It appears there’s a glitch in the state requiring every political ad on the radio to include the tag about who paid for the ad. Of course, as most managers know, the FCC will frown upon you if that isn’t done.
The Texas Tribune reports that political ads on the radio without the disclaimer, “I’m so-and-so and I paid for this message” is, for now, legal under state law. The issue was raised by a Right to Life group that wanted to run ads without having to add the tag.
According to the paper, The Texas Ethics Commission found a glitch in its rules, which say that political ads must have written disclaimers saying who paid for them. Because you can’t put a written disclaimer on a radio ad, that means — to a lawyer — that the state doesn’t require a disclosure there, the paper reports. Attorney Trey Trainor believes groups like Texas Right to Life should be allowed to run educational spots without their name attached. The paper quotes Trainor: “When you say who paid for it, it’s automatically tuned out by half the population, because it’s associated with being, oh, well, that’s a Republican message. And their target audience here is to actually move Democrats in a particular direction based upon the radio ad that they’re trying to run. So the government forced speech here is actually hurting the message.”
So in Texas the state can’t force a political campaign to put its name on the ads. Of course, due to FCC regulations, the radio stations must make sure the disclaimers are added before they air or face the possibility of being fined by the FCC.
