The Jerry Springer Show - Censorship

Censorship

Springer airs on various stations in the United States at various times of the day, whether in the morning, afternoon, or in the late night hours. All syndicated episodes of Springer are censored, regardless of time, to comply with U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding the broadcast of indecency and obscenity.

Initially, mainly profanity was bleeped, but later episodes were bleeped for explicit language, sometimes to such an extent that speech became incomprehensible. In addition, nudity and the partial exposure of breasts or buttocks are pixelated. After longtime producer Richard Dominick left, the show reverted to the traditional style of bleeping, which remains in place today. In one week in April 1998, The New York Times found that each episode had about 85 to 130 bleeps.

Springer himself has stated that, while his show is a bit wild, there are certain things that are not permitted. The audience is not allowed to shout anything that encourages or sustains violence among the guests. Furniture may be pushed aside, but the chairs are purposely large to preclude their use as a weapon. Men being violent against women is never acceptable, on- or off-camera; in Ringmaster, Springer mentions that he always asks if the woman wants to press charges, yet never seems to care about domestic violence committed by women against men, despite the evidence that this is prevalent in Western society