Q: The president referred to Haiti and certain African countries as “s**thole countries,” and that particular expletive was spoken on national TV networks. Since when can that particular expletive be spoken on television?
—Richard H. Siegel, Atlanta
A: Federal law prohibits obscene, indecent and profane content from being broadcast on radio or TV, and the Federal Communications Commission has rules that prohibit indecent and profane content on radio and broadcast TV between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. It does not apply to cable or satellite programming, however.
Breaking FCC rules can result in fines of up to $383,083 for a single indecent broadcast; however, the FCC considers the context of the language in each complaint, the Hill newspaper reported Jan. 12.
Following the president’s reported remark, media outlets appeared to struggle over whether to use the actual word, and if so, how often to use it in their news coverage.
“It is exceedingly rare for the country’s biggest news organizations to publish a quote that includes an expletive; usually they employ a censored or blanked-out version. On Thursday’s network evening newscasts, NBC News was the only organization that quoted Mr. Trump in full,” wrote the New York Times. “Anchors at ABC and CBS used the word ‘blank’ instead.”
The Times also reported that while CNN’s Jim Acosta used the actual word, his colleague Wolf Blitzer did not, and that NBC News anchor Lester Holt began his coverage with a warning that it might not be suitable for younger audiences.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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