Re: Local Political Coverage

[<umar@nerodia.wcrb.com>]

On Sun, 2 Sep 2001, Dave Faneuf wrote:

> IMHO since stations ARE required to sell political ads to candidtes for
> Federal office they should be required to sell it to anyone running for
> office however I don't believe they should be forced to sell these ads or
> any other ads at discounted rates.

I, on the other hand, don't believe there should be *any* special rules
governing political advertising. If a station doesn't want to do business
with politicians it shouldn't be required to, and it should be free to
charge whatever it would charge any other advertiser under the
circumstances.

By the way, I notice that 73.1944 ("Reasonable access") under Subpart H
("Rules applicable to all broadcast stations") does not exempt
non-commercial stations from the requirement to allow access by candidates
for Federal office. Is there something I'm missing, or could Cheryl
Jacques walk into WGBH Tuesday morning and demand (presumably, free) time?


Rob Landry
umar@nerodia.wcrb.com