Repeal FCC’s Equal Time Rule Before Next Election

It’s hard to imagine that one of the exciting topics in the final days of the 2024 presidential campaign will be a decades-old regulation enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). But this makes it a perfect time to talk about repealing the equal time rule.

Like Reason reported last monthRandall Terry of the Constitution Party used his presidential campaign to weaponize FCC regulations and force broadcasters to air his anti-abortion ads. ” underequal opportunity requirement“—more commonly referred to as the equal time rule—is a federal regulation—if a candidate for public office appears on a licensed broadcast station, the station must, with “good faith” exceptions, “offer equal opportunities” to all other candidates for news coverage of the same office.

Although Terry does not appear to be actually competing for votes, his status as a “legally qualified candidate” means that licensed broadcasters must run his ads as long as he can pay the same fee as other candidates, and broadcasters “shall not have censorship authority over substantive publication.”

As we approach election day, Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris has headlined another equal time debate. made a cameo appearance on the November 2 episode of NBC. Saturday Night Live.

“This is a clear and obvious effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” said Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Published on X. “The purpose of the rule is precisely to avoid such biased and partisan behavior, where a licensed broadcaster uses public broadcasts to exert influence over a candidate on the eve of an election.”

As Carr notes, the FCC problems Broadcasting licenses that allow TV and radio stations to broadcast on certain public frequencies. “In exchange for a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is legally obligated to operate his or her station in the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity.'” FCC says. “As trustees of the public airwaves, station licensees must use the broadcast media to serve the public interest.”

NBC alone dozens from local affiliate stations. FCC organizes Affiliates, not the networks themselves or cable channels: Affiliates broadcast the networks’ content, and cable does not transmit over public airwaves.

Sunday afternoon Carr filed an FCC filing NBC acknowledged that Harris “appeared on the show for free.” Saturday Night Live “for a total of 1:30 (one minute and 30 seconds).” In theory, then, all other “legally qualified” presidential candidates would be eligible for 90 seconds of free NBC air time. (To compensate, NBC I published a 60 second ad twice on Sunday for former President Donald Trump, once on a NASCAR broadcast and once again. Sunday Night Football.)

SNL I also published one sketch later on Saturday‘The broadcast in which a game show contestant declared 2024 to be “the most important election in American history” with “democracy at stake” and then struggled to define Sen, even though he said the exact same thing about the 2016 election. Tim Kaine (D–Va.) is the Democratic 2016 vice presidential nominee.

The senator looked like himself in the draft but is also running for re-election. another Potential equal time violation. Carr filed another FCC filing On Sunday night, NBC acknowledged that Kaine had “unpaid appearances” on the broadcast “for a total of 1:55 (one minute and 55 seconds).” then NBC agreed to publish Republican challenger Hung Cao had four ads on Monday night’s prime-time broadcasts in Virginia, totaling two minutes of free air time.

Carr said Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said Monday that “we need to keep every remedy on the table” to address such potential violations, including “license revocation if we determine it is serious.”

On the contrary, all this pollination should provide all the evidence we need for the equal time rule. Fairness Doctrine Before that, it should be thrown into the dustbin of history.

Equal time rule origin It was included in the Communications Law of 1934 and has been amended at various times since then. Like radio stations, major TV networks have come under additional scrutiny due to the government-enforced oligopoly they effectively retain over their particular form of transmission. Similar requirements for non-broadcast media were found unconstitutional in 1974. Miami Herald Publishing Co. – TornilloUS Supreme Court unanimously overturned A Florida statute that requires publishers to respond to any political editorial or personal criticism. “The plain implication is that any compulsion to publish something that ‘says the reasons should not be published’ is unconstitutional,” Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote.

Today, broadcast networks no longer have any pressure on what people can watch. Total share of TV viewers over-the-air or cable last year, according to Nielsen fell below 50 percent for the first time as the flow increased rapidly. Only 20 percent occurred on traditional television broadcasts; This means that 80 percent of all TV viewers are unregulated. any FCC content regulation is much less than equal time rules.

In practice, equal time rules create burdensome requirements, as broadcasters must account for every second a candidate appears on screen and offer similar time to other competitors who request it. But the rules are enforced with little apparent internal logic. When Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his campaign for governor The Tonight Show for example, in 2003, Democratic candidate Phil Angelides demanded equal time. “We find that the news interview segments of ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ meet the exemption criteria. bona fide news interview,” the FCC later determinedand Angelides’ request was denied.

Saturday Night Live He had encountered this problem before. Embers hosted an entire episode In October 2015. Multiple Republican primary rivals at the time desired broadcast time Equals Trump’s 12 minutes of screen time while hosting; New York Times Reported in November 2015 While NBC agreed to give free airtime to John Kasich, James Gilmore, Lindsey Graham and Mike Huckabee, George Pataki was still negotiating terms. Considering that of these participants, only Kasich’s campaign survived to Super Tuesday, it seems clear that the equal time rule made little difference.

Similarly Al Sharpton hosted the show While running in the Democratic primary in December 2003. All four of Iowa’s NBC affiliates refused to air the episode out of fear of equal time rules. Democratic challenger Joe Lieberman’s campaign demanded equal airtime in certain markets, giving stations in Missouri and California the lead. rear air Lieberman town hall.

When the equal time rule was drafted, a much more limited number of frequencies were available in the broadcast spectrum. But that world no longer exists. We’ve reached the point where almost 17 percent of American adults receive news. from TikTok.

The equal time rule puts a burden on one group of broadcasters while protecting its cable or streaming competitors. Any public benefits intended by the drafters no longer meaningfully exist. Let’s get this done before the next election cycle begins.