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STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
APPROVING IN PART, DISSENTING IN PART
Re: Complaints Against Various Broadcast Licensees
Regarding Their Airing of the ``Golden Globe Awards,''
Memorandum Opinion and Order
I support the decision to find the utterance of the f-
word on NBC's broadcast of the ``Golden Globe Awards'' to be
both indecent and profane. I found ludicrous the
Enforcement Bureau's decision that a word that might
otherwise be indecent is not indecent or profane merely
because it is used as an adjective or expletive. The f-
word clearly meets the definition of indecency whether used
as an adjective, expletive, ``intensifier'' (as NBC
curiously argues here), or any other part of speech.
I do not agree with all aspects of the majority's
analysis. While I am pleased that the majority recognizes
that profanity is not limited to blasphemy, I disagree that
we need to give notice before we apply the law of the land.
The better argument is that the statute itself gives due
notice. Along these same lines, I disagreed last year when
a majority at the Commission similarly found that notice was
required prior to sending an indecency case to a hearing for
license revocation, notwithstanding that the statute
expressly provides for such an action. In past cases, when
there have been truly outrageous violations or repeat
offenses, I have sought to have cases sent to hearings to
determine if the license should be revoked. This may not be
a case where a revocation of license is in order. But
neither is it a case that warrants no penalty at all. I
believe the Commission would be fully within its rights to
impose a fine for this particular instance of profanity and
indecency. We send entirely the wrong signal by failing to
do so.