On the chilling effect, from one of the chillers

Volokh Conspiracy

"Prof. John Banzhaf passed this along press release for me to post, and I’m very glad to do so. The press release gleefully embracing the chilling effect created by the FCC’s statements — “regulat[ion] by a ‘raised eyebrow.’” It stresses that broadcasters “fearful of delays or even failure to renew licenses” are pressured to restrict speech “without the need for formal actions,” partly because such delay “can hang like a Sword of Damocles” over the station and keep it from being sold or from borrowing money. The whole press release is, intentionally or not, a sharp indictment of the FCC’s power to control the content of speech (power that, if it can be used as to “Redskins,” can be used as to many other things as well, and indeed has been used as to other things). If the FCC enacts such a rule and I were litigating the challenge to the rule, this quote from the lawyer who filed the petition would play a prominent role in my briefs.

FCC: We’ll look into whether “Redskins” is indecent for broadcast