[grc] FCC reg re "call to action"

Sat Feb 5 18:21:02 PST 2022

As others have said, the phrase "call to action" derives from the
underwriting realm. It has nothing to do with politics or anything like
that.

As others have also said, the station itself cannot endorse a political
candidate or spend an excessive amount of time supporting a specific
candidate or legislation.
(As an aside, stations are allowed to "editorialize", but very few, if any,
actually do--- it's almost always more trouble than it's worth. There was a
regulation that banned most NCE's from editorializing, but it was
overturned by the Supreme Court.)

But, usually, as far as I know, specific programmers can endorse
candidates, support legislation, urge people to go to demonstrations, etc.
as long as it is very clear that they speak for themselves and are not
speaking "officially" for the station as a whole. And as long as what they
are  advocating is legal. And as long as this sort of stuff is not
"excessive", thereby endangering your non-profit status.

In any specific situation, it is really best if you consult a lawyer who
specializes in FCC work, especially for non-commercial stations (even if it
is an IRS situation, they will likely know the regs). If you don't have a
regular FCC lawyer, it might be worth establishing a relationship with one.
They can help steer you clear of big trouble.

Regarding your other concern, anyone can sue anyone for pretty much
anything. All you have to do is file a piece of paper in court. And, yes,
it is a pain in the ass if you get sued, no matter how stupid or ridiculous
the lawsuit is.

The real question, then, is would such a lawsuit be taken seriously.
Probably not--- I've never heard of anything like that ever happening. But,
these days, you just never know. Nothing would surprise me.

So, I really don't think anyone on here can give you a definitive answer.
There is certainly no "law" against it, I'm sure plenty of people on radio
and TV, NCE or not, have urged people to attend rallies, demonstrations,
etc. As long as you don't urge people to engage in violence or other
illegal activities, I don't think it's illegal.

The best advice I can give would be to consult with your FCC attorney, any
local attorney you might have or use (regarding local law in your state or
city) and your insurance company. Probably most important is your insurance
company to be sure that if someone does sue you, you're covered and they
will either provide an attorney or cover any legal fees.

You might also contact NFCB to see if they have any advice.

Regarding insurance, I have been sued a number of times, both personally
and in the context of being a station manager. The majority of the suits
have been nuisance suits-- but having insurance for such events is
critical. You simply cannot handle such things on your own, and the
technicalities and paperwork and time involved are beyond the ability of
anyone but a regularly practicing attorney to handle. And if, God forbid,
you lose-- well, it could bankrupt you. If you're insured, you just turn it
over to your insurance company lawyer and they handle everything. In most
cases, after about a year of back and forth the insurance company will
settle the nuisance suit for a very small amount, it is much cheaper than
fighting it in court.

Good luck.

On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 5:24 PM Kim Kaufman via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org>
wrote:

> I don’t want to get into the specifics of the issue but it is definitely
> not an underwriting issue. Probably more IRS problem.
>
>
>
> Further, I was told, related but not the same as the issue I’m dealing
> with, is that a “call to action” could provide legal liability if a host
> tells listeners to go to, say, a demonstration, and if there was, say,
> violence, and the listener got hurt. They could sue Pacifica for telling
> them to go. Who knows where the lawsuit might go but it would obviously
> cost time and money to deal with.
>
>
>
> Thanks for all the suggestions.
>
>
>
> Kim
>
>
>
> From: Tracy Rosenberg <tracy at media-alliance.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 5, 2022 4:39 PM
> To: Ken Freedman <kenfmu at gmail.com>
> Cc: Kim Kaufman <kim.kaufman at att.net>; GRC <grc at maillist.peak.org>
> Subject: Re: [grc] FCC reg re "call to action"
>
>
>
> And it is important to say that the IRS rule mostly focuses on candidates,
> not on legislation or policy. Hypothetically, if you spent literally the
> majority of your time as a 501c3 working on legislation, you
>
> would be running afoul of 501c3 regulations, but there is literally no
> scenario where a radio station could possibly do that. So the key for radio
> stations is not to endorse or oppose particular candidates.
>
>
>
> The FCC prohibitions are part of the underwriting rules and mostly relate
> to sponsorships and commercial call to actions. In other words,
> underwritten announcements are not supposed to constitute
>
> specific calls to buy products so they don't sound too much like
> commercials. So the nexus is a remuneration to the station related to the
> announcement. A call to action makes it sound very activisty, but
>
> that is really not what the FCC is talking about. They are talking about
> underwritten announcements.
>
>
>
> - Tracy
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 4:33 PM Ken Freedman via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org
> <mailto:grc at maillist.peak.org> > wrote:
>
> Hi Kim -
>
> I think what you’re referring to is an IRS and not an FCC rule. The IRS
> prohibits 501-c-3 organizations from spending a significant amount of time
> or money trying to effect elections or legislation.
>
> Ken Freedman
>
> Sent. From. Phone.
>
> > On Feb 5, 2022, at 5:40 PM, Kim Kaufman via grc <grc at maillist.peak.org
> <mailto:grc at maillist.peak.org> > wrote:
> >
> > Hi all -
> >
> > My understanding is that NCE's can't do "call to action" things,
> especially around fed legislation. Does anyone know the FCC reg for this or
> where to find it?
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Kim Kaufman
> > KPFK LSB Treasurer
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Tracy Rosenberg
> Executive Director
> Media Alliance
>
> 2830 20th Street Suite 201
>
> San Francisco, CA 94110
>
> https://media-alliance.org <http://www.media-alliance.org>
>
> Email: tracy at media-alliance.org <mailto:tracy at media-alliance.org>
> 415-746-9475 (office)
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>
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>
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>
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