“Goodfellas” director Martin Scorsese has weighed in on the $15,000 fine San Mateo public television station KCSM is facing for airing a PBS documentary he directed that liberally used the f- and s- words. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Scorsese says, “The language of the film was an essential element of the story … The language of blues musicians often was filled with expletives that shocked and challenged America’s white-dominated society of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.” If the fine against KCSM is upheld, Scorsese said it would have a deep impact on “the creative process generally and, more specifically, on the ability and willingness of filmmakers to produce authentic documentaries and other valuable programming for presentation on broadcast television.” KCSM has challenged the fine, saying it is unconstitutional. The FCC said KCSM could have aired the documentary without penalty between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., but that it wants to keep the airwaves clear of obscenity when children might be watching. Scorsese also objected to relegating the show to the late-night hours. “Our mutual artistic objective of broadly sharing an accurate depiction of one of the few uniquely American art forms will be severely undermined if the commission limits broadcast of the film to hours when viewership is lowest,” he argued. [LA Times: Indecency on broadcast television is mostly a word game] [MediaWeek: Scorsese teams up with college, pushes back at FCC]