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| Maybe the world really IS ending in 2012 after all?? |
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Public-TV-political-ads-to-get-rehearing-4058834.php
On April 12th, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a verdict on Minority Television Project, Inc v. FCC. And it's a doozy. Basically, the court invalidated a long-held rule that non-commercial broadcasters cannot air paid "political ads" or paid "issue ads." So now they can.
I'll pause a moment to let that sink in.
If upheld, it's potentially a game-changer, on the level of the Citizens United case, for the entire broadcasting industry. But there's a lot of questions and confusion surrounding the decision, and the consensus is that nobody really knows for sure just yet what the final impacts will be.
This article is an attempt to collate several useful facts, opinions and other tidbits of information into a centralized resource. I'll update it as we learn more going forward. Right at the outset, I'll remind everyone that IANAL: I Am Not A Lawyer and that a lot of what I'm writing about here is speculation. Informed speculation, maybe. Speculation based on facts, perhaps. But speculation nevertheless. I encourage anyone who has hard evidence or solid facts that confirm or refute any of the speculation to leave their notes in the Comments and I'll update as we go along! :)
Much, much more after the jump...
