The Artful Jurist

A TV station here in the Washington, D.C., area has been making national headlines by taking the "mal" out of "wardrobe malfunction." I'm talking about WJLA-TV's breast cancer awareness report it dubbed "Touch of Life"—news story broadcasts that featured women's bare breasts without pixilation, black bars, or other means of obscuring the body parts that typically get the FCC in an uproar. It's a first for Washington broadcast television...if you don't count Janet Jackson's Superbowl halftime show.

WJLA has answered its critics by saying this is not simply a ratings stunt but, rather, it did this because breast self-examination is a vitally important, life-saving piece of information that all women need to know. I can't argue with that. But wasn't it also a vitally important piece of information before the autumn sweeps ratings period began?

Be that as it may, so far I've heard nothing from the FCC about this breast baring broadcast, despite the agency's supposed crackdowns on such things in recent years.