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Media Law Prof Blog
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Now That Donald Trump Is In the Presidential Race, Will He Continue As Host of “Apprentice” Shows? Hosting Role On Reality Shows

By Media Law Prof Blog

According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC says it will “re-evaluate” Donald Trump’s role on two reality shows, Celebrity Apprentice and The Apprentice, now that Mr. Trump has announced a run for the Presidency. Mr. Trump has hosted both shows for the past seven seasons. Should he continue to appear on the shows, federal equal time provisions would require the network to give his opponents equal time.

According to the equal time provisions  (see 47 U.S.C. Sec. 315) a network must offer equal time to all candidates for a public office if one candidate receives access unless that candidate’s access falls into one of these four categories:

1. bona fide newscast

2. bona fide news interview

3. bona fide news documentary (if the candidate’s appearance is incidental to the presentation of the subject or subjects of the documentary)

or

4.  on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events (including but not limited to political conventions and incidental activities)

In the past networks have had to think about this issue when Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for political office and their movies and/or tv episodes were slated to air on television. In 2007, when Fred Thompson first thought about a Presidential run, he was then starring on the popular show Law & Order.  Some commentators thought that NBC would simply refuse to run any episode with (former) Senator Thompson in them, rather than give equal time to the other candidates. See this Washington Post article for more discussion.