 US
broadcasters forced to censor Bush
President Bush’s use of the s-word during a supposedly private
chat with British Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday forces US broadcasters
to follow strict new indecency laws while their cable rivals have no such
worries.
Cable networks are free to air Bush’s quote in its entirety - and
it has been burning up the Internet - but broadcast networks risk fines
and even their licences by airing it without bleeping the word.
Bush’s candid remark to Blair was picked up by an open microphone
during the closing lunch at the Group of Eight summit in Russia. In the
remarks, he expressed his frustration with the United Nations, Hizbollah’s
attacks on Israel and the group’s backers in Syria. “See,
the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to
stop doing this s***, and it’s over,” Bush told Blair as he
chewed on a buttered roll.
Video clips of the remark were available on the Internet soon after that,
but broadcast industry executives and attorneys said in an interview that
airing the remark would put them at risk of Federal Communications Commission
sanctions.
“I guess the FCC has performed a new feat by forcing broadcasters
to censor the leader of the free world,” one executive quipped.
Source: Media Network, Reuters
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