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From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

Ever since the world caught a surprise peak at Janet Jackson's Poitrine during Super Bowl 2004,

we've heard a lot about a chilling effect in America's media escape.

And in fact, 66 ABC affiliates shuddered last Veterans Day and decided not to air a scheduled broadcast of saving Private Ryan.

The film is sprinkled with profanity.

The decent thing to do is to at least take you down the road to the next town.

We're not here to do the decent thing.

We're going to follow fucking orders.

Of course, we added the bleeps, but those 66 ABC affiliates decided that bleeps or no bleeps,

it wasn't worth the risk.

Some viewers who saw the broadcast did complain about the cuss words.

This week, the FCC finally weighed in, quote, In light of the overall context in which this material is presented, the commission determined it is not indecent or profane.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein explained why why saving Private Ryan passed muster.

In the context of a news program, for example, it would be very different to hear this kind of language than it would in the context of a more explicit program that's just designed basically to shock listeners and might be something that would be inappropriate for children to hear.

And yet 66 ABC affiliates decided not to air saving Private Ryan because they sensed that we were in a new climate of indecency enforcement.

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