Desertdog
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June 18, 2004, 8:07AM
NRA challenges soft money law with radio show
By KIM COBB
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Challenging the spirit of campaign-finance reform, the National Rifle Association has grabbed a media megaphone in an attempt to amplify its political voice.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2633502
On Thursday, the activist group for gun owners launched a daily three-hour news-and-talk program on satellite radio, vowing to deliver its message the same way as major television networks.
"We believe we are staking our legitimate claim as news-talk radio, providing objective commentary, news and information to the American public," NRA President Wayne LaPierre said in the opening minutes of the broadcast. "The great thing about the United States of America is anyone can walk out on the street corner and describe himself a journalist. This goes back to Tom Payne and the pamphleteers, and that's what we're doing."
Federal campaign laws ban groups like the NRA from using unregulated "soft money" to advertise for or against a candidate within 60 days of an election. But the 2002 law -- better known as McCain-Feingold -- allows media companies to report on candidates without restriction at any time.
So, as of Thursday, the NRA joined the likes of political shock talkers Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken and now says it is the media.
To bypass reforms authored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., the NRA will start small. Its commercial-free broadcast is available nationwide to the approximately 400,000 subscribers of Sirius Satellite Radio and to anyone logging onto the NRA News Web site. Neither side has provided details of the financial arrangement.
"I vowed from the very start after the McCain-Feingold bill passed, we would not be silenced," LaPierre said. "It's an act of defiance -- I readily admit that. But it's an act of defiance under the law."
LaPierre said he doesn't intend to use his radio pulpit in place of the NRA's traditional political advertising. And the programming clearly will be slanted to the NRA constituency of gun owners and hunters.
"But we won't be restricted to that, and we'll talk about politicians and legislation in Congress," LaPierre said after the broadcast. "We want to talk about John Kerry and George Bush."
If LaPierre thought he was throwing down a gauntlet, there was no rush to pick it up. Several analysts echoed LaPierre's claim that NRA programming is probably in the same category as Limbaugh's nationally syndicated conservative opinions or Franken's liberal views on fledgling Air America Radio.
The trend also includes former Vice President Al Gore, who recently purchased a cable television station he intends to develop into a progressive news network for the 18-to-34 crowd. Likewise, LaPierre said, the NRA is looking to purchase radio stations and expand its broadcasts.
Mark Glaze, spokesman for the watchdog Campaign Legal Center, said an NRA radio network is not what he envisioned under McCain-Feingold.
"But we don't see anything inappropriate about it either," Glaze said. "If the NRA choses to buy radio stations and run ostensible newscasts, that's their business. ... Whether it makes any sense for them strategically is another question entirely."
The NRA's foray into the news business doesn't appear to have rattled the legislation's authors, either. One Senate staffer active in passing the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill said, "Rush Limbaugh has been railing against candidates for years, and no one's said that's an election communication. I think (the NRA has ) a pretty good case."
NRA challenges soft money law with radio show
By KIM COBB
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Challenging the spirit of campaign-finance reform, the National Rifle Association has grabbed a media megaphone in an attempt to amplify its political voice.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2633502
On Thursday, the activist group for gun owners launched a daily three-hour news-and-talk program on satellite radio, vowing to deliver its message the same way as major television networks.
"We believe we are staking our legitimate claim as news-talk radio, providing objective commentary, news and information to the American public," NRA President Wayne LaPierre said in the opening minutes of the broadcast. "The great thing about the United States of America is anyone can walk out on the street corner and describe himself a journalist. This goes back to Tom Payne and the pamphleteers, and that's what we're doing."
Federal campaign laws ban groups like the NRA from using unregulated "soft money" to advertise for or against a candidate within 60 days of an election. But the 2002 law -- better known as McCain-Feingold -- allows media companies to report on candidates without restriction at any time.
So, as of Thursday, the NRA joined the likes of political shock talkers Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken and now says it is the media.
To bypass reforms authored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis., the NRA will start small. Its commercial-free broadcast is available nationwide to the approximately 400,000 subscribers of Sirius Satellite Radio and to anyone logging onto the NRA News Web site. Neither side has provided details of the financial arrangement.
"I vowed from the very start after the McCain-Feingold bill passed, we would not be silenced," LaPierre said. "It's an act of defiance -- I readily admit that. But it's an act of defiance under the law."
LaPierre said he doesn't intend to use his radio pulpit in place of the NRA's traditional political advertising. And the programming clearly will be slanted to the NRA constituency of gun owners and hunters.
"But we won't be restricted to that, and we'll talk about politicians and legislation in Congress," LaPierre said after the broadcast. "We want to talk about John Kerry and George Bush."
If LaPierre thought he was throwing down a gauntlet, there was no rush to pick it up. Several analysts echoed LaPierre's claim that NRA programming is probably in the same category as Limbaugh's nationally syndicated conservative opinions or Franken's liberal views on fledgling Air America Radio.
The trend also includes former Vice President Al Gore, who recently purchased a cable television station he intends to develop into a progressive news network for the 18-to-34 crowd. Likewise, LaPierre said, the NRA is looking to purchase radio stations and expand its broadcasts.
Mark Glaze, spokesman for the watchdog Campaign Legal Center, said an NRA radio network is not what he envisioned under McCain-Feingold.
"But we don't see anything inappropriate about it either," Glaze said. "If the NRA choses to buy radio stations and run ostensible newscasts, that's their business. ... Whether it makes any sense for them strategically is another question entirely."
The NRA's foray into the news business doesn't appear to have rattled the legislation's authors, either. One Senate staffer active in passing the McCain-Feingold campaign reform bill said, "Rush Limbaugh has been railing against candidates for years, and no one's said that's an election communication. I think (the NRA has ) a pretty good case."