Dimensions: 5.5'' x 8.75'' 59 pages AEI Press  (Washington) Publication Date: January 1998 Paperback ISBN: 0844771139 Price: $ 9.95 Add to Cart   Examination Copies

Free TV proposals, like many other proposed elements of campaign finance reform, violate freedom of expression, says Lillian BeVier, author of Is Free TV for Federal Candidates Constitutional? (AEI Press, February 23, 1998). The free TV proposals require candidates to comply with regulations related to how they appear on television, how long their appearance may be, and how much money they can spend or must raise for their campaigns from various classes of citizens. One assertion of free TV supporters is that free air time would prevent deceptive television ads. But, BeVier contends, for the government to monitor the truthfulness of campaign speech, to begin canvassing past campaign speeches and voters' reactions to them, to determine whether all the claims were true, and to decide whether citizens were misled by false claims is unsustainable in a free society.

Lillian BeVier is the Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor and the Class of 1948 Professor of Scholarly Research at the University of Virginia Law School.