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As mainstream media under continues to show political favor to democrats, at least one FCC Commissioner now says NBC violated a longstanding FCC “Equal Time” rule by having Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live this past weekend.
The Equal Time rule simply means that if you have one political candidate running for an office on a broadcast tv or radio show, candidates from all parties in that race must be offered “equal time”. With SNL having the vice president on the show just before election day, former president Trump does not have the opportunity to get equal time on the same or similar programing.
SNL Creator Lorne Michaels had told the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year that the show would not invite either candidate on.
FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr was on with FOX Business Sunday morning:
"This has all the appearances of, at least some leadership at NBC, at SNL, making clear that they wanted to weigh-in in favor of one candidate before the election. That's exactly why, for decades, we've had an equal time rule on the book, is to prevent that. Because remember, broadcasters are placed in a special position of trust. They're not just like any other person with a soapbox on the corner. They have a license from the federal government that obligates them to operate in the public interest,"
In response, late Sunday NBC News filed an Equal Time notice with the Federal Communications Commission . Normally, thar notice gives the other candidate seven days to schedule an appearance on the same program but that’s not possible in this case.