It's about taste, not FCC regulations. The United States Federal Communications Commission has no problem with that word--as long as it isn't during children's programming or used in a sexual manner. (And those regulations don't apply to cable/satellite/Internet television anyway.) American Television station standards and practices departments, for the most part, have decided that they don't want that word uttered on their channels.
That said, I don't see what the big deal about journalists using the word in quote is.
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