The Reasonable Access
Law
WHY the FCC
licensed Major Radio and Television Stations
MUST run the ads of Federal Candidates
To understand WHY the major
radio stations must run these Congressional
campaign radio ads, – it is necessary to
understand the "Reasonable Access Law" and
the "Becker vs. FCC" decision in 1996 by the
Washington D.C. Circuit Court.
This law is meant to protect
freedom of speech for federal candidates
(such as congressional candidates) and their
supporters -- to raise the issues which the
candidate and his supporters feel are
important. The law requires that FCC
(Federal Communications Commission) licensed
radio and TV stations must run the ads of
Federal Candidates in the day slots, or
blocks of time, that the federal candidate
specifies. Provided obscenity and profanity
are avoided by the federal candidate -- the
FCC licensed radio station is NOT allowed to
censor the campaign ad for content, nor to
move it into other day parts (or time
blocks) it chooses -- it must adhere to the
schedule bought by the federal candidate and
his campaign. (This last rule was the whole
point of the Becker vs. FCC ruling in 1996,
in which candidate Becker of Atlanta,
Georgia won against the FCC itself and 300
major radio and television stations who came
in on the side of the FCC to try and censor
Becker's ads by putting them exclusively
between midnight and 5 AM. The D.C. circuit
court ruled that the FCC licensed station
HAD to run the federal candidate ads IN THE
TIME SLOT OF THE CANDIDATE's CHOOSING. They
could not embargo his or her ads to times of
the day where there are few listeners, or
less listeners, such as between midnight and
5 AM, as the station in Atlanta was trying
to do. In other words, this is a solemn
legal obligation of an FCC licensed station
-- which is merely LEASING the PUBLIC
airwaves. It is not a merely public service
by the station to insure robust and
unfettered public debate on the issues of
the day -- it is the station's solemn legal
obligation.
In other words -- if, for
instance, a federal candidate buys three one
minute radio ads on a drive time show with a
local host, and if that candidate buys the
time on the last day before the election --
then the FCC licensed station cannot alter
the content of the radio ad, its management
cannot refuse to play the ads, and the
station must give the three ads a reasonable
spacing throughout the program such as they
would extend to any business customer (this
reasonably spacing of ads is called "minimal
separation" in the media business), and ---
MOST IMPORTANTLY -- the FCC licensed station
can absolutely NOT move such federal
candidate radio ads to another time block
other than the time slot bought by the
candidate, even if they have to bump
non-political ads off the air for that day.
For instance, the station could not move a
federal candidate's ads bought for afternoon
drive time (3 PM to 6 PM), to a non-drive
time slot such as 9 AM to noon earlier on
the same day.
The law is even stronger than
that. The law requires, during the last
sixty days before the election, that the
radio ads be sold to the federal candidate
at the lowest rate such time was sold to any
business, any issue group, or any individual
in the same time slot for that year.
Finally, if the FCC licensed station refuses
to play the radio ads as paid for and
ordered by the candidate and his campaign --
the federal candidate can file for ownership
of the station's FCC license.
This is why the FCC licensed
television and radio stations must play
federal candidate ads. Based on our
experience, and the experience of everyone
who watches the major media --- these
"advocates of free speech" definitely and
absolutely censor many ads when they are not
forced to play such ads by the Reasonable
Access law for federal candidates
The above is a brief
explanation of this "Reasonable Access" law
and the Becker vs. FCC decision which
bolstered its application in 1996.
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