Stations Protest Zschau TV Ads as Misleading

A new television commercial being aired by Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ed Zschau has set off a round of protests from television station managers, who say the ad is misleading.

The 30-second Zschau ad looks like a news update as a white-haired man suddenly appears on the screen and begins to talk over what sounds like the clacking of wire-copy machines. “In Washington,” he intones, “despite an overwhelming vote by the United States Senate to impose the death penalty for drug pushers who willfully murder, California Sen. Alan Cranston voted ‘no.’ ”

The man, an actor named Murray Westgate, is supposed to look like a TV anchorman--and in fact he used to be one in Utah, according to the Zschau campaign.

As he continues to “report” the results of a recent Senate vote on a death penalty provision, photographs of Cranston and Zschau appear over his shoulder.

“The latest ‘no’ vote by Cranston promises to heat up a close United States Senate race against his opponent, Congressman Ed Zschau,” the man continues. “This is a United States Senate campaign update.”

Disclaimer Appears

When the ad begins, a two-sentence disclaimer appears briefly at the bottom of the screen to inform viewers that it is paid for by the Zschau campaign. That meets Federal Communication Commission requirements for political commercials.

But it was not enough for station managers around California, who are adding their own disclaimers because confused viewers have called up to complain or ask questions.

“The ad is misleading,” said John Severino, president and general manager of KABC-TV in Los Angeles. “I wish I did not have to air it. However, because of the (federal) rules stipulated for political advertising, I have to.”

Severino noted that under FCC rules, once the sponsoring candidate’s picture has appeared in an ad, the ad “can say or do anything, even though it may be a falsehood, as long as they put up a disclaimer at the beginning.”

John Rohrbeck, vice president and general manager of KNBC-TV in Burbank said, “I thought this ad could damage our credibility as a news organization, so I called Zschau Campaign Manager Ron Smith to explain our problems.”

Smith later pulled the ad from KNBC, according to Rohrbeck.

Zschau spokesman Jim LeMunyon said the Zschau campaign decided on the news-break format because it did not believe the press had adequately covered the Sept. 27 Senate vote referred to in the ad.

As the Zschau ad implies, Cranston was one of 24 senators voting to table an amendment to an omnibus drug bill that would have imposed the death penalty on drug pushers who intentionally kill their victims. The amendment was eventually withdrawn by its sponsor when several senators threatened to filibuster the entire bill.

The Zschau campaign is making the death penalty a major issue in its battle against Cranston. The senator has always been philosophically opposed to capital punishment. Zschau supports it.

Both KABC and KNBC said they had received calls from viewers after the Zschau ad first began running over the weekend. Calls also came in at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

“We started getting calls from viewers who were confused,” said KCBS spokeswoman Andi Sporkin. “So we built in a three-second audio and video tag in front of the spot that says, ‘This is a paid political announcement.’ ”

That was also the solution at KCRA-TV in Sacramento and KRON-TV in San Francisco.

Cranston campaign manager Darry Sragow called a press conference Wednesday to complain about the Zschau ad, but he told reporters he was not asking that the ad be withdrawn.

“Mr. Zschau has a right to say whatever he wants,” Sragow said, “but we want to make sure there is an adequate disclaimer so that viewers are not misled into thinking this is news coverage.”

LeMunyon said the campaign had purchased $350,000 worth of TV time statewide for the controversial ad. As for Sragow’s complaint, LeMunyon said, “He’s only mad because our ad guy is better than his ad guy.”