PRESS RELEASE
OCTOBER 23, 2008
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS® OF OHIO17 South High Street, Suite 650 • Columbus, Ohio 43215
Phone (614) 469-1505 • Fax (614) 469-7918
www.lwvohio.org
Statement on Hudson Candidate Forum and Use of Forum Video
The League of Women Voters has a long-standing policy of prohibiting the use of debate footage, audio clips or questionnaires completed by candidates in advertisements on behalf of any candidate campaign. In fact, the policy permits rebroadcast of a debate only in its entirety.
The League of Women Voters of the United States policy states that:
- Debates must not be edited and must be broadcast in their entirety.
- Unless there is a written agreement to the contrary, everyone who participated in creating a debate, including the sponsor, the broadcaster, candidates, moderator, panelists, even producers and camera-persons, has a potential claim to ownership of at least part of the final product.
Inasmuch as the Hudson LWV was a co-sponsor of a nonpartisan event, in our opinion, the debate content belongs to them as well as the broadcaster. The debate footage must be used in total with no editing or else not at all. If pieces of the debate are used out of context, it can compromise the League’s nonpartisanship position.
“Our mission is to provide forums for citizens to hear from candidates and not to aid any candidate in their political campaign” states Belinda Wing, President of the LWV of Hudson. “We want to assure all candidates that we are taking steps to protect the use of this footage and will do all that we can to assure the integrity of our Candidate’s forum in any future LWV sponsored events.”
Thank you,Belinda Wing
LWV Hudson President