Thompson's Candidacy Highlights Need to Allow Exemptions from Equal Opportunities Rule

THOMPSON'S CANDIDACY HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO ALLOW EXEMPTIONS FROM EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES RULE
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Firestone, Aspen Inst]
[Commentary] With the candidacy of Fred Thompson comes an issue of communications policy that arises with every generation of candidates. What to do about the reruns of television programs in which a candidate appears as an actor? With the Thompson candidacy, the question is does the Equal Opportunities Rule apply to cable TV networks. But for today, the FCC should exempt fictional characters who have no control over their scripts from application of the Equal Opportunities Rule. Broadcasters and cable operators then should exercise restraint from carrying more episodes of a candidate than they previously aired on a regular basis. If not, perhaps the Federal Election Commission would view it as a gift to the candidate, evoking a whole different set of regulations. These issues, though, are minor compared to the real travesty of broadcast coverage of elections -- the absence of almost all candidate centered discourse on local stations. As the election of 2008 unfolds, will local broadcasters exercise their public trust by devoting significant time to candidate-centered discourse and substantive coverage of a wide variety of electoral campaigns?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-m-firestone/thompsons-candidacy-hi...