PDA

View Full Version : Loophole in FCC Equal Time Provision




SeekLiberty
06-06-2007, 05:55 PM
I was extremely upset that three neocon candidates got TWO TIMES more airtime than Ron Paul, and didn't understand how CNN could get away with this until I looked into the subject a bit more.

In 1975 the Federal Communications Commission created a loophole regarding the equal time provision. It ruled debates were "bona fide news events." That meant if debates were sponsored by some organization other than the networks, coverage of such a "news event" was exempt from the equal time requirements.

So the media gets away with the equal time provision through this loophole.

The League of Women Voters quickly volunteered to sponsor, or "initiate" the debates. (What happened to them? At least, I thought, they were honest and non-partisan.)

The job of sponsoring debates was taken over by the "Commission on Presidential Debates" (CPD) in 1988. This new commission is a SCAM headed and controled by only Democrats and Republicans. "Fringe" candidates and 3rd Party Candidates can now be hung out to dry.

Here's a link to more on this scam.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...ential_Debates

WHO is behind CPD taking control? Why did the League of Women Voters reliquish control?

I dont have time but maybe somebody here can dig into this more and post what the hell is really going on.

CPD's website http://www.debates.org/ is WAY out of date.

WHY??? There could be a hidden big story here.

Our head government servants and corporate media are in such an entangled web of lies and deceit it's unbelievable! Disgusting!

mconder
06-06-2007, 05:58 PM
Great post...very educational.

LizF
06-06-2007, 06:17 PM
That is interesting. Maybe we could get someone more objective like PBS/Bill Moyers or McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) to look into that more seriously if there's a scoop.

I mention Bill Moyers because he did an interesting program called "Buying the War" on how the MSM basically rolled over during the lead up to the Iraq war.

Here's a link where you can watch and/or read the transcript: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

Moyers mentions how a couple of journalists for Knight Ridder (now renamed McClatchy, website: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/ ) were among the very few to question the leadup, and how it's cheaper for "news" shows to have so-called "experts" and talking heads fill up the air time, rather than shell out the money to operate news bureaus and do actual gum shoe reporting



Another good program Bill Moyers did recently (check out the archives to his show--especially the one on May 18, 2007: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/archives/index.html ) had interviews with 1) John R. MacArthur, author of THE SELLING OF 'FREE TRADE': NAFTA, WASHINGTON, AND THE SUBVERSION OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY and 2) Bruce Bawer, a gay man whoa escaped "Christian fundamentalism in the United States only to be confronted by Islamic Extremism in Europe".


I didn't mean to digress from your original point, just wanted to think about who could authoritatively answer/address this problem of coverage.

SeekLiberty
06-06-2007, 06:19 PM
Thank you. I hope this message doesn't get lost in the shuffle on this board as I think this is very important! Maybe my headline sounded too boring? lol.

kylejack
06-06-2007, 06:20 PM
This is why I advocate supporting Open Debates, opendebates.org. George Farah is an awesome guy. Watch some of the interviews on their site.

But that's a moot point here because CPD isn't running primary debates.

SeekLiberty
06-06-2007, 06:29 PM
This is why I advocate supporting Open Debates, opendebates.org. George Farah is an awesome guy. Watch some of the interviews on their site.

But that's a moot point here because CPD isn't running primary debates.

No? Then who is? From what I understand, to get through the FCC loophole of equal time provision, there has to be an alleged 3'rd party organization sponsoring the public debates.

Something is ROTTEN in this fiasco and I wish I knew of somebody who was investigating this travesty and reporting on it.

Thanks for the link ... http://www.opendebates.org (I just made it live. :-) )

fedup100
06-06-2007, 06:46 PM
I forget who made the film, but there is a book written about it.....it is Ballot stuffing.

These people had cameras in their belt buckles and would go behind the scenes of the latest elections to discover that the sweet ladies of the League of women voters were STUFFING the ballot boxes.

There is nothing honest about them, they are up to their hips in concert with the MSM!

kylejack
06-06-2007, 06:47 PM
I forget who made the film, but there is a book written about it.....it is Ballot stuffing.

These people had cameras in their belt buckles and would go behind the scenes of the latest elections to discover that the sweet ladies of the League of women voters were STUFFING the ballot boxes.

There is nothing honest about them, they are up to their hips in concert with the MSM!
Please cite your source. Debates were a lot better when the LWV was running them rather than the CPD.

Brandybuck
06-06-2007, 07:36 PM
I think I've stumbled into the wrong forum. Last time I checked, libertarians were for free speech, not government mandated airtime quotas.

kylejack
06-06-2007, 07:58 PM
I think I've stumbled into the wrong forum. Last time I checked, libertarians were for free speech, not government mandated airtime quotas.

Perhaps, but Ron Paul's support has expanded beyond just libertarians, hence, this. :) I agree with you, though.

Therion
06-06-2007, 08:19 PM
I thought that the Equal Time thing had been retracted? Like, decades ago?

SeekLiberty
06-06-2007, 08:40 PM
I think I've stumbled into the wrong forum. Last time I checked, libertarians were for free speech, not government mandated airtime quotas.

Nice sound bite. That's hilarious coming from somebody who supports the neocon federal government's and corporate media's official 9/11 conspiracy theory! lol.

Do you endorse the CPD scam also?

Check out www.DebunkingFairDebates.org (joke)

Perhaps MSM may have the RIGHT to be unfair ... but is it RIGHT for a responsible public media (the "4th Estate"), who's supposed to be a public watchdog and whom has the power to manipulate public opinion and effect the political process negatively, to be that way?

Corporate media is obviously abusing public faith.

The fact is, corporations don't have "rights" like real live human beings have individual rights. Corporations are, granted by states, a "shell" with a corporate veil to shield them from certain liabilities. It is a PRIVILEDGE granted ... but not a right.

I am for free speech for real live, individual sovereigns - ie; REAL PEOPLE. Our Bill of Rights were/are intended to protect and guarantee the PEOPLE's inalienable rights ... not corporations.

Governments have the right to restrict corporations behavior for the privilege of them granting incorporation especially on a public owned utility such as airwaves. This is why corporate income taxes are legal and constitutional, and individual income taxes are not for the average private person who has inalienable rights.

Corporations have privileges.

Individuals have inalienable rights.

The chain of command is The People - Government - Corporations. That this is not respected right now is for us to turn around. That's why we're supporting Ron Paul.

Right now, things are being played ass backwards ... Corporations - Government - The People. Let's turn this crap around. We're the boss!

Again I suggest you get words in their normal definitions and terms in their legal definitions clear, and learn the difference. That will sort out a lot of confusion you have on this and your belief that there is a law for a private, soveriegn persons LABOR to be required to pay a personal income tax upon.

That would be slavery otherwise. And we're not slaves in America that last I heard. :-)

AgentSmith
06-06-2007, 08:48 PM
Good information. The League of Women Voters is some sort of shady organization which has helped facilitate vote theft for the past decade in various places. Check out the book Votescam.