Songwriter sues FCC over indecency fine

By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff

01.30.02

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NEW YORK — A New York poet is suing the Federal Communications Commission, claiming the agency violated her First Amendment rights when it deemed one of her songs indecent and fined a radio station for playing it.

The 1999 song, "Your Revolution," didn't include any of the seven words prohibited by the FCC but it contained vivid sexual imagery.

Poet Sarah Jones said she was surprised by the ruling because she wrote the song as a criticism of the degradation of women in hip-hop.

"My name was hanging in the air with 'indecent' attached to it in this really problematic way, especially since my work is concerned with social justice and feminist issues," Jones told The New York Times. "That it should be associated with sexual indecency and intending to shock is not something that I can just let sit there, partly in light of the fact that other material is played ad infinitum on mainstream radio airwaves that's really problematic. I'm not one for censorship, but let's not use a double standard that victimizes certain voices."

Jones' lawsuit, filed in federal court yesterday, asks the court to overturn the FCC ruling and seeks an injunction against a $7,000 fine the FCC imposed on Portland, Ore., radio station KBOO-FM for airing the song.

The station contested the fine in July, but no action has been taken, said Jones' lawyer, Lisa Davis.

The People for the American Way Foundation is assisting in Jones' case, the Times reported.

The FCC declined to comment on the case. In the past year, the agency has come under scrutiny for what some say is inconsistent enforcement of its policies.

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