Supreme Court still disturbed by 2004 nipple sighting

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a federal appellate court to consider reinstating a $550,000 fine imposed on CBS after singer Janet Jackson bared her breast for 9/16ths of a second during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. From AP:

Last year, the appeals court threw out the fine against CBS, saying the FCC strayed from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.

The appellate court said the incident lasted nine-sixteenths of one second and should have been regarded as ''fleeting.'' The FCC previously deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so ''pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience,'' the court said.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled the FCC has the right to impose hefty fines to keep the public airwaves clean.