CBS WINS “NIPPLEGATE” CASE AGAIN

For a second time, a federal appeals court has tossed out the $550,000 fine that the FCC meted out to CBS stations that aired the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” involving Janet Jackson during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. In a 2-1 ruling the court said that the FCC had failed to notify broadcasters that it had altered its previous policy of ignoring fleeting instances of nudity. (In this case, Jackson’s exposed breast was on camera for less than one-half second.) The court said that the commission’s fine “reflected a policy change and imposed a penalty on CBS for violating a previously unannounced policy.” But the Parents TV Council, which had mobilized an army of protesters to flood the FCC with letters over the incident, reacted angrily to the ruling. “Today’s ruling reaches the level of judicial stupidity and is a sucker-punch to families everywhere,” PTC president Tim Winter said in a statement. “How can nudity and a striptease in front of 90 million unsuspecting TV viewers not qualify as indecency?”