The NRA is thinking of buying a whole TV or radio station which would allow it to spend unlimited amounts of money on advertising in the 2004 election.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- Hoping to spend as much as it wants on next year's elections, the National Rifle Association is looking to buy a television or radio station and declare that it should be treated as a news organization, exempt from spending limits in the campaign finance law.
"WE'RE LOOKING AT bringing a court case that we're as legitimate a media outlet as Disney or Viacom or Time-Warner," the NRA's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, told The Associated Press.
"Why should they have an exclusive right to relay information to the public, and why should not NRA be considered as legitimate a news source as they are? That's never been explored legally," he said in an interview.
The nation's gun lobby is talking with potential investors about an NRA broadcast outlet and is considering all possible funding sources, including gun manufacturers, LaPierre said.
If the NRA were to be considered a media organization, it would be free to say what it wanted about candidates at any time and spend corporate money to do so, such as for commercials.
Essentially, this means that there will be a TV station or radio station that puts out nothing but the NRA's version of news, history, and current events. This is insane. If this goes through it means a few things. First of all, it means McCain-Feingold ended up completely backfiring since, far from silencing organizations with blatantly partisan viewpoints, it's pushing them to start up their own unchallenged mouthpieces. Secondly, it means that even the most jaded skeptic has to admit that the "unbiased media" is a dead concept in the United States today.