Timothy B. Dyk, Washington, D. C., with whom J. Roger Wollenberg and Daniel Marcus, Washington, D. C., were on the brief for intervenor CBS Inc., Joel Rosenbloom, Washington, D. C., and Richard D. Paisner also entered appearances for intervenor CBS, Inc.

James A. McKenna, Jr., Thomas N. Frohock, Washington, D. C., and John J. Smith, Washington, D. C., were on the brief for intervenor American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Corydon B. Dunham and Howard Monderer, Washington, D. C., were on the brief for intervenor National Broadcasting Company, Inc.

J. Laurent Scharff, Washington, D. C., was on the brief for intervenor Radio Television News Directors Association.

Ellen Show Agress and Earle K. Moore, New York City, were on the brief for intervenor Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, et al.

Henry Geller, Washington, D. C., filed a brief on behalf of Aspen Institute Program as amicus curiae urging affirmance.

Kenneth J. Guido, Jr., Washington, D. C., filed a brief on behalf of Common Cause as amicus curiae urging affirmance.

Stephen I. Schlossberg, Detroit, Mich., entered an appearance for intervenor, International Union United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.

Henry Geller, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for the League of Women Voters of the United States as amicus curiae.

Before WRIGHT, TAMM and WILKEY, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge TAMM with whom Circuit Judge WILKEY concurs.

Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge WRIGHT.

This case concerns perhaps the most important interpretation of the equal time provision of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. § 315(a),1 which has arisen in the past decade. Petitioners, the Democratic National Committee ("DNC"), the National Organization for Women ("NOW"), and Representative Shirley Chisholm, ask us to review various aspects of a Memorandum Opinion and Order2 of the Federal Communications Commission (hereinafter "FCC" or "Commission") reversing a statutory interpretation of over ten years' duration and holding that, henceforth, debates between qualified political candidates initiated by nonbroadcast entities (non-studio debates) and candidates' press conferences will be exempt from the equal time requirements of Section 315, provided they are covered live, based upon the good faith determination of licensees that they are "bona fide news events"3 worthy of presentation, and provided further that there is no evidence of broadcaster favoritism. Our review of the legislative history surrounding passage of the "bona fide news event" exemption reveals that it is inconclusive as to whether Congress intended for these particular formats to be included, although we find substantial support for the Commission's new interpretation in the broad Congressional policies behind passage of the exemption increasing broadcaster discretion and encouraging greater coverage of political news and in the discretion granted the Commission in interpreting and applying the amendment to particular program formats. We therefore defer to the Commission's interpretation of the Act it is charged with administering. We also conclude that the Commission has properly exercised its discretion in accomplishing the reversal via declaratory order rather than through notice and comment rulemaking.

A. General Factual and Legislative Background

Section 315, as originally enacted and interpreted, had imposed upon broadcasters a duty of absolute equality of treatment of competing political candidates in the "use" of broadcast facilities, stating:

(a) If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station: Provided, That such licensee shall have no power of censorship over the material broadcast under the provisions of this section. No obligation is imposed upon any licensee to allow the use of its station by any such candidate.

47 U.S.C. § 315(a).

For a number of years the FCC interpreted the equal time provision as inapplicable to the appearance of a candidate on a newscast, reasoning that such an appearance did not constitute a "use" of the broadcast facility insofar as the candidate did not directly or indirectly initiate the filming or presentation of the event. See, e. g., Allen H. Blondy, 40 FCC 284, 14 P & F Radio Reg. 1199 (1957). This interpretation became embodied in the Commission's official release of October 6, 1958, entitled "Use of Broadcast Facilities by Candidates for Public Office." Public Notice FCC 58-936, III-12; 105 Cong.Rec. 14459 (1959).

In 1959, however, the Commission effected a radical departure from its prior interpretation in the so-called "Lar Daly" case, Columbia Broadcasting System (Lar Daly), 18 P & F Radio Reg. 238, reconsideration denied, 26 FCC 715, 18 P & F Radio Reg. 701 (1959), and interpreted the statute to mean that the equal time rule applied even to the appearance of a candidate on a regularly scheduled newscast.4 The Commission's position on this matter created a national furor, and it was feared that its strict application of the equal opportunities provision "would tend to dry up meaningful radio and television coverage of political campaigns." S.Rep. No. 562, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 10 (1959), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1959, pp. 2564, 2572.5 This concern led Congress to conclude that the concept of absolute equality among competing political candidates would have to give way, to some extent, to two other "worthy and desirable" objectives:

First, the right of the public to be informed through broadcasts of the political events; and Second, the discretion of the broadcaster to be selective with respect to the broadcasting of such events.

Hearings on Political Broadcasts Equal Time Before the Subcommittee on Communications and Power of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1959) (comment of Chairman Harris).

Pursuant to these objectives, Congress amended Section 315(a) on September 4, 1959, to add the following exemptions:

Appearance by a legally qualified candidate on any

(1) bona fide newscast,

(2) bona fide news interview,

(3) bona fide news documentary (if the appearance of the candidate is incidental to the presentation of the subject or subjects covered by the news documentary), or

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

shall not be deemed to be use of a broadcasting station within the meaning of this subsection. Nothing in the foregoing sentence shall be construed as relieving broadcasters, in connection with the presentation of newscasts, news interviews, news documentaries, and on-the-spot coverage of news events, from the obligation imposed upon them under this chapter to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.

P.L. 86-274, § 1, 73 Stat. 557, amending 47 U.S.C. § 315.

Thus armed with a not-so-clear Congressional directive generally exempting news broadcasting from Section 315's equal time requirements, the Commission set forth to apply the news coverage exemptions to specific kinds of events and coverage. In The Goodwill Stations, Inc. (WJR), 40 FCC 362, 24 P & F Radio Reg. 413 (1962), the Commission ruled that a radio broadcast of a debate sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club between the two major Michigan gubernatorial candidates, part of a regular series of broadcasts of Economic Club luncheons, failed to qualify for exemption under Section 315(a)(4) as "on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events . . . ." Ten days later, the Commission held in National Broadcasting Co. (Wyckoff), 40 FCC 370, 24 P & F Radio Reg. 401 (1962), that a debate at the annual UPI convention featuring the two major California gubernatorial candidates could not qualify under the bona fide news event exemption. These two decisions, read together, effectively excluded all debates from the Section 315(a)(4) exemption. Two years later, the Commission ruled in response to a network's request that the broadcast of a press conference held by an incumbent President who is a candidate for reelection, or by a non-incumbent candidate for President, is a non-exempt "use" of the broadcast facility within the meaning of Section 315. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 40 FCC 395, 3 P & F Radio Reg. 2d 623 (1964). The Commission's 1975 Opinion overrules these decisions concluding, inter alia, that they were based on an erroneous reading of the legislative history of Section 315(a)(4).

B. Description of Parties and Immediate Background

The Commission's 1975 Opinion was in response to petitions filed by the Aspen Institute Program on Communications and Society ("Aspen") and CBS, Inc. ("CBS"). The Aspen petition, filed on April 22, 1975, asked the Commission to reexamine its 1962 Goodwill and Wyckoff decisions, holding that debates between candidates could not qualify as "on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events" under the Section 315(a)(4) exemption. Aspen Institute Program on Communications and Society Petition for Revision of First Report/Fairness Report in Docket No. 19260 or for Issuance of Policy Statement or Declaratory Ruling, April 22, 1975. J.A. 1. Aspen argued that these 1962 rulings were based on the mistaken assumption that Congress intended Section 315(a)(4) to apply only to newscasts in which the candidates' appearance was "incidental to" an independent newsworthy event, and urged the Commission to adopt an interpretation of the exemption consistent with the Congressional purpose to encourage and increase news coverage of political events. Such a broad, remedial construction, Aspen urged, would enable broadcasters to "more effectively and fully . . . inform the American people of important political races and issues" and to "make the Bicentennial a model political broadcast year." Opinion at 1; J.A. 1-3.

The CBS petition, filed on July 16, 1975, requested a ruling that Presidential press conferences could likewise qualify under the Section 315(a)(4) exemption from the equal opportunities requirements, so that broadcasters who covered such press conferences in the exercise of their professional news judgment would not incur equal opportunities obligations. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., Petition for Declaratory Ruling, July 16, 1975; J.A. 22. CBS pointed out that President Ford had formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President on July 8, 1975, more than 15 months before the election.6 All broadcast appearances by the President thus potentially could give rise to equal opportunity demands by other candidates for the Republican nomination unless such appearances fell within the exemptions to Section 315. Broadcast coverage of Presidential press conferences under these circumstances would not be feasible throughout the entire period between the President's announcement and the 1976 election.7 CBS requested that the Commission reexamine its 1964 ruling and interpret Section 315 as exempting live broadcast coverage of Presidential press conferences from the equal opportunities requirements where broadcasters in the exercise of their good faith news judgments decide that a conference is newsworthy. CBS Brief at 4-5. CBS argued that this interpretation was consistent with "the broad intent of Congress in enacting the 1959 amendments to Section 315 to ensure the free flow of vital news to the public and provide 'latitude for the exercise of good faith news judgment on the part of broadcasters and networks.' " CBS Brief at 5, quoting 105 Cong.Rec. 17782 (1959) (remarks of Rep. Harris). See also CBS petition at 12; J.A. 33. To adhere to the earlier rulings, CBS contended, would inhibit the free flow of news from the President to the people.

On September 2, 1975, the Democratic National Committee filed comments on the CBS petition, opposing reconsideration of the Commission's 1964 ruling that Presidential press conferences were not exempt from the equal opportunities requirements of Section 315. J.A. 45. Shortly thereafter, on September 12, 1975, the Honorable Shirley Chisholm and the National Organization for Women filed comments opposing both the CBS and Aspen Petitions. J.A. 70, 127.

The Commission's Opinion, released on September 30, 1975, acting on the CBS and Aspen petitions, overruled its 1964 CBS decision that Presidential press conferences could not qualify for exemption under Section 315(a)(4) and further held that press conferences of other candidates for political office broadcast "live and in their entirety" could also qualify for the "on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events" exemption.8 The Commission also overruled its Goodwill and Wyckoff decisions, supra, and held that Section 315(a)(4) exempts from the equal opportunity requirement candidate debates sponsored by non-broadcast entities, i. e., non-studio debates.

The basis for the Commission's reversal was its decision that the earlier cases had been based on a faulty reading of the legislative history surrounding the 1959 amendment. With respect to the debates concerned in the Goodwill and Wyckoff decisions, the Commission in 1962 had rejected the contention that, for the purposes of Section 315(a)(4), it was sufficient that a licensee had exercised its good faith news judgment in concluding that a particular debate constituted a bona fide news event which it wished to cover live and determined instead that debates could qualify neither as "bona fide news interviews" (because the candidates, not the broadcaster, controlled the format and participants), nor as "bona fide news events" (because the appearance of the candidates was not "incidental to" some other news event it was the event). In support of this "incidental to" test, the Commission had relied in 1962 on a 1959 House Committee Report9 stating that "the principal test was 'whether the appearance . . . is incidental to the on-the-spot coverage of a news event or whether it is for the purpose of advancing the candidacy of a candidate.' " 40 FCC 364, 372-73, quoted in FCC Brief at 5. A second rationale advanced by the Commission was its fear that interpreting a debate to constitute a "bona fide news event" would effectively nullify the equal time objectives of Section 315 and deprive the other three exemptions of their meaning.10

The Commission's rationale for the 1964 CBS decision was essentially the same with respect to the Section 315(a)(4) exemption as its rationale for the earlier debate decisions: the appearance of the candidate was not incidental to some other independently newsworthy event. In addition, the Commission rejected the argument that the broadcaster's good faith judgment of the newsworthiness of an event was sufficient to qualify coverage of the event for the Section 315(a)(4) exemption. 55 FCC 2d at 701, para. 13; J.A. 146.

In its 1975 Opinion, the Commission concluded that the analysis upon which it had based its decisions in these three cases had been erroneous. The Commission now concluded that the "incidental to" test had been removed from the proposed legislation prior to its enactment in 1959. Id. at 703, para. 22; J.A. 150.11 The "incidental to" requirement was, in fact, stricken in conference in the face of opposition during the floor debate in the House,12 and the conference bill was adopted without the disputed language.13 Under the new test, the Commission no longer seeks to determine whether the appearance of the candidate in a debate is the central aspect of the presentation or is merely incidental to some other independently newsworthy event, and

. . . a program which might otherwise be exempt does not lose its exempt status because the appearance of a candidate is a central aspect of the presentation, and not incidental to another news event.

Id. at 704-05, para. 23; J.A. 153.14 The new test, in the Commission's words, "(A)llows reasonable latitude for exercise of good faith news judgments by broadcasters and networks by leaving the initial determination as to eligibility for section 315 exemption to their reasonable and good faith judgment." Id. at 708, para. 30; J.A. 157. The Commission further found that reversal of its prior decisions "comports with the original legislative intent and serves the public interest by allowing broadcasters to make a fuller and more effective contribution to an informed electorate." Id. at 706, para. 27; J.A. 154.

On September 26, 1975, Representative Chisholm and NOW filed their petition for review in this court. Shortly thereafter, all three major networks intervened. DNC filed its petition for review on October 8, 1975, and the two cases were consolidated.15 Jurisdiction is properly invoked under 47 U.S.C. § 402(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 2342.

II. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE NEWS COVERAGE EXEMPTIONS

Our starting point in determining the scope and meaning of Section 315(a)(4) is, of course, the intent of Congress. For this we look both to the statutory language itself and to the legislative history. In the words of Justice Frankfurter,

(a) statute, like other living organisms, derives significance and sustenance from its environment, from which it cannot be severed without being mutilated. Especially is that true where the statute . . . is part of a legislative process having a history and a purpose.

United States v. Monia, 317 U.S. 424, 432, 63 S.Ct. 409, 413, 87 L.Ed. 376, 382 (1943) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting).

We note initially that the four exemptions apply generally to news broadcasts and that subsection (4), with which we are directly concerned, is limited to "on-the-spot (live) coverage of bona fide news events (including but not limited to political conventions and activities incidental thereto) . . . ." 47 U.S.C. § 315(a)(4) (1959) (emphasis added). All of the exemptions, in fact, contain the requirement that the program or event be "bona fide" news, yet the language itself provides no ready clue as to how this requirement is to be satisfied. It is unclear from the statute whether the test refers to the character of the event (i. e., its inherent newsworthiness), the nature of the candidate's appearance (i. e., whether the format is that of a debate, press conference, speech, etc.), or the candidate's relation to the broadcast (i. e., whether he "controls" it). Moreover, the exemption provisions do not reveal who is to make this crucial determination, the broadcaster or the Commission. The only clue from the language of Section 315(a)(4) is the parenthetical phrase which states that political conventions and activities incidental thereto presumably nominating and acceptance speeches definitely constitute "bona fide news events," and that the scope of the exemption extends to some other news events by some standard not apparent from the statutory language.

A. Legislative History Prior to the Passage of the News Exemptions

Central to the Commission's reversal of its Goodwill, Wyckoff and Columbia Broadcasting System decisions was its determination that those decisions were based upon an erroneous reading of the legislative history surrounding passage of the 1959 amendment to Section 315. Our examination reveals that the legislative history preceding passage of the amendment is inconclusive on the issue of whether Congress intended specifically to include or exclude non-studio debates and candidate's press conferences. It is clear, however, that Congress intended to give the Commission some leeway in interpreting the four exemptions and in applying them to particular program formats in order to further the basic purpose of the amendment, "(To) enable what probably has become the most important medium of political information to give the news concerning political races to the greatest possible number of citizens, and to make it possible to cover the political news to the fullest degree."16 That the Commission has considerable discretion in this area is clear from the Senate Report, which states in part:

(T)he committee in adopting the language of the proposed legislation carefully gave the Federal Communications Commission full flexibility and complete discretion to examine the facts in each complaint which may be filed with the Commission. In this way the Commission will be able to determine on the facts submitted in each case whether a newscast, news interview, news documentary, on-the-spot coverage of news event, or panel discussion is bona fide or a "use" of the facilities requiring equal opportunity.

The Congress created the Federal Communications Commission as an expert agency to administer the Communications Act of 1934. As experts in the field of radio and television, the Commission has gained a workable knowledge of the type of programs offered by the broadcasters in the field of news, and related fields. Based on this knowledge and other information that it is in a position to develop, the Commission can set down some definite guidelines through rules and regulations and wherever possible by interpretations.

S.Rep. No. 562, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 12 (1959), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1959, p. 2574 (emphasis added).

That Congress intended the Commission to play an important role in developing the Section 315 exemptions is also evident from Congress' decision not to legislate in detail, but rather to set out broad categories for exemption of news-related coverage and leave the Commission with the task of implementing Congressional intent.17 See 105 Cong.Rec. 16227 (1959) (remarks of Rep. Celler); 105 Cong.Rec. 14455 (1959) (remarks of Sen. Pastore). Moreover, the equal time provision itself contains a provision, Section 315(d), granting the Commission authority to prescribe appropriate rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of Section 315. This is something more than the normal grant of authority permitting an agency to make ordinary rules and regulations, since the Commission already has such authority to "(m)ake such rules and regulations and prescribe such restrictions and conditions, not inconsistent with law, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter." 47 U.S.C. § 303(r) (1937). See Kay v. FCC, 143 U.S.App.D.C. 223, 443 F.2d 638, 643 (1970).

Although we believe it unnecessary here to retrace in detail the legislative history preceding passage of the 1959 amendment, we note that it provides substantial support, although inconclusive, for the Commission's interpretation. Under these circumstances, we believe it our duty to defer to the Commission's interpretation of the statute which it is charged with administering. This court has often reiterated the principle that

(i)n approaching the problem of statutory interpretation . . . we show "great deference to the interpretation given the statute by the officers or agency charged with its administration. 'To sustain the Commission's application of this statutory term, we need not find that its construction is the only reasonable one or even that it is the result we would have reached had the question arisen in the first instance in judicial proceedings.' "Philadelphia Television Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 123 U.S.App.D.C. 298, 359 F.2d 282, 283-84 (1966) (citation omitted). Such deference is especially appropriate where, as here, Congress has opted for legislative generality, leaving the agency with the task of evolving definitions on a case-by-case basis. See, e. g., Hearings on S. 1585, S. 1604, S. 1858 and S. 1929 Before the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. 96 (1959) (Statement of Comm'r Doerfer).

We also find petitioners' argument that the four exemptions were intended to be narrowly construed unsupported by the legislative history. Rather, we find more convincing the Commission's, and Aspen's, contention that the purpose of the 1959 amendment was broadly remedial, and evidenced a willingness by Congress to take some risks with the equal time philosophy in order to permit broadcast coverage of on-the-spot news and to enable broadcasters more fully to cover the political news.18 Admittedly, Congress intended that the 1959 amendments would preserve the basic philosophy behind the equal time requirement.19 At the same time, however, Congress was determined to increase broadcaster discretion and allow increased live broadcast coverage of political news. This was the tone set for the opening of the hearings on the proposed 1959 amendments by Representative Harris, the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Power, when he stated:

This section (§ 315) by providing absolute equality among competing political candidates comes into conflict with two other worthy and desirable objectives:

First, the right of the public to be informed through broadcasts of political events; and

Second, the discretion of the broadcaster to be selective with respect to the broadcasting of such events.

Thus the principle of absolute equality for competing political candidates requires modification in the light of these two additional considerations and that is the specific problem which the Congress must face just how far the equality principle should give way to these other two principles. This question is to be developed in the course of these hearings.

Hearings on H.R. 5389, H.R. 5678, H.R. 6326, H.R. 7123, H.R. 7180, H.R. 7206, H.R. 7602, H.R. 7985 Before the Subcommittee on Communications and Power of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. at 1-2 (1959) (Statement of Hon. Oren Harris, Chairman).

Nothing in the language of Section 315(a)(4) itself would indicate that debates or press conferences could not be considered "news events" worthy of coverage. On the contrary, the inherent newsworthiness of speeches and debates seems no greater or less than that of "political conventions and activities incidental thereto," events expressly within the scope of the exemption. It is indisputable that print media consider such events newsworthy.20 We remain unconvinced by petitioners' arguments that these events are distinguishable based on the degree of control by the candidate, or the degree to which candidates tailor such events to serve their own political advantages. It is more reasonable to believe, as the Commission apparently does, that any appearance by a candidate on the broadcast media is designed, to the best of the candidate's ability, to serve his own political ends.21 There is ample support in the legislative history for the Commission's conclusion that a candidate's partial control over a press conference or debate does not, by itself, exclude coverage of the event from Section 315(a)(4). This conclusion is consistent with the Commission's new position that, absent evidence of broadcaster intent to advance a particular candidacy, the judgment of the newsworthiness of an event is left to the reasonable news judgment of professionals.22 See, e. g., National Broadcasting Company, 25 FCC 2d 735, 20 P & F Radio Reg.2d 301, 303 (1970); In re Complaint Covering CBS Program, "Hunger in America," 20 FCC 2d 143, 17 P & F Radio Reg.2d 674, 683 (1969); Thomas R. Fadell, 40 FCC 380, 381-382, 25 P & F Radio Reg. 288, aff'd per curiam sub nom., Fadell v. FCC, 25 P & F Radio Reg. 2063 (7th Cir. 1963).

Concurrently with the omission of the "incidental to" requirement from Section 315(a)(4),23 Congress increased the scope of broadcaster discretion to determine whether a news event was "bona fide" and deserving of coverage. In the words of Chairman Harris,

Under the substitute agreed to in conference, the appearance of a candidate on a newscast or news interview will not be exempt from the equal time requirement unless the newscast or news interview is bona fide, and appearance of a candidate in on-the-spot coverage of news events is not to be exempt from the equal time requirements unless the program covers bona fide news events. This requirement regarding the bona fide nature of the newscast, news interview or news events was not included without careful thought by the conference committee. It sets up a test which appropriately leaves reasonable latitude for the exercise of good faith news judgment on the part of broadcasters and networks. . . .

105 Cong.Rec. at 17782 (1959) (emphasis added).

It is thus inescapable that the final bill provided more room for broadcaster discretion than the earlier version, which had retained the "incidental to" language. Whether broadcaster discretion was intended to be the sole criterion of the bona fide nature of a news event, absent a violation of the fairness obligation, is less certain, however, and we are unable to reach a definite conclusion from the legislative history. We note only that the thrust of the 1959 amendment was toward increasing broadcaster discretion to cover political news. We find the Commission's Opinion entirely consistent with this theme.

Based thus on the broad intent of Congress to maximize broadcast coverage of political events and to increase broadcaster discretion, as well as Congress' expressed willingness to take some risks with the equal time philosophy in order to achieve these goals and to grant the Commission some leeway in interpreting the exemptions, we conclude that the Commission's recent Opinion appears consistent with the general Congressional purpose expressed in the legislative history preceding the 1959 amendment.

B. Congressional Action and Inaction Subsequent to Passage of the 1959 Amendment

Petitioners argue that Congressional action after 1959 was consistent with their interpretation that Section 315(a)(4) was never intended to apply to debates or press conferences and, alternatively, that Congress ratified the Commission's original interpretation of the bona fide news event exemption and subsequently "reenacted" section 315 without modifying the news exemptions.

We turn first to petitioners' contention that the 1960 suspension of the equal time requirement in order to permit the so-called "Great Debates" between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon evidenced a legislative recognition that debates were not exempt under the 1959 amendment. Brief for petitioners Chisholm and NOW at 40. We find no such indication. Senate Joint Resolution 207 suspended Section 315 in its entirety as it applied to all Presidential and Vice-presidential candidates; it never addressed the coverage of the 1959 amendments and placed no limits whatsoever on the kinds of events covered by broadcasters.24 Such political programming took a variety of different forms, including some clearly not otherwise exempt from the equal time requirements. See Hearings Before the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 87th Cong., 1st Sess. 66 (1961). In fact, the Senate Report accompanying the Joint Resolution stated that one reason for the suspension was that the Commission had not yet had sufficient time to interpret the new exemptions; consequently, the across-the-board suspension was designed, at least in part, to provide time for necessary evaluation of the effects of the amendments. S.Rep. No. 1539, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. 2 (1960) (statement of Sen. Pastore). Given the scope of the Section 315(a) exemptions, especially their applicability to broadcast coverage of all 1960 election contests except the Presidential race and to all future contests as well, we must conclude that the 1960 suspension of Section 315 is more properly viewed as an isolated experiment in total repeal of the equal time requirements for Presidential and Vice-presidential candidates, and not as a recognition or limitation of the scope of the news coverage exemptions.25

Petitioners next argue that Congressional acquiescence in and affirmance of the Commission's prior interpretation of the "bona fide news event" exemption over a period of more than ten years demonstrates that the Commission's former interpretation was the correct one and, consequently, that the Wyckoff, Goodwill and Columbia Broadcast System decisions have taken on the force of law. Specifically, petitioners urge that Congress was aware of the Commission's interpretation and did not indicate disapproval. DNC Brief at 44-47. Petitioners then argue that this inaction ratified the Commission's 1962 decisions by acquiescence and, further, that the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 "reenacted" Section 315, thereby incorporating the Commission's interpretation into the Act such that it could be altered only by Congress. Brief for petitioners Chisholm and NOW at 65-66; DNC Brief at 44-51.

We begin by noting that attributing legal significance to Congressional inaction is a dangerous business. See, e. g., Power Reactor Development Co. v. International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO, 367 U.S. 396, 408-10, 81 S.Ct. 1529, 1535-36, 6 L.Ed.2d 924, 932-33 (1961). The Supreme Court has said that Congressional failure to repudiate particular decisions "frequently betokens unawareness, preoccupation, or paralysis" rather than conscious choice, Zuber v. Allen, 396 U.S. 168, 185-86 n.21, 90 S.Ct. 314, 324, 24 L.Ed.2d 345, 356 (1969), and "affords the most dubious foundation for drawing positive inferences," United States v. Price, 361 U.S. 304, 310-11, 80 S.Ct. 326, 330, 4 L.Ed.2d 334, 339 (1960) (Harlan, J.).26 See also Jones v. Liberty Glass Co., 332 U.S. 524, 533, 68 S.Ct. 229, 231, 92 L.Ed. 142, 149 (1947) ("The doctrine of legislative acquiescence is at best only an auxiliary tool for use in interpreting ambiguous statutory provisions"). On the other hand, the Court has recently stated that

(a) court may accord great weight to the longstanding interpretation placed on a statute by an agency charged with its administration. This is especially so where Congress has reenacted the statute without pertinent change. In these circumstances, congressional failure to revise or repeal the agency's interpretation is persuasive evidence that the interpretation is the one intended by Congress.

NLRB v. Bell Aerospace Co., 416 U.S. 267, 274-75, 94 S.Ct. 1757, 1762, 40 L.Ed.2d 134, 143 (1974) (citations omitted).

Petitioners argue that Congress acquiesced in the FCC's prior interpretation both actively and passively; "passively by not enacting legislation to correct it, and actively by, in effect, reenacting § 315 in 1972 by amendments in important particulars, without in any way changing the language of the statute here pertinent." DNC Brief at 19. The Commission's interpretation of the 1959 amendments, petitioners assert, "was well known and clearly understood by Congress in the ensuing decade." DNC Brief at 44.

Our examination of Congressional action subsequent to the enactment of the equal time exemptions reveals nothing that can be interpreted as active approval of the Commission's 1962 interpretation. Subsequent hearings concentrated more generally on proposals to abolish the equal time requirement altogether or to amend the law to permit studio debates or speeches, both non-exempt uses under either of the Commission's interpretations. Petitioners rely upon the fact that the Commission's decisions were reported to Congress and discussed, for example, in the Commission's Annual Reports to Congress and Equal Time Primer. DNC Brief at 44-46. Although this indicates that Congress was "aware" of the Commission's interpretation, at least in a technical sense, Congressional inaction in this instance is entirely consistent with the interpretation that Congress was willing to leave to the Commission the interpretation of the exemptions as they applied to specific program formats. In this sense, Congressional acquiescence in the Commission's interpretation does not indicate that it was the only, or the best, interpretation. The circumstances surrounding the reports themselves indicate that Congress had in no way adopted the Commission's interpretation as its own. For example, in the 1963 Hearings before the House Commerce Committee, FCC Chairman Minow cited the Brown-Nixon debate as an example of a close case in applying the Section 315(a) (4) exemptions and informed the Committee that the Commission had ruled that the debate did not qualify as a bona fide news event. In response, Chairman Harris strongly indicated his disagreement with the Commission's narrow interpretation of the "bona fide news event" exemption, stating:

Is not the bringing together of two major political candidates . . . a bona fide news event? Perhaps, I do not appreciate the definition of a bona fide news event. . . . Are we going to deprive the people under this strict interpretation which you suggest here, of the broadcastings of this event?

Political Broadcasts Equal Time Hearing Before the House Commerce Committee, 88th Cong., 1st Sess., 65-67 (1963), quoted in FCC Brief at 37. Certainly this statement is less consistent with ratification of the Commission's interpretation than with a willingness to allow the Commission some leeway in interpretation and application of the exemption to specific news-related formats. In short, under these circumstances, we believe that Congress' failure to overrule the Wyckoff, Goodwill and 1964 Columbia Broadcasting System decisions sheds little light on Congress' intent, other than to demonstrate adherence to the basic philosophy of the equal time requirement, since such inaction must be viewed against the background of Congress' decision to leave the Commission some discretion to decide which particular events should qualify for the broadly defined news coverage exemptions.27

Petitioners further contend that the Federal Election Campaign Act ("FECA"), 86 Stat. 3 et seq., reenacted Section 315, thereby positively approving the prior administrative construction. DNC Brief at 44-52; Brief for Chisholm and NOW at 65-67. We find this argument wholly unpersuasive. Although Congress did amend the Act in 1971 to include provisions relating to the cost of political advertising, 86 Stat. 4, 47 U.S.C. § 312(a)(7), the nature of the "reenactment" was extremely limited and concerned solely with reforming political campaign finance activities. The FECA amendments were in no way concerned with the equal time exemptions, and, in fact, by-passed Section 315(a) altogether. The doctrine of reenactment simply cannot be stretched this far. See generally Sutherland on Statutory Construction, §§ 22.08, 22.33 (1973).

The cases upon which petitioners rely for this contention are likewise distinguishable: all involved more specific reenactments or viewed Congressional acquiescence as but one of many factors in interpreting ambiguous statutory language. For example, in Helvering v. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 306 U.S. 110, 59 S.Ct. 423, 83 L.Ed. 536 (1939), a case cited by petitioner DNC as "precisely dispositive," the Supreme Court held that the reenactment of the Revenue Acts without alteration indicated Congressional approval of the administrative construction of the Treasury Department; hence, the construction had attained the force of law. 306 U.S. at 114-15, 59 S.Ct. at 425, 83 L.Ed. at 540, cited in DNC Brief at 48. In that case, however, the specific statutory provision had been fully restated and repeatedly reenacted without change in each successive Revenue Act. Id. at 115 n. 10, 59 S.Ct. at 425, 83 L.Ed. at 540. Moreover, the Supreme Court has recognized the unique character of Internal Revenue Code cases due to the practice of Congressional amendment and reenactment. See Zuber v. Allen, supra, 396 U.S. at 185 n. 21, 90 S.Ct. at 323, 24 L.Ed.2d at 355. Similarly, in United States v. Leslie Salt Co., 350 U.S. 383, 76 S.Ct. 416, 100 L.Ed. 441 (1956), the Supreme Court refused to allow a new administrative definition of "debenture" to include certain promissory notes in the face of a consistent definition of 23-years duration. There, however, the Court based its decision largely on express Congressional approval of the old definition, since Congress had incorporated a similar definition into the statute by amendment, id. at 390-91, 76 S.Ct. at 420-21, 100 L.Ed. at 448, and since debentures and promissory notes had been taxed under separate provisions until the tax on promissory notes was repealed. Id. at 388-91, 76 S.Ct. at 419-21, 100 L.Ed. at 447-48. Finally, in Kay v. FCC, 143 U.S.App.D.C. 223, 443 F.2d 638 (1970), a panel of this court upheld the Commission's interpretation of Section 315 to apply separately to primary and general elections, so that during a primary election a broadcast "use" by a candidate gives rise to equal opportunities obligations only with respect to other candidates for his party's nomination. In Kay, however, the fact that Congress had amended Section 315 in 1959 without changing the language relied upon by the Commission was considered merely "an added circumstance which has some persuasive weight." Id. at 646. The Kay court specifically stated that legislative silence in the face of administrative interpretation does not necessarily indicate legislative approval. Id.28

We are thus unable to discover from the extensive, if rather ambiguous, legislative history any conclusive indication of a Congressional intent with respect to candidates' debates and press conferences. Congress' failure to take action in the face of the Commission's 1962 and 1964 decisions is subject to more than one interpretation. In the words of Judge Hand:

. . . (N)ot every ruling is incorporated in the text because it is not repudiated (by Congress); no one has ever suggested anything of the sort. At most, administrative practice is a weight in the scale, to be considered, but not to be inevitably followed. . . . To suppose that Congress must particularly correct each mistaken construction under penalty of incorporating it into the fabric of the statute appears to us unwarranted . . . .

F. W. Woolworth Co. v. United States, 91 F.2d 973, 976 (2d Cir. 1937), quoted in FCC Brief at 42.

Moreover, petitioners' acquiescence and reenactment arguments must be viewed in the context of the ability of administrative agencies to overrule past decisions,29 particularly in light of the discretion traditionally afforded the Commission in interpreting and applying the equal time provision. Congress' failure to change the statute in the face of the Commission's interpretation is thus entirely consistent with a demonstrated willingness to allow the Commission some leeway in interpreting the news exemptions and in applying them to specific news-related events.

In these circumstances, we are in no position to say that the Commission has misinterpreted Congress' intent or usurped its authority. The Commission's Opinion is consistent with the broad Congressional purpose in enacting the 1959 exemptions permitting increased broadcaster discretion and encouraging greater coverage of political news and operates in an area where the Commission has been granted greater than normal discretion. We are therefore required to

defer to the Commission's interpretation. III. THE

PROCEDURAL ISSUE: THE PROPRIETY OF OVERRULING A

Finally, petitioners Chisholm and NOW argue that, even if the Commission had authority to change its interpretation of Section 315(a)(4) to include non-studio debates and candidates' press conferences, it was required to follow rulemaking procedures, including issuing formal public notice of the CBS and Aspen proposals and inviting public comment in conformance with the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 553, 706 ("APA") and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. This is so, petitioners argue, because the Commission's Opinion enunciates new standards for determining what constitutes "on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events" which are of general prospective application. Brief for petitioners Chisholm and NOW at 3-4.

We note initially that an administrative agency is permitted to change its interpretation of a statute, especially where the prior interpretation is based on error, no matter how longstanding. See, e. g., Automobile Club v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 353 U.S. 180, 77 S.Ct. 707, 1 L.Ed.2d 746 (1957). See also American Trucking v. AT&S F.R. Co.,387 U.S. 397, 416, 87 S.Ct. 1608, 1618, 18 L.Ed.2d 847, 860 (1967); NLRB v. A.P.W. Product Co., 316 F.2d 899 (2d Cir. 1963).

It is, of course, incumbent upon an agency reversing its own policy to provide "an opinion or analysis indicating that the standard is being changed and not ignored, and assuring that it is faithful and not indifferent to the rule of law." Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 175, 454 F.2d 1018, 1026 (1971). The Opinion, grounded in the Commission's interpretation of the legislative history of the 1959 amendment and in the broad Congressional intent to provide for increased news coverage of political news, satisfies this minimal standard and is in no other respect "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law . . . ." 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A).

Respecting petitioners' claim that the Commission acted improperly in reversing precedent which has been followed for more than a decade via adjudication,30 rather than through notice and comment rulemaking, we must differ with petitioners' reading of NLRB v. Bell Aerospace, supra. In Bell Aerospace, the Supreme Court held that the issue of whether certain buyers were managerial personnel, and thus exempt from the coverage of the National Labor Relations Act, need not be decided by rulemaking. That case, like this one, involved a ruling contrary to the agency's past decisions; yet, the Court held that the choice whether to proceed by rulemaking or adjudication is primarily one for the agency regardless of whether the decision may affect agency policy and have general prospective application. NLRB v. Bell Aerospace, supra, 416 U.S. at 291-95, 94 S.Ct. at 1770-72, 40 L.Ed.2d 134, 152-54. See also Robinson, The Making of Administrative Policy: Another Look at Rulemaking and Adjudication and Administrative Procedure Reform, 118 U.Pa.L.Rev. 485, 508-13 (1970). See generally K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise § 501 (1958 ed.). Bell Aerospace relied heavily on SEC v. Chenery Corp., 332 U.S. 194, 67 S.Ct. 1575, 91 L.Ed. 1995 (1947) (Chenery II ), in which the Court had stated that "the choice made between proceeding by general rule or by individual, ad hoc litigation is one that lies primarily in the informed discretion of the administrative agency." Id. at 203, 67 S.Ct. at 1580, 91 L.Ed. at 2002, quoted in NLRB v. Bell Aerospace, supra, 416 U.S. at 293, 94 S.Ct. at 1771, 40 L.Ed.2d at 153. Although the majority in Bell Aerospace indicated that there could be instances where reliance on adjudication rather than rulemaking would amount to an abuse of discretion, id. at 294, 94 S.Ct. at 1771, 40 L$Ed.2d at 153, we find nothing to indicate that this is such a case. The original interpretation of the 1959 exemptions, which the 1975 Opinion reversed, was also established by adjudication; thus reversal by adjudication seems particularly appropriate here.31 Adjudicatory decisions do not harden into "rules" which cannot be altered or reversed except by rulemaking simply because they are longstanding.

Moreover, we see no advantage to be gained in this instance by requiring the Commission to proceed via the formalities of rulemaking rather than through adjudication. Petitioners DNC, Chisholm and NOW all submitted lengthy comments to the Commission in opposition to the Aspen and CBS petitions. As in Bell Aerospace, supra, we believe the issues were fully aired before the Commission, which had the benefit of all arguments raised before this court.32 It is therefore difficult to see how requiring the Commission to go through the motions of notice and comment rulemaking at this point would in any way improve the quality of the information available to the Commission or change its decision. The only result would be delay while the Commission accomplished the same objective under a different label. Such empty formality is not required where the record demonstrates that the agency in fact has had the benefit of petitioners' comments. Cf. Banzhaf v. FCC, 132 U.S.App.D.C. 14, 36, 405 F.2d 1082, 1104 (1968), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 842, 90 S.Ct. 50, 24 L.Ed.2d 93 (1969).

For these reasons, we see no procedural irregularity of any substance in the Commission's 1975 Opinion.33 The Commission carefully studied the petitioners' arguments, both explicit in their written submissions and implicit in the Commission's own interpretations, the Wyckoff, Goodwill and Columbia Broadcasting System decisions, and rejected them in a well reasoned statement. The Commission thus satisfied the demands of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Due Process Clause.34

In conclusion, we find nothing in the Commission's Opinion inconsistent with the basic philosophy of Section 315 as amended in 1959. The 1959 amendment to Section 315 clearly limited to some extent the simple mechanistic application of that section. In creating a broad exemption to the equal time requirements in order to facilitate broadcast coverage of political news, Congress knowingly faced risks of political favoritism by broadcasters, and opted in favor of broader coverage and increased broadcaster discretion. Rather than enumerate specific exempt and non-exempt "uses," Congress opted in favor of legislative generality, preferring to assign that task to the Commission.

In attempting to implement the Congressional intent behind passage of the four news exemptions, the Commission has now reversed its prior interpretation and embarked on a new course which it believes to be more consistent with the letter and spirit of the 1959 amendment. According to our reading, the legislative history is inconclusive, but we find much support for the Commission's new interpretation. In these circumstances, we are obligated to defer to the Commission's interpretation, even if it is not the only interpretation possible. We find nothing in Congress' behavior since 1959, either active or passive, to indicate that the Commission's prior interpretation was necessarily correct, or that Congress adopted it. Moreover, we find no infirmity in the procedure by which the Commission changed its interpretation of the 1959 amendment, since the Commission was not required to proceed by rulemaking, and since nothing would be gained by requiring the Commission to so proceed. We reiterate that petitioners submitted lengthy comments to the Commission and advanced substantially all of the arguments advanced here. Finally, we note only in passing that this case involves issues in an intensely political area which this court enters with great reluctance. It is the job of the Commission in the exercising of its delegated authority, and ultimately of Congress, to make these kinds of front-line determinations. We find no basis for disturbing the Commission's action here, grounded as it is on the Commission's interpretation of Congressional intent, an interpretation which we find reasonable.

For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the Commission's Opinion. In so doing, however, we take comfort in the realization that Congress may correct the Commission if it has misinterpreted Congressional intent or overstepped the bounds of its discretion.

So ordered.

J. Skelly WRIGHT, Circuit Judge (dissenting):

In the recent past the Federal Communications Commission has repeatedly urged Congress to amend or repeal the "equal time" provision contained in Section 315 of the Communications Act.1 The Commission's recommendation is based on its conclusion that Section 315, including the 1959 amendment, prevents the American people from receiving adequate broadcast coverage of political campaigns.2 Congress, however, has not acted.

There is no indication that Congress' failure to act on the Commission's recommendations with respect to Section 315 is an inadvertence. From the very beginning of broadcasting in this country Congress has been aware of the potential of the new media to shape and influence public opinion, particularly in the political forum. To say that time has confirmed that judgment is to understate the obvious. To protect political candidates, local and national, from the danger of partisan use of the media as well as to protect the constitutional principle of electoral equality,3 Congress inserted the equal time provision in its first major piece of legislation relating to broadcasting4 and it has remained in the law to this day.

I do not doubt that the Commission's current position on Section 315 represents its best judgment of where the public interest lies, nor do I find the policy arguments in favor of the Commission's approach unconvincing. But sincere beliefs cannot substitute for a grant of authority, and frustration with the deliberateness of the legislative process cannot excuse failure to comply with the requisites of the administrative process. Cf. Citizens Communications Center v. FCC, 145 U.S.App.D.C. 32, 447 F.2d 1201 (1971), clarified, 149 U.S.App.D.C. 419, 463 F.2d 822 (1972). In this case I am convinced that the Commission, in rejecting its own prior opinions5 as to the intent of Congress in passing the 1959 amendment to Section 315, has substituted its own judgment for decisions made by Congress, and has acted without regard for the procedures it was required to follow.

I. THE COMMISSION'S ACTION EXCEEDS ITS CONGRESSIONALLY

As the majority emphasizes, the 1959 amendment to Section 315 was remedial legislation. It was not, however, broad remedial legislation. Rather, the 1959 amendment was intended principally to correct the Commission's decision in the Lar Daly case, Columbia Broadcasting System (Lar Daly ), 18 P & F Radio Reg. 238, reconsideration denied, 26 FCC 715, 18 P & F Radio Reg. 701 (1959).6 See, e. g., 105 Cong.Rec. 14455 (1959) (remarks of Senator Pastore) ("Let us be positive about this. Generally all we are doing is restoring the situation insofar as news is concerned to that which existed for 32 years, before the Lar Daly decision."); id. at 16229 (remarks of Representative Harris) ("The Lar Daly decision abandoned this traditional concept and it is the primary purpose listen to me it is the primary purpose of this legislation to write back into section 315 this traditional exemption from the equal-time requirement and to deal with other things that always have been thought to be exempted from the equal-time requirement.").7 Admittedly, the amendment was not strictly limited to overruling Lar Daly. It also covered

certain problems of electronic news coverage, involving the operation of section 315, other than those dealt with in the Lar Daly case, which should be cleared up by the Congress in this legislation simultaneously with the clarification of section 315 with respect to newscasts.

H.R.Rep. No. 802, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 4 (1959). This congressional decision to resolve several specific problems8 in one piece of amendatory legislation is not the same, however, as a decision to engage in a thorough reform of the legislative framework. The 86th Congress explicitly rejected efforts at such restructuring of the equal time provision.9

Since Congress sought to restore what it considered a workable status quo ante rather than to create a new equal time provision with unknown parameters, the legislators had a clear understanding of both the types of political broadcasts that definitely were not to be affected by the new exemptions and the intended role of the Commission in administering the amended section.10 Shortly after passage of the 1959 amendment the Commission in a series of opinions11 had no trouble finding the clear intent of Congress not to include debates and press conferences within the exemptions. Congress, for over a decade, acquiesced in that judgment.12 But now, using the same legislative history 15 years after the fact,13 the Commission has reversed itself, finding that Congress did indeed intend to allow debates and press conferences in the exemptions after all. I submit that the Commission was right when it read the legislative history the first time.

A. The Exemption of Debates and Press Conferences

1. Debates. (a) The Senate in 1959. When the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce met to consider a legislative response to the Lar Daly decision, it had four bills before it. Two of those bills would have exempted from the equal time requirement candidate appearances on news shows, panel discussions, debates, and "similar type programs."14 The other two bills would have excluded from Section 315 only "any news program, including news reports and news commentaries, where the format and production of the program are determined by the broadcasting station * * *."15 Much of the discussion during the committee hearings focused on establishing the differences between these two approaches and on determining what could be broadcast free of equal time obligations under the different formulations. The committee was told that the proposals restricted to exemption of news programs would not allow broadcast of debates between candidates.16 Whether debates ought to be exempted was recognized as a major issue before the committee.17

The committee drafted its own bill, combining the approaches in the proposed bills, for submission to the full Senate. The committee's bill, S. 2424, exempted from Section 315(a) the "(a)ppearance by a legally qualified candidate on any news(cast), news interview, news documentary, on-the-spot coverage of news events, or panel discussion * * *." S.Rep. No. 562, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 1 (1959), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1959, p. 2564. An exemption for debates, after having been fully considered by the committee,18 was not recommended to the Senate.19

On the floor of the Senate the committee's bill was presented and discussed as a measure designed primarily to reverse the Lar Daly decision by exempting news programs from Section 315.20 Senator Engle, however, objected that by including panel discussions among the exemptions the bill went too far beyond simply restoring the pre-Lar Daly understanding of the equal time requirement.21 He therefore moved to eliminate the words "or panel discussions" from the bill. His argument to the Senate was that an exemption for panel discussions, like the exemption for debates already rejected by the committee, would pose too great a danger of abuse of the broadcast media.²²

The only strong opposition to Senator Engle's amendment was voiced by Senator Javits.23 He identified panel discussions with face-to-face debate among candidates, urging retention of the exemption for panel discussions because of the importance of such debate to the political process:

Mr. President, I think a word needs to be said about panel discussions, which are really an integral part of the American process of debate. Before we vote on the amendment, I would like to state that it should not be adopted. I think we should preserve panel discussions, and not make the requirement ridiculous. I refer to the opportunity of Americans to hear face-to-face debate by opponents. * * *

Let us not be wearing blinkers in terms of problems we face in daily decisions, but let us realize the broad public interest which is inherent in panel discussions.

Mr. President, I repeat, we are venturing into an area where we are trying to change a situation which has proved to be embarrassing. In the haste of trying to do something about that situation, let us not eliminate what I consider to be one of the great capabilities of the American people for having a knock-down, drag-out, face-to-face debate, to wit, a panel discussion which can do them the most good.

105 Cong.Rec. 14452-14453 (emphasis added).24 Despite this plea from Senator Javits, Senator Engle's amendment was accepted on a voice vote and the exemption for panel discussions was eliminated from S. 2424. Id. at 14453.

Thus both the committee and the full Senate considered whether to include in the amendment to Section 315 an exemption for debates between candidates. Both the committee and the full Senate determined that such an exemption was not warranted. The clear basis for the full Senate's action was a belief that an exemption for panel discussions, viewed by its one proponent as including debates between candidates, would unduly expand the scope of S. 2424 beyond reversing the Commission's action in Lar Daly. In concluding that candidates' debates are bona fide news events within the meaning of Section 315(a)(4), the Commission has ignored the Senate's decision that such debates should not be freed of the equal time requirement.

(b) The House in 1959. Like its Senate counterpart, the Subcommittee on Communications and Power of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce considered a range of proposals for amending Section 315 following the Lar Daly decision. A proposed "Fair Political Broadcasting Act of 1959" would have exempted from the equal time requirement appearances by a candidate "on any regularly scheduled or bona fide newscast, news documentary, panel discussion, debate, or similar type program * * *."25 The bill also contemplated significant additional changes in Section 315.26 Another proposal was simply to exempt appearances "on any news program, including news reports and news commentaries * * *."27 H.R. 7985, introduced by the subcommittee chairman, Oren Harris, took a middle position. Under that bill, which was ultimately reported by the committee to the full House, candidate appearances "on any news, news interview, news documentary, on-the-spot coverage of newsworthy events, panel discussion, or similar type program * * * " were excluded from the coverage of Section 315.28 All of the bills specified that to be eligible for exemption a program must be under the exclusive control of the broadcaster.

Chairman Harris opened the hearings by describing the three categories of bills to be considered. When explaining his own bill he listed the exemptions it would establish, noting that for on-the-spot coverage of newsworthy events he "ha(d) in mind such events as national conventions of political parties." After this listing he stated, "I did not include the word 'debate,' in H.R. 7895 because I think that has connotations which go far beyond matters of this kind." Hearings on H.R. 5389 Before a Subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1959) (hereinafter House Hearings). Later in the first day of the hearings Representative Harris again stated the reason for his decision not to include an exemption for debates:

This bill (H.R. 7895) has been changed from H.R. 6810, 84th Congress, in only one respect. That is the word "debate" has been stricken out. As a (sic) said earlier, that was done purposely because I am not sure just how you could ever define what a debate is so that a broadcast station or the Federal Communications Commission could follow it in its interpretation if we used that broad term.

Id. at 87-88.

As in the Senate committee, much of the questioning of the various witnesses was directed to developing an understanding of the extent of the proposed exemptions. Thus Representative Harris elicited from the president of the National Broadcasting Company that the exemption for coverage of newsworthy events would include such events as political conventions and the opening of a Russian exhibit attended by the President and Vice President of the United States. Id. at 87, 89. This interpretation of the language he had drafted was satisfactory to Representative Harris. See id. at 102. No one ever suggested that candidates' debates, if held outside a broadcast studio, might be "newsworthy events" within the intent of the bill. By contrast, the testimony and questioning of FCC Commissioner Ford, who unsuccessfully proposed an exemption for coverage of "special events," clearly established that the author of that language intended to include debates between candidates.29 E. g., id. at 93, 100.

Following testimony of members of the Federal Communications Commission, the committee heard from several witnesses who supported broad exemptions from the equal time provision. Virtually every one of these witnesses, when comparing the proposals before the committee, identified failure to include debates as a key weakness of the Harris bill.30 The committee heard vigorous advocacy of the value of political debates as a means of informing the electorate about the candidates, and of the need for an exemption to allow broadcasters to bring debates to the public.31 The only reaction to these pleas was the expression of concern by committee members that inclusion of a wide range of program types in the exempt categories would leave little vitality in the equal time requirement and give broadcasters too much discretion.32 Not one member of the committee suggested that debates might be exempt under the Harris proposal.33

The committee adhered to the decision made by Representative Harris and reported to the full House a bill which did not include an exemption for debates.34 Discussion on the floor of the House contains no suggestion on the part of any representative that debates were excluded from the equal time provision. The Commission, however, contends that none of this history demonstrates that Congress intended that debates between candidates be subject to the equal time requirement:

* * * During the House of Representatives' floor debate, Congressman Harris noted that a number of important program categories were not specifically exempted from Section 315, but then he made the following observation:

"On the other hand, and I want you to get this, . . . the elimination of these categories by the committee was not intended to exclude any of these programs if they can be properly considered to be newscasts or on-the-spot coverage of news events."

105 Cong.Rec. 16229 (August 18, 1959). This view is consistent with the legislative history as to the other news exemptions as well.

Aspen Institute Program on Communications, 55 FCC 2d 697, 705, 35 P & F Radio Reg.2d 49, 60, JA 141, 153 (emphasis added) (hereinafter Aspen ). See also majority op. at n.17; FCC br. at 24-25.

Representative Harris' statement cannot bear the weight the Commission places on it, for it has no reference to debates. The paragraphs immediately preceding the paragraph which the Commission and its supporters have chosen to quote make clear that Representative Harris was referring, not to debates, but to news documentaries and panel discussions:

The Subcommittee on Communications and Power discussed the various bills at considerable length in executive session, and reported to the full committee H.R. 7985, but limited the exemption to newscasts (including news interviews) and on-the-spot coverage of newsworthy events.

In other words, Mr. Chairman, the Subcommittee and the full committee decided to eliminate as separate categories news documentaries, panel discussions, and similar type programs as such. The committee felt with which I agreed that these categories are simply too vague and cannot be defined with sufficient definiteness.

105 Cong.Rec. 16229 (emphasis added). See also id. at 17782.35

(c) Summary of 1959 Legislative History. Both the Senate and the House committees considered bills which would have exempted candidates' debates from the equal time provision. Both committees heard vigorous testimony about the value and importance of providing an exemption for debates. Both committees refused to do so. On the floor of the House no one suggested that debates were or should be included within the exemptions. On the floor of the Senate an exemption permitting debates was eliminated by voice vote. I submit that this history shows a clear congressional intention, based on full consideration of the question, not to allow broadcast of candidates' debates free of the requirement that equal time be provided to all legally qualified candidates. Congress intended this legislative history to serve as the authoritative guide for the Commission.36 By substituting its own judgment for the clear mandate of Congress as shown by the legislative history, the Commission has claimed power it does not possess.

(d) Subsequent Legislative History. The parties before us have extensively one might even say exhaustively briefed and argued the significance properly attributable to congressional action and inaction regarding Section 315 subsequent to the 1959 amendment. The Commission and its supporters, as well as the division majority, cite cases that warn against over-reliance on legislative proceedings subsequent to enactment of the law whose interpretation is at issue.37 Petitioners and their supporters point to cases that place great weight on such subsequent events.38 In view of the clarity of congressional purpose I find in the history of the 1959 amendment itself, I see no need to attempt to formulate a general theory of the importance of subsequent legislative history. It is, however, clear that in appropriate circumstances39 the action and inaction of a later Congress can be "an added circumstance which has some persuasive weight * * * ," Kay v. FCC, 143 U.S.App.D.C. 223, 231, 443 F.2d 638, 646 (1970), with regard to the intended meaning of a statute. Since circumstances in this case are appropriate for according at least "some persuasive weight" to events after 1959,40 I will briefly consider later congressional treatment of Section 315(a).

Both sides attach the greatest importance to interpreting the action of the second session of the 86th Congress the Congress which wrote the 1959 amendment in suspending Section 315(a) for the 1960 presidential campaign.41 See S.J.Res. 207, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. (1960) (Pub.L. No. 86-677, 74 Stat. 554). Petitioners maintain that since the purpose of this suspension was to allow the "Great Debates" between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon, passage of the Joint Resolution constitutes an authoritative congressional declaration that debates were not exempted by the 1959 amendment.42 The Commission's response, accepted by the majority here, is twofold. First, the Commission argues that "the 1960 legislation had no special relevance to the coverage of debates (since t)he legislation was intended to apply to any appearance by the Presidential candidates regardless of format (.)" 55 FCC 2d at 706, 35 P & F Radio Reg.2d at 60, JA 153 (emphasis in original). See majority op. at ---- of --- U.S.App.D.C., at 360-361 of 538 F.2d. Second, the Commission contends that Congress enacted the suspension because the Commission had not yet acted "to clarify the meaning of the exemptions." 55 FCC 2d at 706, 35 P & F Radio Reg.2d at 60, JA 154. See majority op. at ---- of --- U.S.App.D.C., at 360 of 538 F.2d.

Neither of these arguments can withstand examination. Although it is true that the 1960 suspension did not specify that debates must be held, it is also clear that debates were expected to be one result of the Joint Resolution. See 106 Cong.Rec. 14473 (1960) (remarks of Senator Pastore); id. at 17036-17037 (remarks of Representative Harris); id. at 17039 (remarks of Representative Springer). Moreover, the broadcasters told Congress they could not practicably present debates unless Section 315 were suspended, and Congress acted on that basis. See S.Rep. No. 1539, 86th Cong., 2d Sess., 3-5 (1960); 106 Cong.Rec. at 14473 (statement of Senator Pastore); id. at 17037 (remarks of Representative Harris); id. at 17039 (remarks of Representative Springer). That the suspension additionally allowed programs other than debates, or that programs already exempt under the 1959 amendment were also presented, does not affect the validity of the inference, clearly supported by the legislative history of the suspension provision, that Congress believed suspension of Section 315(a) was necessary to allow broadcast of debates between the two major candidates for the presidency.

The Commission's second argument depends on its assertion that when Senator Pastore said, "Not enough time has elapsed to permit full evaluation of (the 1959) amendment," he meant to say that the Commission had not yet had time to define the scope of the exemptions. I see nothing in the context43 or wording of Senator Pastore's remarks to support this interpretation of his statement. The majority, apparently recognizing this difficulty, rewords the argument:

* * * (T)he Senate Report accompanying the Joint Resolution44 stated that one reason for the suspension was that the Commission had not yet had sufficient time to interpret the new exemptions; consequently, the across-the-board suspension was designed, at least in part, to provide time for necessary evaluation of the effects of the amendments.

Majority op. at ---- of --- U.S.App.D.C., at 360 of 538 F.2d. In addition to misstating the Senate report,45 this revised version is illogical: suspension of the entire equal time provision for presidential candidates would not facilitate evaluation of the impact of amendments which created some exemptions to that provision.

I therefore conclude, as the Commission itself concluded in its prior opinions,46 that the 1960 suspension of Section 315(a) provides additional evidence that the 86th Congress believed that debates were not exempted from the equal time requirement by the 1959 amendment.47 Later Congresses also appear to have shared this understanding of Section 315(a). However, in view of the length of this dissent and of the cumulative nature of the support to be drawn from the post-1960 history, I will rest on the citations to the legislative history in the margin.48

2. Press Conferences. In contrast to its explicit concern with candidates' debates, the 86th Congress did not focus on press conferences when considering the 1959 amendment. The absence of discussion of press conferences in the 1959 legislative history49 does not, however, mean that the Commission is free now, particularly after its long-standing decision to the contrary and its repeated subsequent unsuccessful efforts to have Congress change Section 315, to determine that candidates' press conferences, as such,50 are bona fide news events which may be broadcast free of equal time obligations under Section 315(a)(4). To the contrary, I am convinced that candidates' press conferences were not discussed by Congress in 1959 because they are so clearly within the core of Section 315's purpose a purpose reaffirmed in 1959 that the possibility that they might or should be exempted by the amendatory legislation was not deemed worthy of mention. Cf. NLRB v. Bell Aerospace Co., 416 U.S. 267, 283-284, 94 S.Ct. 1757, 1766, 40 L.Ed.2d 134, 147-148 (1974).51 By holding otherwise the Commission has exceeded the limits of the authority delegated to it by Congress.

The central purpose of Section 315 is to assure that if one candidate is allowed to use the public airwaves as a platform from which he can plead for votes, all other legally qualified candidates will receive an equal opportunity to use that singularly effective platform.52

(T)he fundamental objective of (Section 315) was to require any licensee who had allowed any legally qualified candidate to use his facilities to afford equal opportunity to all other candidates for that same office. Its basic purpose was to require equal treatment by broadcasters of all candidates for a particular public office once the broadcaster made a facility available to any one of the candidates. This was a sound principle and the committee reemphasizes its belief in that objective. * * *

S.Rep. No. 562, supra, at 8, U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1959, p. 2571. Congress recognized that broadcast facilities can be made available to a candidate although they are not formally placed under his control by being sold or donated to him.53 The clearest example of such a "use" of broadcast facilities, mentioned in the legislative history only to illustrate the type of event definitely not affected by the 1959 amendment, is when a station on its own broadcasts a set political stump speech or a staged political event.54 Press conferences, which can be opened with an uninterrupted statement of any length the candidate chooses and which can be used to deliver pre-rehearsed "answers" to selected questions,55 are within this clearly nonexempt category.

Differentiating between set political speeches and staged political events, on the one hand, and "bona fide news events," on the other, is a task which could, of course, become difficult at the margins. Congress did, however, identify factors which should be considered when determining on which side of the line a particular event, or type of event, falls. Consideration of those factors demonstrates that candidates' press conferences do not present a close question.

To distinguish "an outright political speech or political appearance the candidate made," Hearings Before the Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on S. 1585, 86th Cong., 1st Sess., 219 (1959) (remarks of Senator Pastore), from an event which could be broadcast without providing equal opportunities to other candidates, Congress focused on two aspects of the event. The first consideration is the degree to which the event is staged by the candidate:

It is natural that during campaign periods political candidates will do their best to see to it that incidents in their campaigns, including speeches, are news and thus are covered by all important news media. However, as a matter of principle, it is not the intention of the committee that staged incidents or stump speeches be considered "news" within the context of this legislation.

H.R.Rep. No. 802, supra, at 6.56 An alternative although not precisely complementary manner of expressing this aspect of the inquiry is to consider the extent to which the format and content are under the control of the broadcaster. The legislative history contains many references to this formulation.57 The second distinguishing element identified by Congress is the purpose of the event and the candidate's appearance at it. If the event is designed to improve the candidate's chances, and the candidate's appearance is thus for the purpose of furthering his candidacy, it is unlikely that the event is bona fide news.58

Both the Commission and the majority find these factors unhelpful and therefore reject their relevance. Their argument is premised on the observation that candidates hope and expect that their chances will be improved whenever they are seen or heard on a broadcast,59 and that the content and format of a political convention, explicitly defined as a "bona fide news event" in the 1959 amendment, are not within the control of the broadcaster. They also note that a candidate's acceptance speech is obviously intended to further the candidacy being accepted. Majority op. at ---- of --- U.S.App.D.C., at 358-359 of 538 F.2d and n.22; 55 FCC 2d at 705 n.10, 35 P & F Radio Reg.2d at 59 n.10, JA 152 n.10. Based on these observations, they conclude that Congress could not have meant the factors discussed above to control the determination whether an event is a "bona fide news event."

This argument incorporates a crucial non sequitur : because neither factor can serve as a litmus test for distinguishing all exempt events from all nonexempt events, the Commission and the majority conclude that neither consideration, evaluated in isolation or together, is of any value. Yet it is simply not true that, because a candidate hopes to be assisted by any broadcast appearance, inquiring whether the event is created for that purpose and whether the candidate's participation in it is an element of the campaign will be of no assistance. For example, the incumbent candidates who participated in the nationally broadcast inquiry into the impeachment of President Nixon can be assumed to have hoped that their positions and performances would aid their campaigns. Yet the impeachment inquiry60 can be readily distinguished from a campaign event by noting that it served a purpose independent of any campaign and that, whatever their hopes, the incumbent candidates' appearances were part of their legislative duties.61

Similarly, the degree of candidate control, while not always decisive, can serve as a useful guide to classifying events. For example, although the content and format of the impeachment inquiry were not determined by or under the control of the broadcasters, neither was the inquiry under the control of any candidate.62 This factor thus helps distinguish the impeachment hearings from the stump speech, the paradigm of the nonexempt event. The same observation can be made for most aspects of a political convention.63

The inadequacy of the majority's analysis is also demonstrated by consideration of the "common sensical point of view" it substitutes for the criteria identified by Congress. Majority op. at note 20. This approach, which is what the Commission's rationale reduces to, notes that "the inherent newsworthiness of speeches and debates seems no greater or less than that of 'political conventions and activities incidental thereto,' " citing as proof the coverage of such events by the print media. Id. at ---- of --- U.S.App.D.C., 358 of 538 F.2d. Such reasoning ignores the House committee's decision to substitute the phrase "news events" for the phrase "newsworthy events" because the latter wording "might result in a greater weakening of the equal-time requirement than would be desirable."64 More importantly, as the majority apparently recognizes and accepts,65 use of this "common sensical" standard would allow broadcast, free of the equal time requirement, of any of a major candidate's vote-seeking activities. It is certainly true that print and broadcast journalists accompany the leading candidates for high office, especially if the incumbent is among them, wherever they go and whatever they do.66 Likewise, the visit of such a candidate, and especially of an incumbent, would almost certainly be considered a local happening of great importance and interest.67 Thus, under the approach adopted by the Commission and ratified by the majority, a broadcaster whose motivation was not partisan could provide live coverage of all of a candidate's local handshaking and speechmaking and not be subject to the equal time requirement.

Congress did not intend to open such a broad gap in the coverage of the equal time provision.68 To avoid doing so it created exemptions to Section 315 which were "restricted * * * to well defined categories(,)" 105 Cong.Rec. 14440 (remarks of Senator Pastore), and it set forth criteria by which the content of those categories could be determined. The criteria to be used for determining whether an event is a "bona fide news event" within the meaning of Section 315(a)(4) are control and purpose. As to the former the candidate alone determines the timing, duration, format, and to a large degree the content69 of a press conference. As to the latter the press conference is a part of the campaign, used to solicit votes, through the press, from a wider electorate than the candidate can reach through personal campaigning. Thus consideration of the criteria identified by Congress reveals that a candidate's press conference closely resembles a stump speech;70 as such, it is a staged political event, not a "bona fide news event," and it is not within the fourth exemption to the equal time requirement of Section 315.71

3. Conc