WCCO’s Pat Kessler ruled Minnesota for Marriage’s latest ad “false” and “misleading” but will the station continue to air an ad that it has deemed false?

Television stations are required to air candidate ads under FCC rules, but they are not required to run issue-oriented ads such as those for or against the anti-gay marriage amendment.

NPR recently reported on stations in Iowa that rejected false ads. A major newspaper in Washington state is already calling on television stations there to reject false ads

SeattlePI’s Joe Mirabella wrote:

I called the FCC and spoke to Mark Berlin an attorney in the Political Office of the FCC, about referendums and asked him whether the radio stations were required to air the reject 71 the ad. He said, “Our political rules are about candidates not referendums or initiatives. There are no equal time rules, so [the station] does not have to provide time at all if it doesn’t want to.”.

WCCO admitted as much in a Reality Check segment earlier this year.

The question for WCCO (and other stations in Minnesota): Why air an ad you’ve already deemed to be false and misleading?