As a working journalist with little to no credibility as it is, this makes me very sad.
Entertainment - Reuters
FCC Says Shock-Jock Stern Qualifies as Newsman
Tue Sep 9,10:10 PM ET
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By Kevin Krolicki
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Even though shock jock Howard Stern's radio and television show
features scantily clad women and raunchy chatter, regulators on Tuesday ruled it a news program,
exempting it from equal time rules on political coverage.
The staff decision by the Federal Communications
Commission (news - web sites) opens the way for the show to
book two of the sexier candidates for California governor:
Hollywood he-man Arnold Schwarzenegger (news) and
porn-star Mary Carey.
A media watchdog group immediately denounced the FCC
(news - web sites) ruling, calling it a reversal of decades of
U.S. media regulation designed to promote fairness in election
coverage and an informed public debate on government policy.
Executives at Infinity Broadcasting, which owns Stern's home
station WXRK in New York, had been concerned that an
appearance by either candidate would have required the show
to make time for the more than 130 candidates running in
California's hectic Oct. 7 election.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican front-runner who announced his candidacy on "The Tonight Show"
with Jay Leno (news - Y! TV), had been slated to appear on Stern's freewheeling show in late
August before an abrupt cancellation due to concerns about running afoul of regulations.
Carey, the star of adult videos such as "Double D Dolls" and "Decadent Divas" and one of several
entertainers jostling for attention in the race, had also been slated to appear on the Stern show this
week, her campaign manager said.
The equal opportunity provision of the Communications Act of 1934 requires broadcasters to treat
political candidates equally when selling or giving away air time, although regulators had made
exceptions for news programs such as "Meet the Press" and "Face the Nation."
"We expected the commission to rule favorably and we're pleased with the result," said Dana
McClintock, a spokesman for Infinity Broadcasting.
In a written ruling, the FCC's Media Bureau also said that other broadcasters airing programs that
qualify as news programming, such as "The Howard Stern Show," would not need to seek its
approval before airing interviews with candidates.
The FCC staff said that the Stern show had qualified under the law because it was regularly
scheduled and that Infinity had decided which guests to book based on their newsworthiness,
without looking to advance any particular candidate.
The Washington, D.C.-based Media Access Project vowed to appeal to the full, five-member
commission and file a lawsuit if that failed, although it conceded that neither challenge was likely
to succeed before the California vote.
Although the California governor's race is being watched by much of the nation as a kind of
political comedy, the FCC decision sets a serious and dangerous precedent that would allow local
broadcasters to favor certain candidates or air interviews with only those deemed most entertaining,
the head of the watchdog group said.
"You shouldn't let the oddity of the California election eviscerate 75 years of sound legal
principles," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of Media Access. "As this applies to local
radio and city council elections, it is not funny at all."
Noting that the Communications Act was meant to provide an exemption for "bona fide" news
programming, Schwartzman said, "When guests are selected by the size of their bust, it is not bona
fide news programming."
Mark Kulkis, campaign manager for Carey, said he hoped to be able to book an appearance on the
Stern show in early October. A spokesman for Schwarzenegger was not immediately available for
comment.
A representative of "The Howard Stern Show" also could not be immediately reached for comment
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 10 September 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)