TV political ad question

[Kevin Vahey]

NBC ( or WHDH ) just ran the ad at 12:57 AM

I have to assume CBS signed off on it - but is was strange seeing it on a
NBC outlet.

I have no clue on how the rules work anymore.





On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 4:52 PM, A. Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>