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Question: Why do we advertise political messages from certain candidates?
Answer:
Every year at election time, we receive complaints from
listeners about political advertisements. These usually
fall into two categories. Either they do not like a
particular candidate and do not understand why we have
accepted their ads, or they do not like what a candidate
has to say and want us to censor their ads. These are
complicated issues. Here are the short answers for both.
Political advertising on radio is governed by the Federal
Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission
and to some extent, the state in which a radio station
is licensed. As to accepting political ads, the rules
and regulations make it clear that if a station accepts
the advertising of a legally qualified candidate for
a given office, then that station must also accept ads
from any other legally qualified candidates for the
same office. The rules and regulations also stipulate
that we cannot alter or censor in any way, shape or
form the candidate’s message. There are severe
penalties for failure to observe these rules, along
with a host of other special provisions regarding election
advertising on radio.
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