Is it inevitable that given a live audience cult musicians will swear for effect?
Live8 contracts in the UK did not permit the use of a safety time delay censor and the artists took full advantage of that.
The BBC duly received criticism for the consequences of that - but their hands were tied by the situation.
Should contracts with artists have significant punative fines imposed on them for profanity? They knew that there was no time delay, they knew that there was a young impressionable audience - yet still they brought out strings of expletives?
Why should the broadcaster take the flak?
Martin
BBC blasted for Madonna's Live 8 profanity Tuesday February 21, 09:35 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC has been chastised by the media regulator for broadcasting profanity and offensive language from artists including Madonna, Green Day and Snoop Dogg during last summer's Live 8 concert.
Ofcom criticised the BBC's failure to use a standard delay to filter out offensive language during the event, which gathered more than a billion people in cities across the world to pressure rich nations to do more for the poor.
It said the broadcaster "should have anticipated an audience for this event which would include a significant number of children."
Madonna opened her performance with an expletive and a user of the BBC Web site later wrote in the Live 8 comments section: "I would have liked my 7-year-old to see a piece of history in the making, however I do not want her to think that swearing is the way to ending poverty."
The BBC told the regulator it regretted any offence caused to viewers, "particularly the stream of expletives and racist terms used by the act Snoop Dogg," one of the world's most famous rappers. The broadcaster noted that the event was billed as a live concert, and that any delay was forbidden under its contract with organisers.