Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008 - (Page 47)

making and reinstate the rules if it determined that their purposes remained valid. That possibility still exists. Therefore, we are describing the former rules in the remainder of this, and in the next, section. Unlike most of the political broadcast rules, the broadcast of a political editorial triggered an affirmative obligation on the part of the broadcaster to notify candidates and to provide free response time. A political editorial is any broadcast statement that represents the view of station management and which either endorses or opposes a legally qualified candidate. Thus a statement of personal political opinion by an announcer would not be an editorial. On the other hand, a news item announcing a station owner’s voting preference would be a political editorial. Endorsement of or opposition to a candidate can be indirect, such as in a statement calling for a change in the local school board when certain members are running for reelection. In addition, editorial recaps in which a station’s endorsements or positions are quickly summarized are themselves editorials, which generated additional notification and response obligations. Notice While the rule was in effect, upon broadcast of a political editorial, a broadcaster, within 24 hours, had to transmit: • notification of the date and time of the editorial; • • • • • • a complete script or tape, and an offer of a reasonable reply opportunity for a candidate, or his or her spokesperson, to respond over the broadcaster’s facility. The FCC’s rules were very specific as to how the notice was to be given. If the editorial opposed a candidate, then the materials had to be sent to that candidate. If the editorial endorsed a candidate, then the offer had to be transmitted to all legally qualified opposing candidates. If the editorial was to be broadcast within 72 hours prior to the day of election, then the broadcaster had to act sufficiently in advance of the broadcast to enable all appropriate candidates to have a reasonable opportunity to prepare and present a response in a timely manner. For all practical purposes, unless all the appropriate candidates had been advised sufficiently in advance, editorials within three days of an election were effectively barred. Response Requirements A reasonable opportunity to respond, in most cases, consisted of comparable time and scheduling. But it could have required far more, as the time allotted had to permit a meaningful response. That is, if a one-minute editorial briefly criticized ten incumbents, then a six-second reply opportunity for each clearly would have been inadequate. The station could have required that a candidate’s spokesperson, rather than the candidate, respond. (If the candidate appeared personally, this would have been a free “use,” which, in turn, would have required comparable gifts to all opponents.) With that exception, the format and content of the response time were a matter largely within the discretion of the candidate. Thus, if a 30 second editorial was broadcast six times, the candidate could be given broad discretion as to whether the spokesperson would take six 30-second responses, one three-minute program, etc., provided that the impact of the scheduling of the response did not grossly exceed that of the original editorial. At the same time, since the candidate did not appear and since there was no use, a broadcaster could have censored the reply within reason. XVI. Personal Attacks Please see the introduction to the previous section, as the same considerations apply to the status and future of the personal attack rule. When a derogatory personal reference was made upon an identifiable person or group in the context of discussing a controversial issue of public importance, a personal attack was deemed to have occurred. Action Previously Required Like the political editorial rule, the personal attack rule also required affirmative action by a broadcaster. However, the rule was rarely triggered in political broadcasting, since it did not apply to statements made by a legally qualified candidate, his or her authorized spokespersons, or those associated with him or her in the campaign directed to other candidates, their March 2008 « 47

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008

Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008 Contents Introduction – The Scope of the Political Broadcasting Rules “Legally Qualified” Candidates Reasonable Access “Uses” of Broadcast Facilities Exempt Programs Requests for Equal Opportunities Equal Opportunities Lowest Unit Charges The Disclosure Censorship of Uses Sponsorship Identification Political File Contents Access to the Political File The Fairness Doctrine Political Editorials Personal Attacks Issue Advertising News Distortion Conclusion

Campaigns & Elections' Political Broadcast Manual - March 2008

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