TV political ad question

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 8/2/2012 3:40 PM, Donna Halper wrote:

> First, I hope we don't veer off into an  "I agree with the ad" or "I 
> hate that ad" conversation.  I am not so much concerned with the ad 
> per se, as I am concerned with what stations (both TV and radio) are 
> and are not allowed to air these days.  Two nights ago, during the 
> channel 4 news at 6pm, I saw a Karl Rove super-pac ad against 
> President Obama.  Okay fine, there's tons of pro-Obama and anti-Obama 
> ads on the air.  But what made this one worrisome to me is it featured 
> Scott Pelley, CBS evening anchor.  It showed him reading a news report 
> about how bad the economy was, and then it moved into the ad's talking 
> points about how the economy was President Obama's fault.  Talking 
> points aside, are PACs allowed to use the image and likeness of news 
> anchors in their political ads?  Makes it seem as if the anchor 
> endorses or agrees with that message. I know the rules have changed, 
> but how much can a news anchor (be they perceived as right-wing or 
> left-wing or neutral) be used in a political ad?  I assume Pelley did 
> not authorize the use of his newscast in the ad, but are there any rules?

Aren't newscasts the property of the network?  Did they authorize the 
ad?  Maybe they authorized the ad by implication by having a 
network-owned station run the ad.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.|92 State Street|Suite 700|Boston, MA 02109-2004
617.367.0468|Fx: 617.507.7856|http://www.attorneyross.com