Profanity on ESPN News

[Slash]

Watched the Clemens press conference replay on ESPN News. Clemens played a phone conversation between he and McNamy. McNamy drops and F-bomb and BS-bomb that made it over the air. How come ESPN didnt bleep that out. I could see if it was live, but this was later.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Maybe they wanted to have the full effect of the interview? Or maybe someone just wanted to get fired.

 

[writing irish]

I think that clearly, someone wanted to get axed so he could tell his buddies a funny story later.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Here's one uttered by an anchor...

(NSFW language)

 

[markvid]

It's cable, different rules.

 

[Nathan Scott Phillips]

If it's good enough for that Bob Knight movie, it's good enough for the news. I would applaud it whole-heartedly as an act of integrity if I thought it actually was a conscious act on their part.

Edit: clarity.

 

[Slash]

I think it should have been completely bleeped out. It sounded like a portion of its was bleeped but not all. Good point about the Knight movie.

 

[Ace]

Maybe some of the F-bombs came when the engineer was snacking on a Ding Dong.

Hard to wipe the chocolate on your khakis and reach for the button in time.

 

[mike311gd]

It's cable, different rules.

Yeah, what time was this interview aired on ESPN? Regardless, being owned by Disney, I'm surprised ESPN let any obscenity fly -- especially without warning, if that was the case.

 

[bigpern23]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

 

[Football_Bat]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

Probably because SportsCenter aired during the FCC's so-called "safe harbor" period, when you can get by with profanity.

I'm puzzled by the choice to air them, though (if it was indeed a choice and not a goof-up), because ESPN regularly bleeps "ass."

 

[alleyallen]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

Not to threadjack, but I've always found it interesting that TV stations and networks are the ones who get fined when someone drops an un-caught F-bomb on the air. To me, it seems quite a bit more logical to punish the person saying it, not the person airing it.

 

[jlee]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

Not to threadjack, but I've always found it interesting that TV stations and networks are the ones who get fined when someone drops an un-caught F-bomb on the air. To me, it seems quite a bit more logical to punish the person saying it, not the person airing it.

In live instances, I'd agree not to fine the network (nor the person, who can say whatever he or she wants) because they couldn't control the information being broadcasted and had no reasonable indication to expect it.

But the re-airing on SportsCenter is the network's call and they're responsible if it violates any rules.

 

[alleyallen]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

Not to threadjack, but I've always found it interesting that TV stations and networks are the ones who get fined when someone drops an un-caught F-bomb on the air. To me, it seems quite a bit more logical to punish the person saying it, not the person airing it.

In live instances, I'd agree not to fine the network (nor the person, who can say whatever he or she wants) because they couldn't control the information being broadcasted and had no reasonable indication to expect it.

But the re-airing on SportsCenter is the network's call and they're responsible if it violates any rules.

I've got no problem with that line of thinking.

 

[markvid]

That is the major problem I have with the religious groups who go after networks for things like that. Immediately after the Super Bowl where Janet Jackson went nipple el fresco, of course, make CBS lose their license, fine them, shut them down. On Fox, a NASCAR driver said bull**** on an in-car radio. Of course, make Fox lose their license, fine them, shut them down, they are polluting the minds of millions of innocent children who were exposed to that filth.
Uh.....not one mention of Janet Jackson or the driver. Why not go to the source instead?

 

[deskslave]

Oddly, they bleeped out a few swears by Clemens at the end of his press conference on ESPN2, but then left them unedited when showing the highlights on SportsCenter.

Personally, I don't think they should bleep swears and I think the FCC as a whole stands in direct contradiction to the First Amendment, so none of that bothers me.

First Amendment applies to the press, not the airwaves. That's the difference. There probably shouldn't BE a difference, but maybe we should be glad there is.

I would also think ESPN doesn't really pay much attention to the safe-harbor period, because their reach is such that they're almost always on somewhere where they're outside the safe-harbor period. (Alaska/Hawaii, for example.)