An appeal over singer Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and brief partial nudity on national television has reached the Supreme Court, the latest free speech episode over indecent, if fleeting, images and words on the public airwaves.
The Federal Communications Commission approved new rules Wednesday to further limit automatically dialed or prerecorded calls know as "robocalls" and automated text messages.
Smartphone companies and carriers are desperate for network capacity to provide souped-up service, but they're hard-pressed to find it. The latest attempt: a government effort to use the staticky space between television channels.
Television commercials that are a lot louder than the program will be prohibited under rules adopted Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission.
In a rebuttal that didn't mince words, AT&T fired back at the Federal Communications Commission, calling its report on the company's proposed merger with T-Mobile unfair, biased, one-sided, speculative, and cherry-picked for facts.
Government fines against CBS for airing Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" on national television were again tossed out by a federal appeals court, the latest free speech episode over indecent, if fleeting, images and words on the public airwaves.
Those surprise overage charges on your wireless bill will soon be a thing of the past.
The government promises to keep your GPS safe from potential interference that could be caused by a new broadband wireless system now under review by federal regulators.
Financial analyst Clyde Anderson explains how to spot excessive fees the FCC says phone companies charge landline users.
Phone bills, especially cell phone bills, are notoriously complex and cryptic. This makes it easy to slip in new charges without consumers noticing -- including for services that the consumer never authorized.
If you want to learn what's wrong -- and right -- about the current U.S. media landscape, then Thursday's FCC report is a good place to start.
A harsh ruling against the nation's largest wireless companies last week suggests U.S. regulators aren't going to lie down and let AT&T scoop up T-Mobile without a fight.
Verizon filed a legal appeal on Thursday challenging the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce the new Net neutrality rules it adopted last month.
The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice on Tuesday approved -- with several conditions -- a merger of the country's largest cable operator, Comcast, and broadcasting company NBC Universal.
CNN's Sandra Endo checks in with Congress members heading back to work after the tragedy in Tucson.
In the aftermath of the January 8 atrocity in Arizona, in which alleged shooter Jared Loughner killed six people and wounded 13, politicians and pundits have blamed inflammatory language or symbols used by certain political groups -- read Sarah Palin and the Tea Party -- for Loughner's acts.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved "high-level rules of the road" designed to ensure that internet providers grant everyone equal access to the Web.
You won't be paying a surcharge to watch YouTube. Your favorite news website won't run any slower than a competitor's. And you don't have to worry about Netflix getting blocked.
The FCC plans to vote on regulations designed to ensure that internet providers grant everyone equal access to the Web.
The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules Tuesday governing one of the most controversial issues facing that agency: "network neutrality."
The Obama administration on Wednesday outlined its plan for the future of an open -- or at least a kind-of-open -- internet.
If you use mobile data services outside your wireless carrier's network coverage area, you could get a nasty surprise in your bill.
The U.S. government is trying to bring the 911 emergency service "into the 21st century" by looking into allowing text, photo and video reports from mobile phones.
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski now finds himself caught between unfulfilled promises made to the tech community to keep the internet open, and a Republican Congress ready to portray any new rules on broadband ISPs as heavy-handed, economy-killing regulation.
Before Tuesday's midterm elections, there were 95 House and Senate candidates who pledged support for Net neutrality, a bill that would force Internet providers to not charge users more for certain kinds of Web content.
Kerfye Pierre had recently returned from volunteering in the aftermath of January's Haiti earthquake when she got the most outrageous mobile phone bill of her life.
The Federal Communications Commission asked a Federal appeals court to reconsider a recent decision that struck down its longstanding indecency policy.
Between 14 million and 24 million Americans still lack access to broadband internet, and "immediate prospects for deployment to them are bleak," said the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.
A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission's indecency policy Tuesday, calling the agency's longstanding rules "unconstitutionally vague."
Your Internet bill will go up $50 a month! You won't be able to access your favorite Web site! Your Internet connection is going to slow to a crawl!
If federal regulators get their way, you may soon be warned before you receive another unexpectedly high bill from your cell phone company.
The Federal Communications Commission is expected to unveil a new proposal Thursday to require Internet service providers to give customers equal access to all available data, according to a published report.
A federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Tuesday that the FCC does not have the authority to stop Internet service provider Comcast from interfering with its customers' file sharing.
The United States has big problems with broadband access, speed and cost, but the Federal Communications Commission's solutions may be too weak to have any lasting impact.
Sick of slow Internet connections? The federal government hears you.
CNN's Ali Velshi explains the FCC's plan to expand broadband Internet access and how it will benefit Americans.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission released a national "broadband plan" Tuesday that aims to give 90 percent of Americans access to affordable, high-speed Internet by 2020.
Affordability is one of the main reasons why nearly one-third of Americans do not have broadband at home, a recent Federal Communications Commission survey found.
2006 Cook Islands Yul Kwon follows Harold & Kumar's Kal Penn in heading to Washington D.C.
Net neutrality supporters may be celebrating the Federal Communications Commission's unanimous vote Thursday to begin developing open Internet regulation, but the battle is far from over as the yet-to-be-written regulation is already facing Congressional opposition and will also likely be challenged in court.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined two new principles Monday that represent big steps toward net neutrality -- prompting a plethora of online reaction.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission outlined rules on Monday that would prohibit Internet providers from selectively blocking Web content and applications.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday federal regulators have the authority to clamp down on the broadcast TV networks that air isolated cases of profanity, known as "fleeting expletives."
National Public Radio, already strong online with free downloads from many of its shows, is boosting its digital ambitions with Monday's introduction of social-networking features akin to Facebook
Tom and Ray Magliozzi are not what you'd call an overnight success story. The two MIT-educated car mechanics first started offering car repair advice over the air on a local Boston station in 1977. A decade elapsed before National Public Radio picked the show up and distributed it on its national network. Since then Car Talk has gone on to become the most highly-rated and financially-successful program on public radio.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to jump back into the free speech debate over whether broadcast television networks should be penalized for indecent or vulgar language that slips through inadvertently on a live or unscripted broadcast.
Frustrated by the nebulousness of the Internet, a federal judge reverses an order to shut down a muckraking website. Has U.S. justice been outmaneuvered?
Tase this!
updated: Thu Sep 27 2007 16:45:00
An obscenity next to President Bush's name in a student newspaper causes a stir in Colorado. Affiliate KMGH reports.
Hundreds of students turned out at Colorado State University to speak their minds on whether the student newspaper's editor should lose his job over four words.
Two University of Florida police officers were placed on leave Tuesday after using an electronic stun gun to subdue a student at a campus forum. Read an account of the incident from a student who was there.
Student Taseredupdated: Thu Sep 20 2007 21:17:00
CNN Student News' Carl Azuz explores the events leading up to the use of a stun gun on a Florida college student.
Black Sunday has come and gone, and Internet radio has managed to live and play for another day.
One Supreme Court justice says his fellow conservatives are "too dismissive" of government efforts to ensure racial diversity in schools. Another more liberal member says those on the right did "serious violence" to a high school student's free speech rights.
Was it a pro-drug banner or just a silly joke? Either way, the Supreme Court says it isn't protected by the First Amendment, setting a new (but fair) limit on student free speech
The Supreme Court ruled against a former high school student Monday in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner case -- a split decision that limits students' free speech rights.
There is an ongoing battle between filmmaker Ken Burns and a coalition of Hispanic veterans, organizations and lawmakers over plans by Burns and the Public Broadcasting System to release a documentary on World War II that ignores the 500,000 Hispanics who served in the U.S. military during the war.
Don Imus, the tousled and acerbic radio host whose racial remarks engendered a media storm that triggered a swift upending of his career, is not going away quietly even if the imbroglio has all but disappeared from the national conversation in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Fortune: Bleep Deprivationupdated: Mon Mar 19 2007 00:01:00
If you are more than about 45 years old, you probably can't forget when you first heard a 1972 monologue by comedian George Carlin titled "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." Ordinarily w...
The Senate began debate Monday on a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit the desecration of the American flag, the latest in a series of election-year votes pushed by the chamber's Republican leaders.
The Supreme Court on Monday struck down Vermont's strict limits on state campaign spending limits, finding the laws unfairly violate the free speech rights of candidates to raise money and publicize their views.
The crackdown on broadcast indecency that began with an exposed breast turns out to have legs - as well as serious consequences for the television business.
showbuzzupdated: Tue Dec 20 2005 14:23:00
Former "Baywatch" star Brooke Burns, who broke her neck last month after diving into her backyard pool, credits a friend, a paramedic firefighter, with saving her life.
I first met Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), when he supported Jack Kemp for president in 1988. I ran into him again in 1996, when he was working in Steve Forbes' presidential campaign.
The former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting overstepped his bounds in several areas, including initiating contracts without the board's approval, and may have let politics have a hand in picking a new board president, according to a report released Tuesday by the corporation's inspector general.
Public air warsupdated: Fri Jul 22 2005 11:08:00
Sen. Arlen Specter, a busy man with multiple duties, was understandably unprepared July 11 as he chaired a rare Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing about public television.
Kenneth Y. Tomlinson's tenure as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been sponsored by the letter C, for controversy.
A top official at National Public Radio blamed a proposed $100 million federal budget cut for public broadcasting on "irresponsible" charges of political bias made by the head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting itself.
Are broadcasters angling for a courtroom battle over smut?
"Wall $treet Week with Fortune," public television's weekly financial news program that replaced the long-running "Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser," is being pulled from the air after three years of broadcast.
Pat Mitchell, the embattled president and chief executive of the Public Broadcasting Service, will not seek a third three-year term.
Thanks to a last-minute court ruling, Jonathan Morgan was able to share the religious origin of the candy cane with his elementary-school classmates at this year's winter-break party at Thomas Elementary School in Plano, Texas.
On December 6, the Supreme Court decided San Diego v. John Roe. The case posed the question of how far the First Amendment's free speech protection reaches to protect a police officer in a uniform. The lawsuit was brought by a police officer who was fired for making pornographic videos of himself in apparently official garb, and distributing them for sale on the web (along with other items).
A federal appeals court barred the government Monday from blocking funds to colleges and universities that deny access to military recruiters because of the Pentagon's policy banning openly gay men and women.
Last week, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) ended. But the First Amendment issues that were raised there did not. Indeed, they are likely to continue on indefinitely -- recurring at the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC), and similar public events raising intense security concerns.
Protesters at the Democratic National Convention say their designated area outside the FleetCenter infringes on their safety and free speech rights.
And what about Bob Edwards?
A group of disgruntled moviegoers will settle their suit out of court against a nonexistent film critic, whose glowing reviews of mediocre films prompted a class-action suit alleging filmgoers had been "tricked" into theaters.
A lawyer for the Bush administration has argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should uphold a law that protects children from Internet pornography.
On February 1, in a now world-famous moment, during CBS's broadcast of MTV's Super Bowl halftime show, Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's breast. The breast was covered only by a sun-shaped piece of jewelry attached to her nipple piercing.
Faster than you can say "election year," the breast seen 'round the world has given rise to a federal probe of the Super Bowl halftime show. That's right. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell is investigating the entire halftime show, not just the breast-baring finale.
The Free Speech Movement that began in Berkeley in 1964 is credited with inspiring the vast number of anti-Vietnam war protests in the '60s.
In June 1996, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote a pair of tough op-ed pieces accusing Nike Corp. of cruelly exploiting cheap Asian labor. He chided CEO Philip Knight, whose Nike stock was ...
The cost of watching "free" television is about to go up, thanks to regulators in Washington. Beginning next year, new TV sets must come equipped with a V-chip, a device that can be used to block T...
Christmas hurtles toward us at its usual menacing pace, and in self-defense I reach for the catalogues that pile up beneath my mailbox. As I leaf through them I have begun to notice a strange pheno...
One would not wish to overstate the significance of the event, but this year your servant got it right. On April 1 he listened to National Public Radio's All Things Considered feature and guessed c...
Commercial free speech is on a roll. Suddenly getting respect in the Supreme Court, it has won two big ones this spring. The Supremes held by six to three that Cincinnati had no right to bar commer...
AT&T is breaking up again, this time with the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, PBS's nightly TV news show. After pumping more than $100 million into the program since 1983, AT&T will end its sponsorship in...
Possibly it was the time (about two hours) spent by your servant hovering over the transcript of oral arguments in The City of Cincinnati v. Discovery Network Inc. et al., an act put on recently by...
Your servant has been boning up on the great Joe Camel dispute, which takes a lot of boning. Like an amoeba, the dispute keeps fissiparously dividing itself into subsidiary disputes: Are those Came...
As always happens during ''pledge week'' on public television, the latest round (mid-March) featured a certain amount of bitter back talk by your servant anytime the babbling pitchpersons came on-s...
We begin this item by quoting from a recent Washington Post article datelined South Bend, Indiana, and describing certain goings-on in JR's Kitty Kat Lounge there: ''A red light revolves overhead a...
Even though belt tightening is the order of the day, big corporations are increasing their support of the Public Broadcasting System. In 1990 they pledged $56.6 million in production money to major...
Your correspondent cannot seem to stay away from the media in this column. He now notes that a brand-new question has tiptoed on tiny feet into the towering debate about sex discrimination in the m...
BY THE TIME Ronald Reagan heads back to the ranch for good, he will have appointed about half the judges on the federal district and appeals courts. Will this judicial legacy transform America as m...
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