
 Claimed that if such strict interpretations were to be
followed, classical acts of literature would be banned
as well
 FCC has too much control over what goes on the radio
and television
 The word “indecent” be subsumed by the word
“obscene”
Ruling
 Does the First Amendment deny government any power to
restrict the public broadcast of indecent language under any
circumstances?
 In a five to four decision, the Court found the answer to that
question to be ‘no’ and reversed the decision of the D.C.
Circuit Court
 Time of day, viewer/audience type, and method of
transmission should be taken into consideration hence forth
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