"Pacifica" at Forty: Restraint on Satire in America, Its Impact on Broadcast Journalism, and Justice Brennan's Prophetic Dissent

If print satire is an endangered species in American newspapers and magazines, broadcast radio and television satires of Charlie Hebdo's stature have been virtually extinct since Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) sent an ice age-like chill through the airwaves. Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2018, Pacifica was the 5-4 Supreme Court decision that--though largely seen as establishing the concept of "indecent speech"--solidified the FCC's authority over the use of certain words of the commission's subjective choice. While government-angering satire on the radio flourishes in other democracies internationally, legal restrictions on "indecent words" in the US during prime listening hours has pasteurized the same kind of vigorous, hard-hitting, envelope-pushing satire on American broadcast media for fear of draconian fines and threats of license suspension.