[Rfu-station] Re: [RFU] FCC Advice about Elections and Your Show (even if it isn't The Show)

[Mike Lehman]

Ray,
Colleen V. of Acting on Faith did some research last summer and looked 
into this for us for the 2006 election campaign. I also have a brief bit 
of commentary to introduce Colleen's info, which follows below. The text 
below suggests that more info might be coming, but AFAIK, this is all 
that I remember.

I would like to add here that it is especially important to read the 
official RFU disclaimer more than during such a show in order to make 
clear that there is no endorsement of the views expressed by the station 
itself. And do pay close attention to what the FCC passed along about 
how to conduct such a show, as it may require you to modify your usual 
format some in order to fully comply with these rules. If there are any 
questions, definitely ask for help first to avoid big problems later.
Mike

As the election season nears, there have been several inquiries about 
the FCC rules in regard to how we are obligated to handle candidates and 
election info on WRFU. Colleen Vojak of the Acting on Faith show spoke 
with the FCC in Washington about this today and passed along the 
following info. It clarifies and corrects previous info on the list 
about how we need to legally address our obligations.

Please especially note the cautions that for a "news interview...The 
important things is that the interviewer not allow [the candidate] to 
help develop the interview agenda/questions in advance. S/he must also 
be careful to not advance a particular political view or appear to 
endorse [the candidate]."

Colleen may have further info to pass along at a later date. As always, 
it's best to ask IN ADVANCE about anything dealing with FCC rules if 
their is any uncertainity about how to proceed. I thank Acting on Faith 
for doing this and getting us good answers on how to proceed.

Colleen's info appears next.
Mike Lehman

Hi Everyone,

I had a very interesting and encouraging discussion with Mark Berlin, a
Washington DC FCC policy expert.  I described our plans as follows:  We 
are a
fairly new non-profit, publicly-owned radio station.  I am a member of the
station and also a co-host of a weekly interview show called "Acting on 
Faith". 
The show focuses on community members and groups who are engaged in
public activities and/community service as a result of their personal 
ethical and/
or religious convictions.  I said that we invited a local candidate to be
interviewed.  He is a emergency room doctor who, because of his strong
convictions about our country's failure to provide accessible health to its
citizens, has decided to run for a seat in the US House of Reps.  He did 
not ask
to be on the show...we invited him.  We are not endorsing him.  I asked 
him if
we needed to invite/provide equal time to other candidates.

Mark told me that the "equal time" policy is not relevant in "news 
interviews"
which is how he would classify our program.  We do not need to offer or 
give
equal time to opposing candidates, even if they ask us for equal time.  The
important things is that the interviewer not allow David Gill to help 
develop the
interview agenda/questions in advance.  S/he must also be careful to not
advance a particular political view or appear to endorse Gill. 

According to Mark, if Gill had asked to be on our show and we agreed, that
would place us in a slightly more vulnerable position because the 
impetus for
the show would be coming from the candidate, not our decisions based on own
progamming agenda/needs.

I specifically asked him if we needed to keep records of all of our
communications regarding this and he said "no."  According to Mark, "news
interviews" that are exempted from the rules of political programming do 
not
need to keep track of such stuff.  Feeling like I still needed some 
proof that we
had had this conversation and WRFU had made the effort to follow the FCC
rules, I asked him if he could mail me a letter stating that we had 
talked about
this.  He said "yes" and asked me to e-mail him the questions I posed to 
him
and he would e-mail me an official response that confirmed all of the 
above.  We
could put that in our file in case there were future concerns/questions.

I will e-mail him now.  When I get a response I will forward it to all 
of you. 
Andrew and Mike... please feel free to circulate this information to 
other WRFU
members who might have similar questions in light of all of the upcoming
election activity.

Colleen




Raymond Morales wrote:
> I plan on having Giraldo Rosales on my radio show. He is on the City 
> Council member and running for re-election. How I do I stay FCC legit? 
> I know I have to document it, but where do we currently keep this 
> documentation?
>
> -Ray
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