Section 75. Defamation by radio or television  


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  • 1.  The owner, licensee or
      operator of a visual or sound radio broadcasting station or  network  of
      stations,  and  the  agents  or employees of any such owner, licensee or
      operator, shall not  be  liable  for  any  damages  for  any  defamatory
      statement  published  or  uttered  in  or as a part of a visual or sound
      radio broadcast, by any legally qualified candidate  for  public  office
      whose   utterances,   under   rules   and  regulations  of  the  federal
      communications commission may not  be  subject  to  censorship  by  such
      owner,  licensee  or operator of such visual or sound radio broadcasting
      station or network of stations, or their agents or employees.
        2.  A "legally qualified candidate" means any person who has  publicly
      announced  that  he  is  a candidate for nomination by a convention of a
      political party or for nomination or election in a primary, special,  or
      general  election,  municipal,  county, state or national, and who meets
      the qualifications prescribed by the applicable laws to hold the  office
      for  which  he  is  a  candidate,  so  that  he  may be voted for by the
      electorate directly or by means of delegates or electors and who (a) has
      qualified for a place on  the  ballot  or  (b)  is  eligible  under  the
      applicable  law  to  be  voted  by writing in his name on the ballot, or
      other method, and who has been nominated by a political party  which  is
      commonly  known and regarded as such or makes a substantial showing that
      he is a bona fide candidate for nomination or office, as  the  case  may
      be.
        3.    In  order  to  be  absolved  from  liability for damages for any
      utterance by a legally qualified candidate as herein defined  in  or  as
      part  of  a  visual  or  sound  radio  broadcast, the owner, licensee or
      operator of such visual or sound radio broadcasting station  or  network
      of  stations,  or  the  agents  or employees thereof, shall announce, in
      substance, at the beginning and end of each such political broadcast  of
      more  than  five  minutes  duration,  and  at the beginning of each such
      political broadcast of five minutes duration or less, that  the  remarks
      about to be made, or made, as the case may be, by the speaker are not to
      be  construed  as reflecting the opinions or beliefs of the station, its
      ownership or management.