lecture 28

The issue of broadcast indecency can stem down to personal reasons. It does make sense to have restrictions on what to say on the air or not. Also broadcasting obscene material is greatly restricted. There is a gray zone between obscenity and everyday speech, which is referred to as indecency. There is a 3 part test to whether something of adult entertainment material is zone-able. The community cannot reduce the number of adult bookstores, newsstands, theatres…etc in the area. The test makes it so that you can’t use zoning laws to get rid of adult entertainment. It is not a proxy used for banning and you can not outlaw a legal trade. The second part of the test states that the ordinance be justified slowly so that it furthers a substantial state interest. You cannot outlaw a particular kind of speech. Is it a content neutral ordinance? You can’t outlaw the speech but you can outlaw the outcome from these speeches. The third part of the test states that the ordinance must be narrowly drawn so not to restrict more speech than necessary. If it is too broad, then it is considered unconstitutional. The courts have changed several ruling considering several ordinances to be too broad. For example, banning life performances is broad because it restricts the freedom for one to express oneself.