Summarize the Supreme Court’s decision in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2009).

What will be an ideal response?


The case involved the use of a “fleeting expletive”—a nonliteral, single use of a curse word. The U.S. Supreme Court said the FCC did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when it ruled that a single use of an expletive is indecent. The FCC supplied sufficient reasons for its new fleeting expletive policy, the Court said. The FCC admitted it overturned a long-standing regulation that a single use was not indecent. But the commission said the “F-Word” has a sexual meaning no matter how it is used, a meaning that insults and offends. That was enough justification for the Court, in a 5–4 decision, to uphold the FCC’s new rule.

Communication & Mass Media

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Steve Jobs co-founded

A) Google. B) Apple Computer. C) Microsoft. D) News Corp.

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A student browses through the new nonfiction at a library and bookstore, then makes a list of subjects that audiences may consider important. What is she using to find a speech topic?

a. news items b. surveys c. topic generators d. topoi

Communication & Mass Media

A social-emotional leader often competes with the task leader of a small group

A. True B. False

Communication & Mass Media

When a judge issues a contempt citation for the purpose of coercing a journalist to reveal information, this is sometimes called

a. administrative contempt. b. criminal contempt. c. civil contempt.

Communication & Mass Media