LOS ANGELES, April 19 (Xinhuanet) -- A coalition of US broadcasters on Monday filed a petition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protest the government's crackdown on indecency, arguing that such harsh policies violate constitutional rights of free speech.

    The coalition, including more than 20 broadcasters, artists' groups and media organizations, filed a petition to demand that the FCC reconsider a profanity ruling that imposes harsh penalties on indecency on airwaves and TV broadcasts.

    Broadcast network owners Viacom Inc. and Fox Entertainment Group as well as the Screen Actors' Guild and other groups charged that the FCC has expanded its authority beyond constitutional limits.

    The FCC ruled last month that the NBC network violated a federal profanity law when U2 rock lead singer Bono shouted an indecent four-letter word during the live broadcast of the 2003 Golden Globes award show. In a split decision, however, the commission declined to levy fines against the NBC stations.

    The NBC network filed its own challenge to the FCC decision later Monday. It said the commission went too far by creating a "sweeping new definition" of profanity never previously cited.

    The Bono ruling came weeks after the break-baring incident involving pop singer Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl halfway performance on Feb. 1. The incident has triggered heated national debate and ignited an industrywide crackdown on sexually explicit material.

    Under the pressure of public outrage, US Congress acted to increase fines for broadcast indecency and encouraged the FCC to stiffen penalties for violations.

    The ABC network said it opted not to weigh in, leaving the Disney-owned network as the only one of the Big Four broadcasters to remain silent.

    Broadcast officials have argued that while obscene programming should be kept off public airwaves, not all instances of profane language or nudity amount to indecency.

    US television stations have instituted tape delay for some liveprograms such as the Golden Globe Awards, Academy Awards telecast and Grammy Awards, to save time for deleting indecent speech or nudity. Enditem