►Advertising
►News
Gathering & Reporting
►Taxes
►News
Gathering & Reporting
►Other Issues
Alcoholic Beverage
Advertising. Attempts
to regulate beer and wine advertising are continuing issues
and could cause a severe loss of advertising revenue to
Washington broadcasters.
They could take the form of an outright ban of hard
liquor, or beer and wine advertising on television, radio or
both; including in advertisements the same warning
“labels” that are required on alcoholic beverage
containers; or, restrictions on the substantive content of
advertisements. Some
of the restrictions might cause brewers to eliminate broadcast
spot advertising in Washington state altogether, while
compliance by stations with other requirements would be nearly
impossible (blocking network spots, for example).
WSAB will continue to lead the opposition to any
attempts to restrict or remove alcoholic beverage advertising,
as an unconstitutional abridgement of commercial free speech.
Political
Broadcasting. State
political advertising restrictions or requirements do not make
political advertising “better.”
They often conflict with requirements that either
candidates or broadcasters must meet under the political
broadcasting sections of the federal Communications Act, and
only add to the already unacceptable level of confusion among
candidates about what elements their spots must include.
In addition, they typically run afoul of the First
Amendment protection given political speech.
WSAB opposes these kinds of bills.
Promotional Contests
of Chance. Promotional
contests of chance offer broadcasters an ideal way to present
added value to an advertiser’s commercial announcements.
Federal law permits broadcasters to advertise such
activities, so long as they are authorized by State law.
Washington law outlines the types of promotional
contests of chance that are allowed.
WSAB opposes any attempt to reduce the number or kind
of activities permitted by State law.
State Lottery
Advertising. Prohibiting
advertising of the State Lottery will result in the
elimination of the State Lottery.
The State Lottery spends a significant amount of money
advertising in the electronic media.
WSAB has supported the retention of the ability of the
State Lottery to advertise.
In the past, some legislators who oppose the State
Lottery have attempted to reduce its effectiveness, in order
to provide a pretext for eliminating the Lottery, by
prohibiting the use of State funds to advertise the Lottery.
While WSAB takes no position on the issue of whether
there ought to be a State Lottery, the Association does oppose
the strangulation of the Lottery by eliminating broadcast
advertising.
General
Advertising Content Restrictions.
It is not appropriate to make broadcasters liable
for advertising violations by their advertisers or to make
broadcasters the “advertising police.”
Very often, legislation intended to regulate a
particular type of business will include a section defining
what may and may not be said in advertising by such a
business.
WSAB has never opposed restrictions that prohibit
“false and misleading” advertising.
However, WSAB does oppose content specific restrictions
which go beyond prohibiting “false and misleading”
statements.
WSAB opposes any attempt to make broadcasters liable in
the event that an advertiser’s announcement violates a
substantive restriction.
back
to top
News
Gathering & Reporting
Agency Records.
Open public meetings and access to public records
are the only way the public and its surrogate “government
watchdog,” the press, have to make government accountable to
the citizens. In
every legislative session there are more than a few bills
introduced to restrict the access of news reporters to
meetings of government agencies or to records kept by
government agencies. Meetings
of governing bodies of public agencies and the records created
and held by government agencies are presumed to be open and
available to the public. Special
interest groups continually try to exempt particular records
from public scrutiny for their own private purposes;
government agency governing bodies often seek to add to the
existing list of reasons to close their meetings to the
public. WSAB
reviews each proposed exemption to the Open Records Act and
opposes those proposed exemptions that would prevent broadcast
journalists from holding the government accountable for its
actions.
Student
Media Censorship.
In 2008, legislation will be introduced that will
restrict public schools’ ability to review student media,
including student broadcast stations, prior to broadcast or
distribution.
In 2007, WSAB successfully had this bill amended to
exclude student-run broadcast facilities.
In 2008, the Association will neither support nor
oppose the bill. However, WSAB will oppose the bill if the
exemption for student-run broadcast stations is removed.
back
to top
Taxes
Broadcasters B &
O Taxation. Broadcasters
pay their fair share of B & O tax. The
U. S. Supreme Court in Fisher’s Blend Station v.
Washington Tax Commission (1936) required a station’s
revenue to be apportioned for taxation purposes so that only
revenue which is generated within the State of Washington is
subject to tax. Current
law allows broadcasters to deduct a standard amount (62%) of
gross revenue, representing national, regional and network
advertising sales, or a station may itemize these deductions,
in order to protect their interstate income from taxation.
In addition, a station with out of state audience may
also deduct the percentage of out of state audience from gross
revenue in determining B & O tax.
The effect of eliminating these deductions would be to
nearly triple a broadcaster’s B & O tax burden.
WSAB opposes any attempt to remove or reduce
broadcasters’ B & O tax deductions.
Sales Tax on
Advertising. Prior
experience, particularly in Florida, shows that a sales tax on
advertising is completely counterproductive.
It is impossible to administer to ensure that the
transaction is only taxed once.
Advertising increases demand for products and increases
retail sales, therefore, increasing the collection of the
sales tax; decreasing advertising by taxing its sale will
decrease sales tax collections.
Local businesses will end up shouldering the entire
burden of the retail sales tax because the U. S. Constitution
prohibits taxing out of state transactions.
Elected officials are always searching for new sources
of revenue and legislators have from time to time proposed
adding the sales tax to services generally, or advertising in
particular. WSAB
opposes a sales tax on the sale of advertising time, or
generally on services.
Streamlined
Sales Tax: Definition
of Digital Equivalent of Tangible Property.
Establishing a streamlined administration of the
sales tax should not permit the taxation of advertising time
sold by digital broadcasters.
Many states, including Washington, have adopted a
uniform law dealing with a streamlined sales tax regime.
The overall project is ongoing and additional
provisions are being developed for presentation to state
legislatures. It
is intended to revenue neutral to each state and not to extend
the sales tax to additional transactions.
However, one of the definitions the committee working
on further development of the Streamlined Sales Tax is
crafting has to do with the digital equivalent of the delivery
of tangible personal property, which is subject to sales tax.
WSAB has been a member of a consortium of state
broadcasters associations in sales tax states that have been
working on ensuring that the language in the uniform law that
will be submitted to state legislatures contains wording that
will not permit a state to slip in a backdoor tax on broadcast
advertising simply because it is delivered by digital radio or
television. WSAB
would support a bill that contains the appropriate protective
language; otherwise, the Association opposes the bill unless
and until the language is suitable.
back
to top
Other issues
AMBER Alert:
Hoax Alert/Felony Penalty.
Knowingly triggering an AMBER Alert as a hoax is a
serious crime that needs to be treated as a felony.
Legislation may be introduced in the 2007 legislative
session that would make knowingly making a false report that
results in an AMBER Alert a Class C felony, a crime separate
from making a false or misleading statement to a public
servant (RCW 9A.76.175). Many
states have experienced the reporting of an AMBER Alert hoax.
In April, 2006, it occurred in Washington.
An AMBER Alert hoax is nearly impossible to prevent
because the perpetrator tailors the report to fit the AMBER
Alert criteria. An
AMBER Alert hoax diverts police investigative resources on a
large scale that would otherwise be available and urgently
needed for a true emergency.
All Washington AMBER Alerts are broadcast statewide, so
the impact of a hoax AMBER Alert is felt by law enforcement
agencies throughout the state, not just in the reporting
jurisdiction. An
AMBER Alert hoax can tie up 911 lines and personnel, as well
as police public information officers, needlessly, and put
citizens with real emergencies at risk.
Hoax AMBER Alerts erode the public’s confidence in
the police and media involvement in AMBER Alert and in the
AMBER Alert process itself.
WSAB supports legislation to increase the penalty for
knowingly, falsely reporting a child abduction resulting in an
AMBER Alert to a Class C felony.
In-Kind Campaign
Contribution Talk Show Issues Discussion.
In 2007 the Washington State Supreme Court ruled
that radio talk show discussion of ballot measures does not
constitute an “in-kind” campaign contribution.
Legislation may be introduced that would overturn the
Court's decision, to make such discussion an in-kind campaign
contribution. WSAB
supported the station’s position in the litigation and would
strenuously oppose any legislation that would invalidate the
Court's decision.
SILVER/SENIOR
Alert/Endangered Persons Advisory:
The
death of an elderly Washington Alzheimer’s patient who died
after driving away from home and becoming lost has given rise
to calls for a “Silver" or "Senior" Alert to
be added to the AMBER Alert program.
Doing so would dilute the effectiveness of the AMBER
Alert (intended for abducted children only) and would overload
the Emergency Alert System ("EAS").
Washington has experience approximately 100 reports of
missing elderly persons with age-related cognitive disability
in each of the past three years, on average about one every
3-4 days. In
addition, there is a long history of broadcasters cooperating
with law enforcement to publicize missing seniors and there
are many other avenues by which law enforcement can spread the
word. WSAB opposes
any legislation that would mandate that the EAS be activated
to aid in the search for senior citizens.
WSAB does support the overarching concept of an
"Endangered Persons Advisory" that would utilize the
existing non-EAS tools that law enforcement agencies have to
notify the media of the need for assistance in finding a
person who is missing and thought to be in danger of serious
bodily injury or death, but for which the incident does not
qualify for an AMBER Alert.
back
to top |
