Howe files FCC complaint against WRAL TV
RALEIGH (Oct. 8) - The Libertarian candidate for governor has filed a
complaint against WRAL TV with the Federal Communications Commission for
excluding her from the scheduled Oct. 15 gubernatorial debate.
In the complaint Barbara Howe charges that WRAL is engaging in
"viewpoint discrimination" by not including her in the program. Howe
learned of the debate through media reports. She directed her attorney,
Robert C. Ekstrand, to contact WRAL and request she be included in the
program.
In response, WRAL News Director John Harris said it was the station's
"news judgment" to only include candidates who "have a realistic chance of
being elected."
"We look at too main factors to determine that viability -- "the
candidate's seriousness of purpose and whether the candidate has
significant support," wrote Harris. He went on to write that while WRAL
did not doubt Howe's "seriousness of purpose" she does not have
"significant support." Harris cited the fact Howe received about 1.8
percent of the vote in her 1998 U.S. Senate bid and about 1 percent of the
vote in her 2000 gubernatorial race.
Both these factors are "impermissibly subjective," according to the
complaint. "What is 'significant' to one person may not be quite
'significant' to another," Ekstrand states. "To be sure, whether something
'has meaning' or is 'important' depends entirely upon the observer, and
therefore the determination of whether something is significant is
unalterably subjective."
Ekstrand noted WRAL's prior conduct in this election cycle proves this
point. In the Republican primary, the station sponsored a candidates and
issues forum that included candidates far behind the leaders in WRAL's own
polls. This "reflects either a double-standard at work, or, perhaps,
simply proves that the very same individual can find that a candidate who
receives two percent in a poll has 'substantial support' while another
candidate receiving virtually identical returns does not have 'substantial
support,'" Ekstrand wrote.
WRAL's criteria are not objective, Ekstrand said and excluding Howe
from the debate violates the FCC's equal opportunity requirements and
constitutes "broadcaster favoritism" prohibited by law.
Finally, the complaint argues that Howe's "viability" should be weighed
in the same manner the North Carolina legislature does. "A candidate is
viable if he or she is on the ballot," Ekstrand wrote. To get on the
ballot for governor, a candidate must "demonstrate a substantial public
support" by filing a petition with the state Board of Elections signed by
at least two percent of the total number of voters who voted in the last
gubernatorial election.
"In practice, it should be noted this standard requires the Libertarian
Party to obtain in excess of 100,000 signatures and spend approximately
$100,000 doing it," Ekstrand wrote. This should "conclusively demonstrate"
that Howe's support is sufficiently "significant" to pass WRAL's own
implicit threshold, he wrote.
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