Covering the 2020 Election: Free Training from the NMBA and The Poynter Institute
Did you know that you have complimentary access to specialized Poynter training designed to improve your coverage of the 2020 elections?
Don’t miss this invitation-only, two-week essential training experience for State Broadcast Associations and their members.
What will I learn?
Journalists and news departments in broadcast, digital, radio and print will learn how to cover issues that matter; what audiences are hungry for and why; about PACs, Super PACs and Dark Money; why we have the electoral system, and more.
This training will be led by Al Tompkins, senior faculty for broadcast and online at the Poynter Institute, and is brought to you in partnership with the Massachusetts State Broadcast Association.
Cost:
You can participate in this training at no cost thanks to The New Mexico Broadcasters Association, which has sponsored access to this opportunity for all of its members.
The value of this training is $600. Use coupon code: 19SBANM upon check out.
Twitter Bans Political Ads - Doing What Broadcasters are Forbidden to Do
David Oxenford, BroadcastLawBlog
It seems like every other week, there is a story about an online media giant making changes in their rules that govern political advertising on their platform – and being either praised or condemned for doing so. We recently wrote about the controversy over Facebook deciding to not fact-check candidate ads, and how Congress itself requires by statute that broadcast stations take that same position. Broadcast stations are not allowed to censor ads from legally qualified candidates so, except in very limited circumstances where the ads may be criminal in nature (and not where they might just give rise to civil claims, like in the case of defamation or copyright infringement), broadcasters cannot reject ads based on their content. The right of a person being defamed in an ad for redress of any civil claim they may have is against the candidate who sponsored the ad, not against the broadcaster. Last week brought the news that Twitter has decided to ban political ads from its platform. Broadcasters, on the other hand, have no ability to ban ads for Federal candidates, as Congress has legislated a right of access to the airwaves where broadcasters cannot refuse to run political advertising from any Federal candidate.
That right of reasonable access, written into Section 312 of the Communications Act, requires that broadcasters give Federal candidates access to all classes of advertising time sold on a broadcast station, and that access be provided in all parts of the broadcast day. See our post here for more information about that reasonable access requirement, and our post here on the limited exception accorded for special events with limited advertising inventory (like the Super Bowl), where the provision of ads to one side might be problematic as there would be no opportunity for an opposing candidate to find an equivalent opportunity to advertise, and because of the potential disruption to commercial advertising on these stations given the limited availability of advertising breaks in such programs. Read more
Station Updates Due
2020 NMBA Media Guide coming in time for legislative session and election cycle
Once again, the NMBA will be compiling station information for a new edition of the Broadcast Media Guide. The guide is sent to state legislators, advertising agencies and non-profit organizations that request them, so accurate information is a primary concern.
Please visit our website and review the information we have for your station(s) – including key staff members’ names and email addresses – so that our publication is as accurate as it can be.
To change any incorrect information, either email us at info@nmba.org with your corrections, or log into the NMBA members' section and click on “My Stations” from the dropdown menu on the home page.
If you’d like us to send you the information to review, please feel free to contact the NMBA today.
Don’t miss this invitation-only, two-week essential training experience for State Broadcast Associations and their members.
It seems like every other week, there is a story about an online media giant making changes in their rules that govern political advertising on their platform – and being either praised or condemned for doing so. We 
Once again, the NMBA will be compiling station information for a new edition of the Broadcast Media Guide. The guide is sent to state legislators, advertising agencies and non-profit organizations that request them, so accurate information is a primary concern.
