Re: elected officials on the air ...

[Shawn Mamros <mamros@MIT.EDU>]

Our esteemed lawyer first wrote:
<< Well, there used to be a "fairness doctrine" by which the FCC required 
 equal time to all candidates.  I don't quite remember when it was 
 abolished, but it was.  >>

and Sean replied:
>Counsel, are you sure about this? I somehow remember there being some rules 
>on the books still about equal access to the media in campaigns -- whether 
>that is monitored on a state-to-state basis or by the FEC, I am not sure. (I 
>would think that it would be something which might possibly be controlled at 
>the local level, but I am not sure.) 

The way I understood it all was this:
There are/were two separate FCC regulations in place, regarding "equal time"
and the "fairness doctrine".  Equal time is the one that has to do with
candidates for political office.  AFAIK, that one's still on the books.

The fairness doctrine didn't apply to political candidates, but rather
to editorial opinions.  The way it was described to me, many years ago,
was that if a radio (or presumably TV) host stated, "I think we should
nuke the whales", then if someone called the station and said, "I disagree;
we should use conventional bombing on the whales instead", then that
person had to be given airtime for a rebuttal.  The fairness doctrine
was thrown out the window some number of years (possibly a decade or
more) ago.  Indeed, it'd be difficult if not impossible to have many
of today's talk shows with opinionated hosts on the air if the fairness
doctrine were still around.

But, with regard to giving candidates equal time (political ads and bona
fide newscasts are exempted), that's covered by the equal time rules,
which I believe still exist.  There may have been some changes - the
definition of "bona fide newscast" has been broadened a bit over the
years, to cover such fluff as "Entertainment Tonight" and what-not -
but I'm fairly certain the basic rule is still intact.

Obviously, for a candidate actively seeking office, one would run afoul
of equal time rules if that candidate had a regular slot on the air.
But once that candidate is elected, the rules become murkier.  If the
office holder isn't in the midst of a re-election campaign, then I don't
think there's any regulation covering that.  Thing is, when precisely
does the re-election process begin?  Some office holders would seem
to be campaigning all the time in some ways...  But, like with everything
else related to the FCC these days, the Candy Commission isn't likely
to do any investigating on its own unless somebody points an obvious
violation of the rules out to them.

-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu