You Can't Do That on Television (?)

Winning their division, achieving a winning record for the first time since 2005, and the star power of Robert Griffin III got the Washington Redskins a lot of hype last year. Hype that led a lot of people, I think, to wonder, "can you say that on TV?"

Whether it is appropriate to even speak the team's name on broadcast television is part of a novel argument for changing the team's name, which was advanced in a letter to team owner Dan Snyder, signed by former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and other former FCC officials.

As part of the FCC's mandate to regulate broadcasting, it has been granted the power to levy fines for indecency. And the letter argues that casual use of a racial epithet in reporting might fairly be considered indecent and kept off the air like other offensive language:

"It is impermissible under law that the FCC would condone, or that broadcasters would use, obscene and pornographic language on live television... Similarly, it is inappropriate for broadcasters to use racial epithets as part of normal, everyday reporting. Thankfully one does not hear the "n" word on nightly newscasts."

Even if courts or the Commission decided that the word was not indecent, Hundt suggests in a Washington Post op-ed that using the word could violate broadcasters' obligation to serve the public interest. Using the broadcasting regulation angle is creative and, given our national concern over halftime nudity emergencies, perhaps a convincing argument. Broadcasting & Cable points to a previous effort to change the team name, though, that was aimed at Washington-area broadcasters and went nowhere.

This subject predictably riles people up. I think its insane that some team names and logos still exist and people wear them on hats on purpose. That said, I think it's incumbent on individuals to not be racist, and would prefer that they act on their own moral or financial interests to make a change.

And in case there is any doubt about the term "redskins" being derogatory and hurtful instead of somehow honorific (from the letter to Snyder):

"As it became increasingly difficult for trappers to transport masses of rotting corpses, colonial governors agreed to pay for Native Americans' scalps and skins. Trappers subsequently began using the term "redskin" to symbolize the bloody skin and scalps they collected."