Christian broadcaster offers advice on airing political ads
The head of a Christian network has some advice for Christian radio stations that may be asked to run advertisements supporting a pro-abortion political candidate.
Liberal political action committee “Matthew 25″ is running pro-Barack Obama ads on Christian radio stations across the U.S. The group has even aired an ad on KBIQ-FM in Colorado Springs, Colorado – the home base of Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family.
Dick Bott, Sr., founder and president of Bott Radio Network, says according to FCC rules and regulations, if a radio stations sells advertising to one political candidate for federal office, it must sell advertising to the candidate of the opposing party.
“[The campaign for] Bill Clinton, while he was running for [president], bought advertising on our radio stations, Bott Radio Network stations. However, we did two things,” Bott explains. “We used our right of editorial commentary to inform our audience exactly why we were carrying spot announcements for somebody who was clearly pro-abortion without a doubt, and in our opinion had many policies they supported that were anti-family.”
Bott notes his network also donated the money it received from the Clinton advertising to crisis pregnancy centers in those cities where the ads were running. KBIQ in Colorado Springs, affiliated with the Salem Radio Network, has not responded to a request for an interview, so it is not known if that station ran an editorial commentary after the pro-Obama ad.
