Media Action Center is a nonprofit group of concerned residents throughout the United States led by former Emmy-winning broadcaster turned media democracy advocate Sue Wilson. We successfully influence policy at the Federal Communications Commission and at local US TV and Radio stations to ensure We the People are truly served by Our publicly owned airwaves. MAC joined Frequency Forward in filing a Motion to Intervene in ABC/Disney v FCC to ensure viewers, who own the Public Airwaves and whose rights are paramount, has a seat at the table. MAC also joined a current Petition to Deny the broadcast licenses of DISNEY ABC at the FCC. In 2017, MAC forced Entercom to give up its $13.5 million license to KDND for killing a woman in a radio water drinking stunt. That same year MAC empowered local listeners across the country to take Alex Jones off their local radio dials. In 2000, we informed the Supreme Court in FCC v Prometheus Radio that multiple local TV stations with one corporate owner merely duplicate news stories on all its stations; a similar methodology is currently being used in legal cases trying to prevent the Nexstar/TEGNA merger.

Find full journalistic coverage of all this plus Sinclair Broadcasting's shell game and other public interest media issues at SueWilsonReports.com. See also Wilson's documentary "Broadcast Blues" which is more relevant today than when it premiered in 2009. Broadcast Blues.

Charlie Sykes (and Rush Limbaugh) the same as Walter Cronkite? Just Say No!



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 24, 2013
Contact Sue Wilson  sue@mediaactioncenter.net  


Media watchdog charges that Wisconsin radio station legal claim to FCC that talk radio is 'bonafide news' could lead listener confusion
 
MILWAUKEE – Talk radio is not news – neither Charlie Sykes nor Rush Limbaugh is Walter Cronkite – argues a media watchdog after a talk radio station argued recently to the Federal Communications Commission that its local political talk radio shows are the same as "bonafide news."

Attorneys for Journal Communications' WTMJ-AM radio made that legal argument to the FCC in answer to a petition to deny the station's broadcast license for violations of the FCC's quasi-equal opportunity rule, or "Zapple Doctrine," said Sue Wilson of Media Action Center.

Media Action Center filed a petition late in 2012 with the FCC to deny the license because, during the Scott Walker recall campaign, WTMJ's Jeff Wagner and Charlie Sykes shows were proven to have given as much as a half a million dollars in free airtime to supporters of Republican Governor Scott Walker. The station specifically denied comparable time to supporters of his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.  

 The FCC's quasi-equal opportunities rule (Zapple Doctrine) states that broadcasters must give supporters of both major party candidates comparable airtime.   Only "bonafide news" programs are exempt so they can cover candidates' events in real time. 

 "Bonafide news programs are specifically not allowed to politic for candidates," says Media Action Center Director Sue Wilson.  "Now is our one chance to make a stand for journalism. The FCC has a duty to the public to draw a clear line between news and opinion.

"If the FCC does not draw a clear line, radio talkers from Charlie Sykes to Rush Limbaugh will be equated with newsmen like Walter Cronkite, and listeners will lose any hope of ferreting out fact from fiction," Wilson added.

Media Action Center has launched a petition for public support, "Tell the FCC:  Talk Radio is NOT Bonafide News!"  Please click here to sign.

Thank you!
  

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