Supreme court to impose fines to broadcasters for cursing

The supreme court has made a ruling which says that the US government policy which allows broadcasters to be fined for just a single swear word is justified.

What's known as the "fleeting expletives" policy was first brought in back in 2004 but had been on hold because of a legal fight by Fox TV. The policy was announced by the The Federal Communications Commission after Bono came out with a string of expletives when he was at the Golden Globes in 2003. Before then, the policy had allowed "one free expletive". The legal battle by Fox came about after a 2006 ruling by the FCC that said the station was violating decency after the Billboard Awards had been shown and some celebrities had sworn. Fox, alongside ABC, CBS and NBC all challenged the policy by the FCC. Their argument was that the standards of decency were not clear and it went against the right to free speech. The policy was frozen after an appeal to a New York court which came in favour of Fox TV. The court had said that the FCC had not fully explained the changes and described them as "vague" and "arbitrary". Today the Supreme Court vote came out at four to five which officially overturns that ruling. The Supreme Court has stated that the reintroduced policy might be subject to a federal appeals court hearing to determine if it was in breach of the freedom of speech laws. Commenting on the case Justice Scalia said this: "The agency's reasons for expanding its enforcement activity, moreover, were entirely rational," "Even when used as an expletive, the F-word's power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning,"