January 24, 2026
On January 21, 2026 the Federal Communications Commission provided "Guidance on Political Equal Opportunities Requirement for Broadcast Television Stations." (See https://www.fcc.gov/document/bureau-provides-guidance-political-equal-opportunities-requirement .)
In this document, the FCC states
"Importantly, the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption.[1] Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent."
Also: " Concerns have been raised that the industry has taken the Media Bureau’s 2006 staff-level decision to mean that the interview portion of all arguably similar entertainment programs—whether late night or daytime—are exempted from the section 315 equal opportunities requirement under a bona fide news exemption. This is not the case. As noted above, these decisions are fact specific and the exemptions are limited to the program that was the subject of the request."
We note that this guidance is Television specific and that the broadcast radio spectrum is not part of this discussion. Still, any rules pertaining to TV must also govern radio.
In 2012, our Media Action Center team in Wisconsin filed a Petition to deny the broadcast licenses of Clear Channel's WISN radio and Journal Communications' WTMJ Radio for providing hundreds of minutes of free airtime to surrogates promoting Scott Walker, but less than ten minutes over two weeks to supporters of his opponent Tom Barrett.
In 2014, the Media Bureau of the FCC denied our Petition, stating in part,
While MAC purports to make Zapple Doctrine (and First Amendment) claims, we find that its real complaints relate to the Station’s programming choices.9 It is well established, however, that the Commission cannot exercise any power of censorship over broadcast stations with respect to content-based programming decisions.10 A licensee has broad discretion – based on its right to free speech – to choose the programming that it believes serves the needs and interests of the members of its audience.11
We will intervene in programming matters only if a licensee abuses that discretion or where federal
statutes direct us to do so.12 After full review, we have determined that further Commission action is not
warranted here. MAC has not shown that the licensee committed violations of the Act, the Commission’s
rules, or otherwise abused its discretion in determining the programming it believes serves the needs of its
audience.13
It appears there is to be one set of rules for Late Night Television but another for Talk Radio, which garners more than 100 million political listeners. We also note they have current concerns about an earlier staff level decision from the Media Bureau.
Concerns have been raised that the industry has taken the Media Bureau’s 2006 staff-level
decision to mean that the interview portion of all arguably similar entertainment programs—
whether late night or daytime—are exempted from the section 315 equal opportunities
requirement under a bona fide news exemption. This is not the case.
Should anyone want to take a second look, all relevant documents are posted on the right hand side of this blog.
[1] Notably, “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” is no longer airing, as Jay Leno left the show. As discussed in Angelides, Mr. Leno’s relationship to then-Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was a significant factor in both the complaint and the Media Bureau analysis. See id.
