[direwolf]

This is the first I've ever heard of an "equal time rule". So dumb. And of course it's a Trump appointee who is pissing and moaning about it, lol.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...le-1236052572/

A Federal Communications Commission commissioner claimed incorrectly on Saturday that Kamala Harris‘ appearance on Saturday Night Live violated the “equal time” rule.
“This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” commissioner Brendan Carr wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in response to news of Harris’ planned appearance.

The FCC’s equal time rule requires American radio and television stations to offer equal time to rival political candidates. However, the burden falls on the candidates to request those equal opportunities, and the agency’s policy on the rule states: “Equal opportunities generally means providing comparable time and placement to opposing candidates; it does not require a station to provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate.”

In his statement on social media, which an FCC representative noted did not represent the agency’s official views, Carr wrote, “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election,” adding: “Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.”

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the FCC noted they have “not made any determination regarding political programming rules, nor have we received a complaint from any interested parties.”

Carr was appointed to the FCC by Donald Trump in 2017. Per Forbes, he is also credited as the author of a section in Project 2025, the unofficial policy plan of the Republican party.