FCC fines station for plugging NCLB without identifiying sponsor

 The Federal Communications Commission issued its first fines for a station airing Armstrong Williams’ Department of Education–paid–for plugs for its No Child Left Behind initiative. Station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group doesn’t plan to pay the fine and said it will take the commission to court. The revelation of those payments caused a firestorm of criticism and a dressing–down of the DOE, and it led to payola complaints by Free Press at the FCC. The FCC Thursday fined Sonshine’s WBPH-TV Bethlehem, Pa., for airing five episodes (a total of 10 times) of The Right Side with Armstrong Williams, and Sinclair a total of $76,000 for airing America’s Black Forum. Both were cited for violating the FCC’s sponsorship–identification rules. Read the article at broadcastnewsroom.com.