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Zapple doctrine

Summary

The Zapple doctrine pertained to a particular sort of political speech in the United States, for which a candidate or his supporters bought air time but the candidate himself did not actually participate in the broadcast. The content could be supportive of the candidate, or be used to criticize his political opponent(s). It went into effect in 1970.

The Zapple doctrine came into existence as an addition to the FCC fairness doctrine. The fairness doctrine was a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) policy instated in June 1949. It required broadcasters to present multiple viewpoints about controversial matters of public importance. For the first time, radio station licensees were permitted to editorialize, but only if two or more perspectives were included.[1] (The fairness doctrine replaced the previous Mayflower doctrine, which did not allow any editorial content at all.[2])

Origin edit

The FCC's political broadcasting rules required that equal time be offered to all political candidates, and only to the candidates. Candidate supporters and spokespeople were excluded from the provisions of the equal-time rule.[3]

In May 1970, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee counselor Nicholas Zapple argued to the FCC that the fairness doctrine must also be applicable to a political candidate's spokesperson and supporters. In other words, if one candidate's supporters were allowed to buy air time, then supporters of opposing candidates should have the opportunity to buy a comparable amount of air time for their candidate(s). Similarly, if a broadcasting station gave free air time to a political candidate, then that broadcaster should be required to offer free coverage to the opposing candidate too.

In order to uphold the spirit of the fairness doctrine, the FCC responded by ruling that all similar parties must have "quasi-equal opportunity",[4] that is, they should be treated similarly. This decision became known as the Zapple ruling, and eventually, the Zapple doctrine.[5] Under the terms of Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934, 23 FCC 2d 707 (1970), the Zapple doctrine applied to purchase of broadcast time by major political party candidates only.[6]

Demise of the fairness doctrine edit

By 1985, the FCC was concerned that the fairness doctrine might have a chilling effect, which was the very opposite of the policy's original intent of encouraging fair and balanced coverage: "In order to avoid the requirement to go out and find contrasting viewpoints on every issue raised in a story, some journalists simply avoided any coverage of some controversial issues."[7] In addition, journalists felt that it infringed on their rights of free speech under the First Amendment. In August 1985, the FCC decided to suspend the fairness doctrine (it was an FCC policy but not mandated by Congress).[8]

Zapple doctrine 1985–2014 edit

Although the fairness doctrine was suspended, the Zapple doctrine remained in effect as an FCC ruling for the next three decades.

Wisconsin election complaint edit

On May 23, 2012, the FCC was asked to respond to a political programming complaint, made against a broadcast licensee, Capstar TX LLC (a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia) by supporters of Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Wisconsin. The Barrett supporters alleged that Capstar would not give them any free airtime on WISN radio, in order to respond to statements previously aired on WISN in support of Scott Walker, the Republican candidate for office in the 2012 election. Walker's supporters had received free air time from WISN for political campaigning purposes, and the complaint also encompassed Journal Communications's WTMJ under the same arrangement. Barrett supporters based their complaint on WISN's violation of the Zapple doctrine.[9]

The FCC responded on May 8, 2014, acknowledging that WISN and WTMJ had refused to provide air time to Barrett campaign supporters, in violation of the Zapple doctrine. However, the FCC ruled that there was no violation of the law: "Given the fact that the Zapple Doctrine was based on an interpretation of the fairness doctrine, which has no current legal effect, we conclude that the Zapple Doctrine similarly has no current legal effect."[10][11]

Unenforcable edit

In re: Capstar TX LLC was the catalyst for the FCC's decision that the Zapple doctrine was not enforcable.[11]

The agency [FCC] tasked with protecting the public interest in broadcasting has decided that WISN and WTMJ, two publicly-licensed radio stations in Milwaukee, were allowed to give away all the free time they wanted to the supporters of one candidate (in this case, Gov. Walker), without allowing supporters of his Democratic recall opponent (Tom Barrett) any free airtime at all.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ Anderson, Nate (17 January 2007). "Dennis Kucinich: Bring back the Fairness Doctrine". Ars Technica. Conde Nast. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Radio: Sinking of the Mayflower". Time. 13 June 1949. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  3. ^ Oxenford, David (8 May 2014). "FCC Decides that it will No Longer Enforce the Zapple Doctrine – Killing the Last Remnant of the Fairness Doctrine". Broadcast Law Blog. Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the United States Congress, Volume 120, Part 17". U.S. Government Printing Office. 15 July 1974. pp. 23222–23223. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  5. ^ "The Law of Political Broadcasting And Cablecasting: A Political Primer" (PDF). www.americanradiohistory.com. FCC. 1980. pp. 86–88. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  6. ^ "In the Matter of The Handling of Public Issues Under the Fairness Doctrine and the Public Interest Standards of the Communications Act 36 F.C.C. 2d 40". myweb.uiowa.edu. FCC. 22 June 1972. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  7. ^ Limburg, Val. "Fairness Doctrine". www.museum.tv. The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  8. ^ Brancaccio, David (17 December 2004). "Politics and Economy: What Happened to Fairness?". www.pbs.org. PBS. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  9. ^ Wilson, Sue (23 May 2012). "Formal Complaint to FCC re WISN and WTMJ". www.mediaactioncenter.net. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  10. ^ Lake, William (8 May 2014). "In re: Capstar TX LLC" (PDF). apps.fcc.gov. FCC. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  11. ^ a b "FCC Declares "Zapple Doctrine" Unenforceable; Affirms Broadcaster Discretion Regarding Programming Content". WileyonMedia. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  12. ^ Wilson, Sue (15 May 2014). "FCC: No More Equal Time Requirements for Political Campaign Supporters Over Our Public Airwaves". Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 August 2017.

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