Requirements for broadcast licensees and cable operators under the Communications Act and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules related to political broadcasting aimed at ensuring fair and reasonable access by political candidates are not applicable to PEG (public, educational and governmental) access channels. (For more on this subject, view the article, "Political Speech and PEG Access", by Attorney James Horwood of Spiegel and McDiarmid law firm. Click HERE to view this article.)
Therefore, Kenosha Community Media, Inc. shall treat political programming no differently than any other programming that appears on the public access TV channel--Kenosha TV 14--with four important exceptions:
1. KCM shall not make any special scheduling changes on its channel, including the cancellation or preemption of regularly-scheduled programming in order to accommodate programming that favors or opposes any candidate for public office.
2. KCM shall not air programming that favors or opposes any candidate for public office on the day of an election for that office.
3. Political programming must carry the following or similar advisory notice: "The content and opinions presented in this program are not those of Kenosha Community Media, Inc. and this television channel." The notice shall be provided on both video and audio tracks prior to the start of the program and at the end of the program for a minimum of 15 seconds on each occurence but no more than 60 seconds. All text shall be easily discernible in a legible font and font size. The amount of time used for displaying a notice shall count toward the total running time of the program.
4. KCM, including its officers, directors and staff of KCM, may not directly or indirectly participate in, or intervene in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective office at a local, state or federal level. This prohibition is not intended to restrict free expression on political matters by individuals who are members of the KCM Board or staff and who are clearly speaking for themselves, as individuals. To avoid potential attribution of their comments outside of organization functions and its media sources, these persons who speak or write in their individual capacity shall clearly indicate that their comments are personal and not intended to represent the views of KCM.
|