JURIST - Paper Chase: DOJ files suit to collect unpaid FCC indecency fines

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice [official website] on Friday sued Fox Broadcasting Company to collect unpaid fines issued for the broadcast of the controversial 2003 reality show "Married by America." Amending an earlier order, the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau [official website] issued a Forfeiture Order [PDF text] in late February ordering the the licensees of the 13 stations against whom complaints were lodged to pay $7,000. The FCC returned [FCC order] Fox's appeal of the order without consideration Friday because it was 14 pages over the recognized limit. Eight of the thirteen stations have yet to pay the fine; the DOJ brought suit against these stations in Washington DC, Iowa, West Virginia, and Tennessee. AP has more.

The suit comes as part of an aggressive campaign to crack down on indecency on television. Last month, the Supreme Court agreed to review [JURIST report] a June 2007 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit which vacated [opinion, PDF] a determination [FCC order] by the FCC that two Fox Television broadcasts violated the FCC's indecency and profanity prohibitions. The appeals court ruled that the FCC's "fleeting expletives" standard "represented a significant departure from positions previously taken by the agency and relied on by the broadcast industry," and violated the Administrative Procedure Act [text] because the FCC failed to articulate a reasoned basis for its change in policy.

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