Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
October 31, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section 1; Page 24; Column
3; National Desk
LENGTH: 338 words
HEADLINE: Political Briefing;
Abortion Issue Raises
Red Flags
BYLINE: By B. Drummond Ayres Jr.
BODY:
By definition, political advertisements are
one-sided. Sometimes, if they are outrageously inaccurate or tasteless, they may
be rejected by a newspaper or broadcast station. But most news outlets
determinedly avoid censorship of political advertising, leaving it to the
aggrieved candidate to cry foul or to news reporters to investigate.
But
things are different this fall in Maine, where on Tuesday voters will decide
whether to ban a late-term procedure that opponents call partial-birth
abortion, one of the most contentious issues in politics. In four
instances in recent weeks, the television stations WCSH and WMTW of Portland and
WLBZ of Bangor have refused to run commercials, both pro and con, that deal with
the proposed ban or have required that the spots be modified. The stations said
the commercials were either inaccurate or in questionable taste.
Specifically, station executives questioned the accuracy of one
advertisement that said late-term abortions were never necessary and another
that contended the issue was moot because Maine law already prohibited late-term
abortions. The executives argued that under Maine law, exceptions were sometimes
made for late-term abortions, such as when the health of the mother was in
danger.
In other instances, station executives rejected advertisements
on the grounds that they were too visually provocative for young viewers or left
the impression that abortions routinely involved healthy late-term fetuses.
Maine's Governor, Angus King, a political independent, worries that
rejecting political ads or requiring that they be modified interferes with "the
battle of ideas," especially during campaigns in which the issues are
particularly hot and both sides are trying to compress complicated arguments
into 30-second ads.
"The stations are taking unto themselves a heavy
burden," he declared last week after the latest rejection. "It raises troubling
questions that they're making political decisions. I would err on the side of
open conversation."
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GRAPHIC: Photo: Angus King
LOAD-DATE: October 31, 1999 
