TELEVISION THE CODE - American Radio History

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THE
    TELEVISION
       CODE

                           ENTERTAI NM
                             EDUCATION
                               CULTURE
                            I N FORMATION

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTERS
               1771 N STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON 6, D. C.
I

THE FRONT COVER

Effective March 1, 1952, Television sta-
tions subscribing to this Code, and in good
standing, may display the "Seal of Good
 Practice." The official, copyrighted re-
production appears on the Front Cover.
THE
                   TELEVISION
                      CODE
                                               of

        The National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters

                            EFFECTIVE MARCH 1, 1952

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTERS
    1771 N Street, N.W., Washington 6, D. C.        Telephone DEcatur 9300
Second Printing-January, 1952

Copyright, 1952, National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters

    Additional copies available at fifteen cents per copy by writing to
                   NARTB-TV, 1771 N Street, N.W.
                          Washington 6, D. C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREAMBLE                                             1

ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE                 1

ACCEPTABILITY OF PROGRAM MATERIAL                    2
RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD CHILDREN                       3
DECENCY AND DECORUM IN PRODUCTION                    3
COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY                             3
TREATMENT OF NEWS AND PUBLIC EVENTS                  4
CONTROVERSIAL PUBLIC ISSUES                          4
POLITICAL TELECASTS                                  4
RELIGIOUS PROGRAMS                                   4
PRESENTATION OF ADVERTISING                          5
ACCEPTABILITY OF ADVERTISERS AND PRODUCTS -GENERAL   5
ADVERTISING OF MEDICAL PRODUCTS                      6
CONTESTS                                             6
PREMIUMS AND OFFERS                                  6
TIME STANDARDS FOR ADVERTISING COPY                  7
DRAMATIZED APPEALS AND ADVERTISING                   7
SPONSOR IDENTIFICATION                               8
REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES                           8
    NAME                                             8
    PURPOSE OF THE CODE                              8
    SUBSCRIBERS                                      8
    RATES                                            9
    THE TELEVISION CODE REVIEW BOARD                 9
IL   1   II_   1111
THE TELEVISION CODE

                                                 OF THE

  NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTERS

Preamble                                                     In order that television programming may best
                                                           serve the public interest, viewers should be en-
  Television is seen and heard in every type of            couraged to make their criticisms and positive
American home. These homes include children                suggestions known to the television broadcasters.
and adults of all ages, embrace all races and all          Parents in particular should be urged to see to it
varieties of religious faith, and reach those of           that out of the richness of television fare, the best
every educational background. It is the responsi-          programs are brought to the attention of their
bility of television to bear constantly in mind that       children.
the audience is primarily a home audience, and
consequently that television's relationship to the
viewers is that between guest and host.                    Advancement o f Education and Culture
   The revenues from advertising support the free,          1. Commercial television provides a valuable
competitive American system of telecasting, and                means of augmenting the educational and
make available to the eyes and ears of the Ameri-               cultural influences of schools, institutions of
can people the finest programs of information,                  higher learning, the home, the church, mu-
education, culture and entertainment. By law the                seums, foundations, and other institutions
television broadcaster is responsible for the pro-              devoted to education and culture.
gramming of his station. He, however, is obli-               2. It is the responsibility of a television broad-
gated to bring his positive responsibility for ex-              caster to call upon such institutions for coun-
cellence and good taste in programming to bear                  sel and cooperation and to work with them
upon all who have a hand in the production of                   on the best methods of presenting educa-
programs, including networks, sponsors, pro-                    tional and cultural materials by television.
ducers of film and of live programs, advertising                It is further the responsibility of stations,
agencies, and talent agencies.                                  networks, advertising agencies and sponsors
   The American businesses which utilize televi-                consciously to seek opportunities for intro-
sion for conveying their advertising messages to                ducing into telecasts factual materials which
the home by pictures with sound, seen free -of -                will aid in the enlightenment of the American
charge on the home screen, are reminded that                    public.
their responsibilities are not limited to the sale           3. Education via television may be taken to
of goods and the creation of a favorable attitude               mean that process by which the individual is
toward the sponsor by the presentation of enter-                brought toward informed adjustment to his
tainment. They include, as well, responsibility                 society. Television is also responsible for the
for utilizing television to bring the best programs,            presentation of overtly instructional and cul-
regardless of kind, into American homes.                        tural programs, scheduled so as to reach the
   Television, and all who participate in it are                viewers who are naturally drawn to such pro-
jointly accountable to the American public for                  grams, and produced so as to attract the
respect for the special needs of children, for com-             largest possible audience.
munity responsibility, for the advancement of                4. In furthering this realization, the television
education and culture, for the acceptability of the             broadcaster:
program materials chosen, for decency and de-                      a) Should be thoroughly conversant with
corum in production, and for propriety in adver-                      the educational and cultural needs and
tising. This responsibility cannot be discharged                       desires of the community served.
by any given group of programs, but can be dis-                    b) Should affirmatively seek out responsi-
charged only through the highest standards of                          ble and accountable educational and
respect for the American home, applied to every                        cultural institutions of the community
moment of every program presented by television.                       with a view toward providing oppor-
                                                       1
tunities for the instruction and en-            f) Sex crimes and abnormalities are gen-
            lightenment of the viewers.                         erally unacceptable as program ma-
         c) Should provide for reasonable experi-               terial.
            mentation in the development of pro-            g) Drunkenness and narcotic addiction
            grams specifically directed to the ad-             are never presented as desirable or
            vancement of the community's culture                prevalent.
            and education.
                                                            h) The administration of illegal drugs will
                                                                not be displayed.
Acceptability of Program Material
                                                             i) The use of liquor in program content
   Program materials should enlarge the horizons                shall be de-emphasized. The consump-
of the viewer, provide him with wholesome enter-                 tion of liquor in American life, when
tainment, afford helpful stimulation, and remind                 not required by the plot or for proper
him of the responsibilities which the citizen has                characterization, shall not be shown.
towards his society. Furthermore :
                                                             j) The use of gambling devices or scenes
     a) (i) Profanity, obscenity, smut and vulgar-               necessary to the development of plot
             ity are forbidden, even when likely to             or as appropriate background is accept-
             be understood only by part of the audi-            able only when presented with discre-
             ence. From time to time, words which               tion and in moderation, and in
             have been acceptable, acquire undesir-                                                  a
             able meanings, and telecasters should              manner which would not excite interest
             be alert to eliminate such words.                  in, or foster, betting nor be instruc-
                                                                tional in nature. Telecasts of actual
       (ii) The Television Code Review Board (see               sport programs at which on -the -scene
            V, Section 3, page 9) shall maintain                betting is permitted by law should be
            and issue to subscribers, from time to              presented in a manner in keeping with
            time, a continuing list of specific words           Federal, state and local laws, and
            and phrases which should not be used                should concentrate on the subject as a
            in keeping with this subsection. This               public sporting event.
            list, however, shall not be considered as
            all-inclusive.                                  k) In reference to physical or mental afflic-
    b) (i) Attacks on religion and religious faiths             tions and deformities, special precau-
           are not allowed.                                     tions must be taken to avoid ridiculing
      (ii) Reverence is to mark any mention of                  sufferers from similar ailments and
            the name of God, His attributes and                 offending them or members of their
            powers.                                            families.
     (iii) When religious rites are included in              1) Exhibitions of fortune-telling, astrol-
           other than religious programs, the                   ogy, phrenology, palm -reading, and
            rites are accurately presented, and the             numerology are acceptable only when
            ministers, priests and rabbis portrayed             required by a plot or the theme of a
            in their callings are vested with the              program, and then the presentation
            dignity of their office and under no                should be developed in a manner de-
            circumstances are to be held up to                  signed not to foster superstition or
            ridicule.                                           excite interest or belief in these sub-
    c) (i) Contests may not constitute a lottery.              jects.
      (ii) Any telecasting designed to "buy" the            m) Televised drama shall not simulate
           television audience by requiring it to              news or special events in such a way as
           listen and/or view in hope of reward,               to mislead or alarm. (see News, page
           rather than for the quality of the pro-             4.)
           gram, should be avoided. (see Con-
           tests, page 6.)                                  n) Legal, medical and other professional
    d)     Respect is maintained for the sanctity              advice, diagnosis and treatment will be
            of marriage and the value of the home.             permitted only in conformity with law
            Divorce is not treated casually nor jus-           and recognized ethical and professional
            tified as a solution for marital prob-             standards.
            lems.                                           o) The presentation of cruelty, greed and
    e)      Illicit sex relations are not treated as           selfishness as worthy motivations is to
            commendable.                                       be avoided.
                                                        2
p) Unfair exploitation of others for per-               terials, page 2.) Television is responsible
         sonal gain shall not be presented as                 for insuring that programs of all sorts which
          praiseworthy.                                       occur during the times of day when children
                                                              may normally be expected to have the oppor-
      q) Criminality shall be presented as un-                tunity of viewing television shall exercise
          desirable and unsympathetic. The con-               care in the following regards :
          doning of crime and the treatment of
          the commission of crime in a frivolous,               a) In affording opportunities for cultural
          cynical or callous manner is unaccept-                    growth as well as for wholesome en-
          able.                                                     tertainment.
      r) The presentation of techniques of                      b) In developing programs to foster and
          crime in such detail as to invite imita-                  promote the commonly accepted moral,
          tion shall be avoided.                                    social and ethical ideals characteristic
                                                                    of American life.
       s) The use of horror for its own sake will
          be eliminated ; the use of visual or                  c) In reflecting respect for parents, for
          aural effects which would shock or                        honorable behavior, and for the con-
          alarm the viewer, and the detailed pres-                  stituted authorities of the American
          entation of brutality or physical agony                   community.
          by sight or by sound are not permis-                  d) In eliminating reference to kidnapping
          sible.                                                    of children or threats of kidnapping.
      t) Law enforcement shall be upheld, and                   e) In avoiding material which is exces-
          the officers of the law are to be por-                    sively violent or would create morbid
          trayed with respect and dignity.                          suspense, or other undesirable reactions
      u) The presentation of murder or revenge                      in children.
          as a motive for murder shall not he pre-              f) In exercising particular restraint and
          sented as justifiable.                                    care in crime or mystery episodes in-
      v) Suicide as an acceptable solution for                      volving children or minors.
          human problems is prohibited.
      w) The exposition of sex crimes will be             Decency and Decorum in Production
          avoided.                                         1. The costuming of all performers shall be
      x) The appearances or dramatization of                  within the bounds of propriety, and shall
         persons featured in actual crime news                avoid such exposure or such emphasis on
         will be permitted only in such light as              anatomical detail as would embarrass or
          to aid law enforcement or to report the             offend home viewers.
          news event.                                       2. The movements of dancers, actors, or other
                                                               performers shall be kept within the bounds
Responsibility Toward Children                                 of decency, and lewdness and impropriety
                                                               shall not be suggested in the positions as-
  1. The education of children involves giving                 sumed by performers.
     them a sense of the world at large. Crime,             3. Camera angles shall avoid such views of
     violence and sex are a part of the world they            performers as to emphasize anatomical de-
     will be called upon to meet, and a certain               tails indecently.
     amount of proper presentation of such is               4. Racial or nationality types shall not be shown
     helpful in orienting the child to his social              on television in such a manner as to ridicule
     surroundings. However, violence and illicit               the race or nationality.
     sex shall not be presented in an attractive            5. The use of locations closely associated with
     manner, nor to an extent such as will lead a              sexual life or with sexual sin must be gov-
     child to believe that they play a greater part            erned by good taste and delicacy.
     in life than they do. They should not be pre-
     sented without indications of the resultant
     retribution and punishment.                          Community Responsibility
  2. It is not enough that only those programs              A television broadcaster and his staff occupy a
     which are intended for viewing by children           position of responsibility in the community and
     shall be suitable to the young and immature.         should conscientiously endeavor to be acquainted
     (Attention is called to the general items            fully with its needs and characteristics in order
     listed under Acceptability of Program Ma --          better to serve the welfare of its citizens.
                                                      3
Treatment of News and Public Events                              sonant with the ends of an informed and
                                                                 enlightened citizenry.
 News
                                                            2. Because of the nature of events open to the
 1. A television station's news schedule should                  public, the treatment of such events by a
    be adequate and well-balanced.                               television broadcaster should be effected in
 2. News reporting should be factual, fair and                   a manner to provide for adequate and in-
    without bias.                                                formed coverage as well as good taste in
 3. Commentary and analysis should be clearly                    presentation.
    identified as such.
 4. Good taste should prevail in the selection and        Controversial Public Issues
    handling of news :
       Morbid, sensational or alarming details              1. Television provides a valuable forum for the
    not essential to the factual report, especially            expression of responsible views on public is-
    in connection with stories of crime or sex,                  sues of a controversial nature. In keeping
    should be avoided. News should be telecast                   therewith the television broadcaster should
    in such a manner as to avoid panic and un-                   seek out and develop with accountable indi-
    necessary alarm.                                             viduals, groups and organizations, programs
 5. At all times, pictorial and verbal material for              relating to controversial public issues of
    both news and comment should conform to                      import to its fellow citizens; and to give fair
    other sections of these standards, wherever                  representation to opposing sides of issues
    such sections are reasonably applicable.                   which materially affect the life or welfare of
                                                               a substantial segment of the public.
 6. Pictorial material should be chosen with care
    and not presented in a misleading manner.               2. The provision of time for this purpose should
 7. A television broadcaster should exercise due               be guided by the following principles:
    care in his supervision of content, format,                   a) Requests by individuals, groups or or-
    and presentation of newscasts originated by                           ganizations for time to discuss their
    his station, and in his selection of newscast-                        views on controversial public issues,
    ers, commentators, and analysts.                                      should be considered on the basis of
 8. A television broadcaster should exercise par-                         their individual merits, and in the
    ticular discrimination in the acceptance,                             light of the contribution which the
    placement and presentation of advertising in                          use requested would make to the public
    news programs so that such advertising                                interest, and to a well-balanced pro-
    should be clearly distinguishable from the                        gram structure.
    news content.                                                  b) Programs devoted to the discussion of
 9. A television broadcaster should not present                       controversial public issues should be
    fictional events or other non -news material                       identified as such, and should not be
    as authentic news telecasts or announcements                          presented in a manner which would
    nor should he permit dramatizations in any                            mislead listeners or viewers to believe
    program which would give the false impres-                            that the program is purely of an en-
    sion that the dramatized material constitutes                         tertainment, news, or other character.
    news. Expletives, (presented aurally or pic-
    torially) such as "flash" or "bulletin" and           Political Telecasts
    statements such as "we interrupt this pro-
    gram to bring you . . ." should be reserved             Political telecasts should be clearly identified
    specifically for news room use. However, a            as such, and should not be presented by a tele-
    television broadcaster may properly exercise          vision broadcaster in a manner which would mis-
    discretion in the use in non -news programs           lead   listeners or viewers to believe that the
    of words or phrases which do not necessarily          program is of any other character.
    imply that the material following is a news
    release.                                              Religious Programs
 Public Events                                              1. It is the responsibility of a television broad-
                                                               caster to make available to the community
 1. A television broadcaster has an affirmative                as part of a well-balanced program schedule
    responsibility at all times to be informed of              adequate opportunity for religious presenta-
    public events, and to provide coverage con -                 tions.
                                                      4
2. The following principles should be followed                       should be announced and clearly iden-
     in the treatment of such programs :                               tified before the sponsor's advertising
       a) Telecasting which reaches men of all                         material is first used, and should be
          creeds simultaneously should avoid at-                       signed off after the sponsor's advertis-
          tacks upon religion.                                         ing material is last used.
      b) Religious programs should be presented                    c) Advertising copy should contain no
          respectfully and accurately and with-                        claims intended to disparage competi-
          out prejudice or ridicule.                                   tors, competing products, or other in-
                                                                       dustries, professions or institutions.
      c) Religious programs should be presented
          by responsible individuals, groups, and                  d) Since advertising by television is a
          organizations.                                               dynamic technique, a television broad-
                                                                       caster should keep under surveillance
      d) Religious programs should place em-                           new advertising devices so that the
         phasis on broad religious truths, ex-                         spirit and purpose of these standards
         cluding the presentation of controver-                        are fulfilled.
         sial or partisan views not directly or                    e) Television broadcasters should exer-
          necessarily related to religion or moral-                    cise the utmost care and discrimination
          ity.
                                                                       with regard to advertising material,
 3. In the allocation of time for telecasts of re-                    including content, placement and pres-
    ligious programs it is recommended that the                       entation, near or adjacent to programs
    television station use its best efforts to appor-                  designed for children. No considera-
    tion such time fairly among the representa-                       tions of expediency should be permitted
    tive faith groups of its community.                               to impinge upon the vital responsibility
                                                                      towards children and adolescents,
Presentation of Advertising                                            which is inherent in television, and
                                                                      which must be recognized and accepted
  1. Ever mindful of the role of television as a                      by all advertisers employing television.
    guest in the home, a television broadcaster                    f) Television advertisers should be en-
    should exercise unceasing care to supervise                       couraged to devote portions of their
    the form in which advertising material is                         allotted advertising messages and pro-
    presented over his facilities. Since television                   gram time to the support of worthy
    is a developing medium, involving methods                         causes in the public interest in keeping
    and techniques distinct from those of radio,                      with the highest ideals of the free com-
    it may be desirable from time to time to re-                      petitive system.
    view and revise the presently suggested                        g) A charge for television time to
    practices :
                                                                      churches and religious bodies is not
      a) Advertising messages should be pre-                          recommended.
         sented with courtesy and good taste;
          disturbing or annoying material should
          be avoided ; every effort should be made          Acceptability of Advertisers
          to keep the advertising message in                  and Products-General
          harmony with the content and general                1. A commercial television broadcaster makes
          tone of the program in which it ap-                    his facilities available for the advertising of
         pears.                                                  products and services and accepts commer-
      b) A sponsor's      advertising messages                   cial presentations for such advertising. How-
          should be confined within the frame-                   ever, a television broadcaster should, in
          work of the sponsor's program struc-                  recognition of his responsibility to the public,
          ture. A television broadcaster should                 refuse the facilities of his station to an
          seek to avoid the use of commercial an-               advertiser where he has good reason to doubt
          nouncements which are divorced from                   the integrity of the advertiser, the truth of
          the program either by preceding the                   the advertising representations, or the com-
          introduction of the program (as in the                pliance of the advertiser with the spirit and
          case of so-called "cow -catcher" an-                  purpose of all applicable legal requirements.
          nouncements) or by following the ap-                  Moreover, in consideration of the laws and
          parent sign -off of the program (as in                customs of the communities served, each
          the case of so-called "trailer" announce-             television broadcaster should refuse his fa-
          ments). To this end, the program itself               cilities to the advertisement of products and
                                                        5
services, or the use of advertising scripts,                 uct for purposes of publicizing the brand
  which the station has good reason to believe                 name or other identification of a product
  would be objectionable to a substantial and                  which is not acceptable.
  responsible segment of the community. The
  foregoing principles should be applied with             Advertising of Medical Products
  judgment and flexibility, taking into con-                1. The advertising of medical products presents
  sideration the characteristics of the medium                 considerations of intimate and far-reaching
  and the form and content of the particular                   importance to the consumer, and the follow-
 presentation. In general, because television                  ing principles and procedures should apply
 broadcast is designed for the home and the                    in the advertising thereof :
 family, including children, the following prin-
  ciples should govern the business classifica-                  a) A television broadcaster should not ac-
  tions listed below :                                               cept advertising material which in his
                                                                     opinion offensively describes or drama-
     a) The advertising of hard liquor should                        tizes distress or morbid situations
         not be accepted.                                            involving ailments, by spoken word,
    b) The advertising of beer and wines is                          sound or visual effects.
          acceptable only when presented in the                  b) Because of the personal nature of the
          best of good taste and discretion, and                     advertising of medical products, claims
          is acceptable subject to Federal and                       that a product will effect a cure and the
          local laws.                                                indiscriminate use of such words as
    c) Advertising by institutions or enter-                         "safe", "without risk", "harmless", or
       prises which in their offers of instruc-                      terms of similar meaning should not be
       tion imply promises of employment or                          accepted in the advertising of medical
       make exaggerated claims for the oppor-                        products on television stations.
       tunities awaiting those who enroll for
       courses is generally unacceptable.                 Contests
    d) The advertising of firearms and fire-               1. Contests should offer the opportunity to all
          works is acceptable only subject to                  contestants to win on the basis of ability and
        Federal and local laws.                                skill, rather than chance.
     e) The advertising of fortune-telling,                 2. All contest details, including rules, eligibility
        occultism, spiritualism, a s t r o 1 o g y,            requirements, opening and termination dates
        phrenology, palm -reading, numerology,                 should be clearly and completely announced
        mind -reading or character -reading is                 and/or shown, or easily accessible to the
        not acceptable.                                        viewing public, and the winners' names
     f) Because all products of a personal na-                 should be released and prizes awarded as
        ture create special problems, such prod-               soon as possible after the close of the con-
        ucts, when accepted, should be treated                 test.
          with especial emphasis on ethics and              3. When advertising is accepted which requests
          the canons of good taste; however, the               contestants to submit items of product iden-
          advertising of intimately personal                    tification or other evidence of purchase of
          products which are generally regarded                product, reasonable facsimiles thereof should
          as unsuitable conversational topics in               be made acceptable.
          mixed social groups is not acceptable.            4. All copy pertaining to any contest (except
     g)   The advertising of tip sheets, race                  that which is required by law) associated
          track publications, or organizations                  with the exploitation or sale of the sponsor's
          seeking to advertise for the purpose of               product or service, and all references to
          giving odds or promoting betting or                   prizes or gifts offered in such connection
         lotteries is unacceptable.                             should be considered a part of and included
2. Diligence should be exercised to the end that                in the total time allowances as herein pro-
   advertising copy accepted for telecasting                    vided. (see Time Standards for Advertising
   complies with pertinent Federal, state and                   Copy, page 7.)
   local laws.
3. An advertiser who markets more than one                Premiums and Offers
   product should not be permitted to use ad-                1. Full details of proposed offers should be re-
   vertising copy devoted to an acceptable prod -               quired by the television broadcaster for
                                                      6
investigation and approval before the first                  should be scheduled within a 15 -minute pe-
     announcement of the offer is made to the                     riod and not more than six such announce-
     public.                                                      ments should be scheduled within a 30 -minute
  2. A final date for the termination of an offer                 period in local announcement programs ;
     should be announced as far in advance as                     however, fewer announcements of greater
    possible.                                                     individual length may be scheduled, provided
                                                                  that the aggregate length of the announce-
 3. Before accepting for telecast offers involving                ments approximates three minutes in a 15 -
    a monetary consideration, a television broad-                 minute program or six minutes in a 30 -minute
     caster should satisfy himself as to the in-                   program. In announcement programs other
     tegrity of the advertiser and the advertiser's                than 15 minutes or 30 minutes in length, the
     willingness to honor complaints indicating                    proportion of one minute of announcement
     dissatisfaction with the premium by return-                   within every five minutes of programming
     ing the monetary consideration.                               is normally applied. The announcements
  4. There should be no misleading descriptions                    must be presented within the framework of
     or visual representations of any premiums                     the program period designated for their use
     or gifts which would distort or enlarge their                 and kept in harmony with the content of the
     value in the minds of the listeners.                          program in which they are placed.
  5. Assurances should be obtained from the ad-                 4. Programs presenting women's services, fea-
     vertiser that premiums offered are not harm-                  tures, shopping guides, market information,
     ful to person or property.                                    and similar material, provide a special serv-
  6. Premiums should not be approved which                         ice to the listening and viewing public in
     appeal to superstition on the basis of "luck -                which advertising material is an informative
     bearing" powers or otherwise.                                 and integral part of the program content.
                                                                   Because of these special characteristics the
                                                                   time standards set forth above may be
Time Standards for Advertising Copy                                waived to a reasonable extent. In the present
                                                                   state of experimentation in programming
  1. As a guide to the determination of good                       and advertising techniques in television pro-
     telecast advertising practice, the time stand-                grams of this type no definite limitations to
     ards for advertising copy, presently sug-                     these exceptions are set forth at this time.
     gested, are as follows :
                                                                5. Any casual reference in a program to an -
                      Length of Avertising Message                 other's product or service under any trade
                         (minutes and seconds)
Length of                                                          name or language sufficiently descriptive to
Program News Programs       All Other Programs                     identify it should, except for normal guest
(minutes) Day and Night   Class "A" Time All Other Hrs.            identifications, be condemned and discour-
     5         1:00           1:00            1:15                 aged.
   10          1:45           2 :00           2:10
    15         2 :15          2 :30           3 :00             6. Stationary backdrops or properties in tele-
   25                         2 :50           4:00                 vision presentations showing the sponsor's
   30                         3:00            4 :15                name or product, the name of his product,
   45                         4 :30           5 :45                his trade mark or slogan may be used only
   60                         6 :00           7 :00                incidentally. They should not obtrude on
                                                                   program interest or entertainment. "On
  2. The time standards set forth above do not                     Camera" shots of such materials should be
     affect the established practice of reserving                  fleeting, not too frequent, and mindful of the
     for station use the last 30 seconds of each                   need of maintaining a proper program bal-
     program for station break and spot an-                        ance.
     nouncements.
  3. Announcement programs are designed to ac-                Dramatized Appeals and Advertising
     commodate a designated number of indi-
     vidual     live or recorded announcements,                 Appeals to help fictitious characters in television
     generally one minute in length, which are                programs by purchasing the advertiser's product
     carried within the body of the program and               or service or sending for a premium should not be
     are available for sale to individual advertis-           permitted, and such fictitious characters should
     ers. Normally not more than 3 one -minute                not be introduced Into the advertising message
     announcements (which should not exceed                   for such purposes. When dramatized advertising
     approximately 125 words if presented live)               material involves statements by doctors, dentists,
                                                          7
nurses or other professional people, the material               to the extent of one subscription for each such
should be presented by members of such profes-                  station and/or network which it operates or for
sion reciting actual experience or it should be                 which it holds a construction permit; provided,
made apparent from the presentation itself that                 that a non television member of NARTB shall not
the portrayal is dramatized.                                    become eligible via code subscription to receive
                                                                any of the member services or to exercise any of
Sponsor Identification                                          the voting privileges of a member.
   Identification of sponsorship must be made in                Section 2. CERTIFICATION OF SUBSCRIPTION
all sponsored programs in accordance with the
requirements of the Communications Act of 1934,                   Upon subscribing to the Code, subject to the
as amended, and the Rules and Regulations of the                approval of the Television Board of Directors,
Federal Communications Commission.                              there shall be granted forthwith to each such
                                                                subscribing station authority to use the "NARTB
                                                                Television Seal of Good Practice," a copyrighted
   REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES                                   and registered seal to be provided in the form of a
  The following REGULATIONS AND PRO-                            certificate, a slide and/or a film, signifying that
CEDURES shall obtain as an integral part of the                 the recipient thereof is a subscriber in good stand-
Television Code of the National Association of                  ing to the Television Code of the NARTB. The
Radio and Television Broadcasters :                             seal and its significance shall be appropriately
                                                                publicized by the NARTB.
                            I                                   Section 3. DURATION OF SUBSCRIPTION
Name                                                              Subscription shall continue in full force and
 The name of this Code shall be The Television                  effect until thirty days after the first of the month
Code of the National Association of Radio and                   following receipt of notice of written resignation.
Television Broadcasters.*                                       Subscription to the Code shall be effective from
                                                                the date of application subject to the approval of
                           II                                   the Television Board of Directors ; provided, that
                                                                the subscription of a television station going on
Purpose of the Code                                             the air for the first time shall, for the first six
                                                                months of such subscription, be probationary, dur-
  The purpose of this Code is cooperatively to                  ing which time its subscription can be summarily
maintain a level of television programming which                revoked by an affirmative two-thirds vote of the
gives full consideration to the educational, infor-             Television Board of Directors without the usual
mational, cultural, economic, moral and entertain-              processes specified below.
ment needs of the American public to the end
that more and more people will be better served.
                                                                Section 4. SUSPENSION OF SUBSCRIPTION

                          III                                      Any subscription, and/or the authority to utilize
                                                                and show the above -noted seal, may be voided,
Subscribers                                                     revoked or temporarily suspended for television
Section 1. ELIGIBILITY                                          programming, including commercial copy, which,
                                                                by theme, treatment or incident, in the judgment
  Any individual, firm or corporation which is                  of the Television Board constitutes a continuing,
engaged in the operation of a television broadcast              willful or gross violation of any of the provisions
station or network, or which holds a construction               of the Television Code, by an affirmative two-
permit for a television broadcast station within                thirds vote of the Television Board of Directors
the United States or its dependencies, shall, sub-              at a regular or special meeting ; provided, how-
ject to the approval of the Television Board of                 ever, that the following conditions precedent shall
Directors as hereinafter provided, be eligible to               apply: (1) The subscriber shall be advised in writ-
subscribe to the Television Code of the NARTB
                                                                ing by Registered Mail of the charges preferred;
   "Television Board. The Television Board is hereby             (2) Such subscriber shall have a right to a hearing
authorized:-(4) to enact, amend and promulgate stand-           and may exercise same by filing an answer within
ards of practice or codes for its Television members, and       10 days of the date of such notification; (3) Fail-
to establish such methods to secure observance thereof as
it may deem advisable;-". By -Laws of the National              ure to request a hearing shall be deemed a waiver
Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters, Article       of the subscriber's right thereto; (4) If hearing
VII, section 2,B.(4).
                                                            8
is requested by the subscriber, it shall be desig-                                  IV
nated as promptly as possible and at such time
and place as the Television Board may specify.             Rates
Oral and written evidence may be introduced by               Each subscriber shall pay 'administrative' rates
the subscriber and by the Television Code Review           in accordance with such schedule, at such time,
Board (hereinafter provided for). Oral argument            and under such conditions as may be determined
may be had at the hearing and written memo-                from time to time by the Television Board (see
randa or briefs may be submitted by the sub-               Article VII, section 2,B. (3) and (4), By -Laws of
scriber and by the Television Code Review Board.           the NARTB); provided, that appropriate credit
The Television Board of Directors may admit such           shall be afforded to a television member of the
evidence as it deems relevant, material, and com-          NARTB against the regular dues which he or it
petent and may determine the nature and length             pays to NARTB-TV.
of the oral argument and the written argument or
briefs to be submitted. The Television Board of
Directors shall decide the case as expeditiously as                                 V
possible and shall notify the subscriber and the
Television Code Review Board in writing of the             The Television Code Review Board
decision.
                                                           Section 1. COMPOSITION
                                                              The Television Board of Directors shall estab-
Section 5. ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES                           lish a continuing committee entitled The Tele-
  The Television Board of Directors shall, from            vision Code Review Board, upon the promulgation
time to time, establish such additional rules of           of the Television Code. The Review Board shall
procedure as, in its opinion, may be necessary for         be composed of five members, all of whom shall
the proper administration of the Code ; provided,          be from the Television membership of NARTB.
that special consideration shall be given to the           Members of the Television Board of Directors
procedures for receipt and processing of com-              shall not be eligible to serve on the above specified
plaints and to necessary rules to be adopted from          Review Board. Members of the Review Board
time to time, taking into account the source and           shall be appointed by the President of the
nature of such complaints ; such rules to include          NARTB, subject to confirmation by the Television
precautionary measures such as the posting of              Board of Directors. Due consideration shall be
bonds to cover costs and expenses of processing            given, in making such appointments, to factors of
same; and further provided, that the Board of              diversification of geographical location, company
Directors shall take the steps necessary to insure         representation and network affiliation. Those
the confidential status of any proceedings before          members appointed, following promulgation of
it.                                                        the Code, shall serve until immediately following
                                                           the annual NARTB Convention of 1952. There-
                                                           after a term shall be for one year.
Section 6. AMENDMENT AND REVIEW
      Because of the new and dynamic aspects in-             A. Limitation of Service
herent in television broadcast, the Television Code,
as a living, flexible and continuing document, may           A person shall not serve consecutively as a
be amended from time to time by the Television             member of the Review Board for more than two
Board of Directors ; provided that said Board is           years.
specifically charged with review and reconsidera-
tion of the entire Code, its appendices and pro-           Section 2. QUORUM
cedures, at least once each year.                             A majority of the membership of the Television
                                                           Code Review Board shall constitute a quorum for
Section 7. TERMINATION OF CONTRACTS                        all purposes unless herein otherwise provided.
      All subscribers on the air at the time of sub-
scription to the Code shall be permitted that              Section 3. AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES
period prior to and including the earliest legal
cancellation date to terminate any contracts, then           The Television Code Review Board is author-
outstanding, calling for program presentations             ized and directed :
which would not be in conformity with the Tele-               (1) To maintain a continuing review of all tele-
vision Code, provided, however, that in no event           vision programming, especially that of subscribers
shall such period be longer than fifty-two weeks.          to the Television Code of the NARTB; (2) to
                                                       9
receive, screen and clear complaints concerning            concerning violations and breaches of the Tele-
television programming; (3) to define and inter-           vision Code by a subscriber; (8) to recommend
pret words and phrases in the Television Code;             to the Television Board of Directors, amendments
 (4) to develop and maintain appropriate liaison           to the Television Code.
with governmental agencies and with responsible
and accountable organizations and institutions;
 (5) to inform, expeditiously and properly, a sub-           A. Delegation of Powers and Responsibilities
scriber to the Television Code of complaints or              The Television Code Review Board may dele-
commendations, as well as to advise all subscrib-          gate, from time to time, such of its above -specified
ers concerning the attitude and desires program -          responsibilities, as it may deem necessary and
wise of accountable organizations and institutions,        desirable, to a Staff Group of the NARTB-TV.
and of the American public in general; (6) to
review and monitor, if necessary, any certain                B. Meetings
series of programs, daily programming, or any
other program presentations of a subscriber, as              The Television Code Review Board shall meet
well as to request recordings, aural or kinescope,         regularly at least four times a year at a date to be
or script and copy, with regard to any certain             determined by it in the months of January, March,
program presented by a subscriber; (7) to reach            June and September. The chairman of the Re-
conclusions, and to make recommendations or pre-           view Board may at any time on at least five days'
fer charges to the Television Board of Directors           written notice call a special meeting of the Board.

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