Republican Presidential candidates John Kasich and Lindsay Graham are invoking equal-time rights granted to them via an FCC rule.
Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared on NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Saturday, Nov. 7, for 12 minutes and five seconds, triggering the rule. The rule kicks in after any non-news appearance on TV by a political candidate.
As a result, Graham is asking for 12 minutes and five seconds on NBC affiliate WHO Des Moines, Iowa, in advance of the upcoming Iowa caucuses. Graham, a senator from South Carolina, hasn’t been polling well enough to appear in the latest Republican debate.
Kasich, on the other hand, did make the podium in the most recent debate sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and airing on the Fox Business Network on Nov. 10. Kasich’s demands aren’t as specific as Graham’s but states that “Mr. Trump’s appearance on Saturday Night Live is not exempt as a 1) bona fide newscast; 2) bona fide news interview; 3) bona fide news documentary; or 4) on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events.”
Kasich, the governor of Ohio, addressed his request to NBCUniversal and NBC affiliate station managers but did not make a specific ask for time.
Read more at The Hollywood Reporter
Brief Take: Invocation of the FCC’s equal-time is just one of the issues that arises when politics mixes too closely with entertainment.
Image courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
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