for willful or repeated failure to allow reasonable access to or to permit purchase of reasonable amounts of time for the use of a broadcasting station by a legally qualified candidate for Federal elective office on behalf of his candidacy.28
Prior to the enactment of (Section 312(a)(7)), we recognized political broadcasting as one of the fourteen basic elements necessary to meet the public interest, needs and desires of the community. No legally qualified candidate had, at that time, a specific right of access to a broadcasting station. However, stations were required to make reasonable, good faith judgments about the importance and interest of particular races. Based upon those judgments, licensees were to determine how much time should be made available for candidates in each race on either a paid or an unpaid basis. There was no requirement that such time be made available for specific “uses” of a broadcasting station to which Section 315 “equal opportunities” would be applicable.29
Section 312 grants rights to all legally qualified candidates for Federal office and as the phrase “legally qualified” has been interpreted by the FCC it includes many a fringe candidate.41
The court's responsibility is not to supplant (a) Commission's balance of . . . these interests with one more nearly to its liking, but instead to assure itself that the Commission has given reasoned consideration to each of the pertinent factors. Judicial review of the Commission's orders will therefore function accurately and efficaciously only if the Commission indicates fully and carefully the methods by which, and the purpose for which, it has chosen to act . . . .74
that Federal candidates are the intended beneficiary of Section 312(a)(7) and therefore a candidate's desires as to the method of conducting his or her media campaign should be considered by licensees in granting reasonable access.79
A Federal candidate's decisions as to the best method of pursuing his or her media campaign should be honored as much as possible under the ‘reasonable’ limits imposed by the licensee.80
follow a policy of flatly banning access by a Federal candidate to any of the classes and lengths of program or spot time in the same periods which the station offers to commercial advertisers. We feel certain that Congress in granting Federal candidates a specific right of access to a station wished such candidates to be at least on par with commercial advertisers who have no such access rights. . . .81
(i)n taking this factor into account, the licensee . . . does retain some discretion to evaluate the reasonableness of **388 *20 (the candidate's) assessment (of his needs) in the broad sense and to weigh that factor against other factors which we have said are relevant.83
We cannot find that these reasons (advanced by CBS) are sufficient to justify a blanket refusal to sell the time; nor can we find that these reasons are sufficient to justify CBS's policy of limiting its sales to candidates to five minute segments.100
restricted to that reasonably ancillary to the effective performance of the Commission's various responsibilities for the regulation of television broadcasting.132
(1) the challenged action was in its duration too short to be fully litigated prior to its cessation or expiration, and (2) there was a reasonable expectation that the same complaining party would be subjected to the same action again.133
When a personal attack has been made on a figure involved in a public issue, . . . the individual attacked himself (must) be offered an opportunity to respond. Likewise, where one candidate is endorsed in a political editorial, the other candidates must themselves be offered reply time to use personally or through a spokesman. These obligations differ from the general fairness requirement that issues be presented, and presented with coverage of competing views, in that the broadcaster does not have the option of presenting the attacked party's side himself or choosing a third party to represent that side. But insofar as there is an obligation of the broadcaster to see that both sides are presented, and insofar as that is an affirmative obligation, the personal attack doctrine and regulations do not differ from the preceding fairness doctrine.
(The) role of the Government as an “overseer” and ultimate arbiter and guardian of the public interest and the role of the licensee as a journalistic “free agent” call for a delicate balancing of competing interests. The maintenance of this balance for more than 40 years has called on both the regulators and the licensees to walk a “tightrope” to preserve the First Amendment values written into the Radio Act and its successor, the Communications Act.
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