U.S. ban on political ads on public TV struck down
I think this is a really bad idea. Among the values of the public broadcasting users...getting away from the commercial clutter.
The rulling seems to run counter to the intent of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
So what matters most? Is it the values that bring listeners and viewers and to public media or is it the potential advertising revenues when SUPERPACS start placing ads adjacent to All Things Considered and Frontline?
There's a zillion questions as-yet unresolved on this.
ReplyDelete1. Do the longstanding candidate access rules for commercial radio now suddenly apply to non-comms as well? (47 CFR 73.1940 thru 73.1944)
2. I believe NPR has rules in its Affiliate Agreement that would prohibit the inherent compromising of journalistic integrity of candidate/issue ads. Don't know about PRI or APM, or CPB. Are these rules now invalid? Or if valid, does that mean NPR affiliates cannot partake in this lucrative pie? Good or bad, that's a lot of money to leave on the table.
3. Many pubradio stations are owned by colleges. Undoubtedly most (if not all) will be very concerned about their brand image if their station starts airing candidate ads. Many may also have legal prohibitions from supporting one candidate over another; how would that square with 47 CFR 73.1944 that might REQUIRE "reasonable access" to the airwaves by candidates?
3b. Would that mean NPR central would effectively remain banned from doing candidate/issue ads? (because some affiliates couldn't air them for other reasons)
4. What about college, community and religious radio? If public radio, by means of NPR, is held at an artificial fiscal disadvantage, stations could get very testy with the mothership.
5. Thinking more abstractly, what if pubradio music stations want to partake? Is there inherently less harm to their "integrity" than for a news/talk station? If so, why? If not, why not? Especially considering that many music stations probably could really use the money.
6. The biggest question: exactly what and where does this ruling affect? The 9th District is just for Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state, Arizona, Montana, Idaho and - yes - California. That's a huge hunk of population and hundreds of stations, but it's not the entire USA. Can stations within the 9th District go wild with this? Can everyone? Is there a stay that keeps the rules in place (or nullifies them for all) until SCOTUS makes a decision?
Ack! All the broadcast attorneys are in Vegas at NAB/PREC right when we need them!!! :-)