Fairness in Political Advertising Act would require television stations to provide equal air time for political candidates

A recent analysis of coverage in the media of the presidential candidates estimated how much it would have cost the campaigns to purchase the same amount of air time, given current market rates for advertisements. Republican candidate Donald Trump “earned” $1.89 billion worth of media coverage. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton earned less than half of that, only $746 million.

A new bill introduced by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH9) could have closed that gap.

What the bill does

The legislation called the Fairness in Political Advertising Act, H.R. 6055, would require any political candidate — whether for statewide or national office — whose party received at least 2 percent of the vote in the previous election to receive equal airtime of at least two hours on television for free during an election year. That would not prevent a candidate from purchasing additional airtime, but the networks would be required to provide an equal amount for free.

The Federal Communications Commission has an “Equal Time Rule” that requires broadcast networks to give equal amounts of time to “legally qualified” political candidates for an office, but there are at least four very broad exemptions that cover most — if not all — types of programming, including debates, newscasts, interviews, breaking news, and documentaries. This bill seemingly wouldn’t include any such exemptions and would create a minimum amount of air time.

What supporters and opponents say

Kaptur argues that the bill decreases the ability of candidates to “buy an election” through purchasing of significantly greater television airtime, and helped put minor-party candidates in the game by creating greater parity with Republicans and Democrats with respect to airtime.

Opponents counter that it would be a violation of a networks’ First Amendment free speech rights to make programming decisions.

Odds of passage

The bill has no cosponsors and has not yet received a vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Kaptur introduced previous versions of the bill in the 2011 and 2013 — neither attracted any cosponsors either, and neither received a vote in committee.

Note: as Election Day approaches in a few days, GovTrack Insider this week is running a series spotlighting bills introduced in Congress that deal with elections and campaigns.

This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.