The New York Times editorializes today that it’s wrong for the FCC to fine the TV networks for airing “fleeting” profanities when they fail to employ the old seven-second delay during live broadcasts. But for a newspaper that favors Cher and Nicole Richie dropping F-bombs on Fox’s prime-time airwaves, they’re certainly not willing to recount them in the newspaper. The editorialist cites that “Cher had a salty reminder to critics” and “Nicole Richie had some earthy reflections” on cleaning out a Prada purse during the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003.

If these profanities are so intimately involved with the vigorous exercise of the First Amendment, why isn’t the Times using them when they’re in the news? I’m certainly not rooting for F-words adding salt and earthiness to the pages of the Times, but the Times’ editorial pages are certainly much less likely to attract an audience of grade-school kids than the Billboard Music Awards draw on Fox.