COM 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Federal Radio Commission, Swiftboating
Document Summary
Fourth branch = the press as an informally structured check on the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the us government: watchdog role = concept of the press as a skeptical and critical monitor of government. Federal radio commission (1927) = limited the number of stations and their transmitting power to avoid overlaps and required stations to have a government- issued license. Equal time rule = government requirement for stations to offer competing political candidates the same time period and the same rate for advertising. Don burden = radio station owner who lost licenses because he favored some political candidates over others. Tornillo opinion = the us supreme court upheld the first amendment protection for the print media even if they are imbalanced and unfair. The internet is almost entirely unregulated by the government in terms of political content (except for libel and invasion of privacy)