What If the Political Ads Just Keep Coming?

Although there will not be many ads attacking candidates next year, third parties inspired by their recent election experience can, and perhaps many will, continue to do "issue advertising" outside election seasons.

Urging viewers or listeners to contact their elected officials to oppose or support proposed legislation is but one potential example. Health care reform, the economy, immigration and many other issues are likely to be hotly contested and widely debated for the foreseeable future, given the results on Nov. 2. Corporations, unions, "super PACs" and others with a recently-reinforced acquired taste for the political ad market may want to keep at it. Legally, stations have far more flexibility in handling third-party ads than candidate ads, but also far more potential exposure to liability for the ads' content. No station is required to accept any third-party political (or non-political) ad. Stations can decline to run them for any or no reason. Lowest unit charge (LUC), which applies only to candidate ads during the 30 days before a primary election and 60 days before a general election, never applies to third-party ads. Stations may also require that non-candidate ad content be altered to remove false, defamatory or otherwise offensive or inappropriate material. Censorship is allowed, in contrast to candidate "uses," which stations cannot censor no matter what's in them. Or they can "channel" ads to certain time slots, such as the 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. "safe harbor," when the FCC presumes that children are less likely to be in the audience.