Senator John McCain will outline a new bill that would provide vouchers for political candidates to buy time on the nation's broadcast media, funded by a small fee on broadcasters who currently pay nothing to use the public airwaves. Broadcasters were given licenses -- at no cost -- to use spectrum now valued at $250 billion in return for in-kind "public interest obligations," such as educational and civic programming. However, the industry has increasingly shirked these obligations -- both cutting back radically on substantive campaign coverage and gouging candidates for political ads at inflated prices (a total of $1 billion during the 2000 elections alone). Our panel will debate this issue and examine Senator McCain's proposal for legislative reform.
Location
JW Marriott Hotel
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC, 20004
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