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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC
Citation:
395 U.S. 367 (1969)Facts
In November 1964, Red Lion Broadcasting Company’s radio station WGCB aired a 15-minute broadcast by Reverend Billy James Hargis as part of a “Christian Crusade” series. During this broadcast, Hargis discussed Fred J. Cook’s book “Goldwater — Extremist on the Right” and made several allegations against Cook, including that he had been fired from a newspaper for making false charges, had worked for a Communist-affiliated publication, had defended Alger Hiss, and had written a book to “smear and destroy Barry Goldwater.” When Cook learned of the broadcast, he demanded free reply time, which the station refused. The FCC subsequently ruled that the broadcast constituted a personal attack on Cook and ordered Red Lion to provide reply time. Meanwhile, the FCC formalized aspects of the fairness doctrine by issuing regulations in 1967 regarding personal attacks and political editorializing. These regulations required broadcasters to notify individuals who were personally attacked during discussion of controversial issues and to offer them reasonable opportunity to respond. The Radio Television News Directors Association challenged these regulations as unconstitutional.
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