Editorial: Of cow poop and Prada

Saturday, June 9, 2007 | 7:34 a.m.

A f ederal court on Monday struck down a Federal Communications Commission action that declared the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards shows on the Fox TV network were indecent and profane because of vulgar language.

On the 2002 awards show, Cher used an expletive to describe what she thought her critics should do. Pseudo-celebrity Nicole Ritchie used a few expletives in the 2003 show to describe how hard it is to clean cow dung out of a Prada purse.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the shows were rated as family friendly, meaning they slipped past blocking devices such as the V-Chip. He fumed that the comments were made during "prime time, when children were watching."

The court paid little mind to that. In its 2-1 decision, the court wondered whether the commission could even legally regulate expletives on TV.

Not surprisingly, the network was "pleased" with the ruling. A spokesman declared that "government regulation of content serves no other purpose than to chill artistic expression in violation of the First Amendment."

Should we then allow pornography - as an artistic expression, of course - on prime - time network TV? Of course not. There should be some standard for decency.

We hope the FCC appeals and wins the favor of either the full appellate court or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ultimately it is a parent's responsibility to monitor what a child is watching on TV. After all, the best option to handle vulgarity on television is this:

Turn off the darn TV.