It has come to our attention that the Michigan News Network is once again accepting (if not soliciting) advertisements either directly FROM political candidates for federal positions, OR their “PACs.”
The Michigan News Network is delivered via the internet, not satellite, so we are not able to edit out political ads, even though they come at the end of the ‘cast when they are scheduled. I have notified the MNN that if I know of these ads, we will not be airing those particular MICHIGAN newscasts, so you may hear some times that we are not airing our regular schedule.
To be clear, NO political ads have been placed with WION directly for our station to air. ONLY that kind of ad, coming from the candidate themselves or their own committees (Not PACs) are we required to carry. We’ve been fortunate to stay out of the line of political fire this year so far, as of the writing of this piece, but that could change.
Our Michigan News Network offered to provide the proper political paperwork for us to file with regard to these ads. I told them not to bother. They are NOT placed with US directly, WE are not being paid to run them, and the paperwork (if we were having them directly placed) is much more than required for us to take care of our LOCAL SPONSORS EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. I’m not going to have a network increase the paperwork load just because they are carrying these ads. So far it’s been “Kamala” ads, placed by an organization called “BlackPAC”.
The network tells me they reached out to BOTH parties running for President but only this one responded. I see holes in that theory as the ads are not directly from the official candidate or their organization. I was then told that the MNN also reached out to the TEXAS news network (who reportedly has a similar format) and THEY are accepting political ads. Quite frankly, my readers, I don’t give a DAMN about that….it’s just wrong.
When I took broadcasting in college, we were taught NO political ads were to be placed as sponsors of any newscast. Also none were to be ADJACENT to a newscast, as either could be misinterpreted as showing the network favoring the candidate or issue. This rule was reinforced at almost, if not every radio station for which I’ve worked. I still believe this is good practice to follow if a news organization is to be counted as “credible.”
When I wrote MNN about this, they did not fight me over my standards for WION. I received the following email back: “Reaching out to both sides” and knowing one other state network is selling to politics is NOT an excuse, nor a “pass” for what I see going on. Read the response to my inquiry about political ads sponsoring our Michigan News unedited, as received in my inbox:
Jim,
Hi there.
Understand your concerns, frustration. We do have these political ads continuing to run in various newscasts. And will be providing information for our affiliates to put in their public files. So you know, tomorrow-Thursday- they will be on the 6a, 8am, 11am, 1pm newscasts. If you don’t run the ads or newscasts, I understand because they come in via the FTP and can’t be edited. Know that we have reached out to both sides of the aisle about ads, so its not just one side we approached. Also, I reached out to the people who run the Texas News Network, which is similar to ours, and they also run political ads.
Appreciate the email.
I do not find this email response supportive of their decision to (in my opinion) sacrifice the credibility if not the integrity of the Michigan News Network.
SOME ads may sneak through. Know they are not ours, and we cannot possibly police the content of another entity’s programming all the hours we carry it, and by their own email, they acknowledge that we may delete SOME newscasts which present these ads, if we know in advance.
Just wanted clarity to you, our listeners, since many of you know how we feel about carrying political ads. We MUST carry ads if placed DIRECTLY with us from the candidate or the candidate’s official organization (not a PAC) if they are FEDERAL candidates. All others may be refused. In this case, we’re allowed to police our own airwaves and stand our ground on how WION views politics and the news.
Should you wish to comment, you may. Scroll down to near the bottom of this page, or write me directly through “office@i1430.com”.
-Jim Carlyle,
Owner, Midday Co-Host, WION
