New York § 75 - 75Defamation by radio or television

§ 75. 75Defamation by radio or television

§ 75. Defamation by radio or television. 1. The owner, licensee or operator of a visual or sound radio broadcasting station or network of stations, and the agents or employees of any such owner, licensee or operator, shall not be liable for any damages for any defamatory statement published or uttered in or as a part of a visual or sound radio broadcast, by any legally qualified candidate for public office whose utterances, under rules and regulations of the federal communications commission may not be subject to censorship by such owner, licensee or operator of such visual or sound radio broadcasting station or network of stations, or their agents or employees. 2. A "legally qualified candidate" means any person who has publicly announced that he is a candidate for nomination by a convention of a political party or for nomination or election in a primary, special, or general election, municipal, county, state or national, and who meets the qualifications prescribed by the applicable laws to hold the office for which he is a candidate, so that he may be voted for by the electorate directly or by means of delegates or electors and who (a) has qualified for a place on the ballot or (b) is eligible under the applicable law to be voted by writing in his name on the ballot, or other method, and who has been nominated by a political party which is commonly known and regarded as such or makes a substantial showing that he is a bona fide candidate for nomination or office, as the case may be. 3. In order to be absolved from liability for damages for any utterance by a legally qualified candidate as herein defined in or as part of a visual or sound radio broadcast, the owner, licensee or operator of such visual or sound radio broadcasting station or network of stations, or the agents or employees thereof, shall announce, in substance, at the beginning and end of each such political broadcast of more than five minutes duration, and at the beginning of each such political broadcast of five minutes duration or less, that the remarks about to be made, or made, as the case may be, by the speaker are not to be construed as reflecting the opinions or beliefs of the station, its ownership or management.