TV political ad question

[Ted Larsen]

Donna: I found this from the July 12th edition of the New York Times written 
by John Harwood of
CNBC. It appears to be a legal practice albeit a disturbing one.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/us/politics/political-memo-more-news-reports-show-up-in-campaign-ads-to-journalists-chagrin.html?_r=2


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>
To: <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 3:40 PM
Subject: TV political ad question


> 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?
>
>