TV & VIDEO - Dec. 12, 1988

Accusing the Federal Communications Commission staff of trying to cripple broadcasting’s “equal time” rule, a public-interest law firm has asked the regulatory agency to reverse a ruling that segments of the political shop-talk show “The McLaughlin Group” qualify as a bona fide newscast. The Media Access Project said in its filing with the commission last week that the staff is trying to interpret the rule assuring rival political candidates equal air time “out of existence” by applying it so broadly that it cannot be enforced. “The McLaughlin Group,” seen locally on Sundays on KNBC-TV Channel 4, was given exempt status from the equal time rule last month with regard to the brief news clips it shows to set up the subject of discussion each week. “If ‘The McLaughlin Group’ is a newscast,” quipped Andrew Jay Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, “then ‘Geraldo’ is ‘The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.’ ”