JP- true. The Bush Administration made no attempt to officially block Fahrenheit 911.
“Independent” expenditures, by corporations for example,
are covered within the scope of McCain-Feingold when they meet the definition of “express advocacy” & occur within the 60 days prior to a federal election. That doesn’t make it illegal- just means that if the documentary is anti-Kerry, as you say, then Sinclair Groups expenditure on producing & broadcasting is subject to election law.
http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Newscenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=336
Modifies statutory definition of "express advocacy" to provide a clear distinction between expenditures for communications used to advocate candidates and those used to advocate issues. Candidate-related expenditures will be subject to federal election law.
The Supreme Court has ruled that only communications that contain "express advocacy" of candidates are subject to federal disclosure requirements and restrictions, and communications that are merely intended to raise issues are not covered by election law. However, "express advocacy" is defined in current law as only those communications that use the so-called magic words, such as "Vote For Candidate X" or "Oppose Candidate Y". Political parties and organizations have circumvented these laws in recent elections by running advertisements that are clearly designed to advocate candidates but stop short of using the magic words.
McCain-Feingold re-defines "express advocacy" as any broadcast television or radio communication that mentions the name of a federal candidate within 60 days of an election. If parties and groups want to run "issue ads" during the 60 day period, they are free to do so, they merely cannot mention the name of a candidate. If they choose to mention a candidate's name, they are still free to do so, but the expenditure must be disclosed and financed with funds raised under Federal election law.
McCain-Feingold further states that any communication which expresses unmistakable and unambiguous support for or opposition to a candidate is also "express advocacy". Finally, this provision specifically exempts the distribution of voting records from this definition of "express advocacy".