PressEthic

The Campaign manager for Phil Angelides, the Democratic candidate for California Governor, claimed Jay Leno gave incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger a “leg up” when he had him as a guest on his popular, late-night show on Wednesday. According to a New York Times article on Thursday, October 12, Allison Cruley (the campaign manager) said the appearance:

…violates the equal time provision written into the nation’s Communications Act in 1959. The provision prohibits media programs, with exception of news interviews, documentaries or newscasts, from giving an unfair share of broadcast time to a candidate without making available equal time to other candidates running for that office.

The Angelides campaign claimed to have sent a letter to the show’s staff requesting equal time, but Tracy S. Pierre, a spokeswoman for NBC, said they have “never received a request from Mr. Angelides.” She also said:

…the network was following the news guidelines for interviewing a political candidate.

David Fiske a spokesperson for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Schwarzenegger campaign declined to comment for the article. Leno has been criticized before for giving air time to his friend, Schwarzenegger. In 2003, he invited all 80 candidates vying for the governorship in the recall election to appear on his show to “counter claims” he was giving prime air time to his friend.

This case gets tricky because, like most laws, the Communications Act has loopholes. Simply stated, the “equal time provision,” Section 315 of the Act, says that if you sell or give time to Candidate X you also need to sell or give time to Candidate Y. It was challenged in 1959 when a candidate for Mayor of Chicago demanded time on news stations that had covered the incumbent, although much of this coverage was not related to the re-election campaign.

Congress responded to this situation by creating an amendment with exemptions to the equal time law including regularly scheduled newscasts, news interviews shows, documentaries (assuming the candidate wasn't the primary focus of the documentary), or on-the-spot news events.

According to theNew York Times article, Schwarzenegger never mentioned his campaign rival, but did suggest that House Speaker Dennis Hastert resign. Why else would Schwarzenegger appear on the Jay Leno show except for the fact that he is running for re-election? And, isn’t Hastert resignation and the Foley scandal a campaign issue?

Leno’s guests are typically celebrities and not politicos, unless they are the Presidential candidates. Since Schwarzenegger is both a celebrity and a politician his appearance is not a surprise. I would be shocked to see Angelides on a late-night show simply because he is running for Governor in California. Should Leno give equal time to Angelides? He caved to criticism before so I think we can reasonably expect him to do it again.