ABC’s Idea for Bios of Candidates Could Clash With Election Rules

ABC News said it wants to do in-depth video biographies of the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees to air in prime time but may be restricted because of federal “equal time” rules that ABC News President David Westin called “anachronistic.”

Westin said the network’s lawyers are concerned that if ABC aired biographies of Al Gore and George Bush, the expected candidates, a number of other candidates would also be able to claim equal prime-time treatment. Under established exemptions to the equal time provisions, broadcasters are allowed to cover news events--such as debates, campaign stops and interviews--without triggering equal time rules, but Westin said ABC’s lawyers are concerned the biographies wouldn’t fall into that category. In any given election year, more than a dozen other candidates are potentially eligible to claim equal time.

Westin called the law, as described to him by ABC lawyers, “indefensible in this day and age” of numerous cable and broadcast news outlets, and said the network will likely seek a ruling from the Federal Communications Commission on the issue.

Bobby Baker, chief of the FCC’s office of political programming, said he couldn’t comment specifically on ABC’s plans because it hadn’t approached the FCC about what it wants to do. But he noted that, in the last several years, “there has been enormous movement toward liberalizing [the FCC’s approach to] what we think news exemptions could include, and I imagine that whatever ABC is contemplating can probably be made to fit within one of those exemptions.”

In recent years, the FCC has allowed talk shows such as CNN’s “Larry King Live” to qualify for exemptions and, in 1996, allowed more novel formats such as back-to-back, unedited statements from major candidates.

And coincidentally, on Tuesday, the FCC ruled that ABC’s corporate sibling, the A&E; cable network, could air profiles of some of the candidates on its “Biography” series without running afoul of the equal time provisions, provided they included interviews with the candidates. Baker said the A&E; exemption should give “enormous food for thought for whatever ABC is contemplating.”

At a press conference to announce its campaign coverage plans, ABC News also said it has invited Gore and Bush to take part in a live, one-hour, prime-time conversation with each other, in the hopes that a non-debate format would be less adversarial.

ABC said it is also hoping to air a live issues-oriented show, with candidate participation, in the 10 days preceding the November general election.