N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 75: Defamation by radio or television

§ 75. Defamation by radio or television. 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.