§  73.1217   Broadcast hoaxes.

   No licensee or permittee of any broadcast station shall broadcast false
   information concerning a crime or a catastrophe if:

   (a) The licensee knows this information is false;

   (b) It is forseeable that broadcast of the information will cause
   substantial public harm, and

   (c) Broadcast of the information does in fact directly cause
   substantial public harm.

   Any programming accompanied by a disclaimer will be presumed not to
   pose foreseeable harm if the disclaimer clearly characterizes the
   program as a fiction and is presented in a way that is reasonable under
   the circumstances.

   Note: For purposes of this rule, “public harm” must begin immediately,
   and cause direct and actual damage to property or to the health or
   safety of the general public, or diversion of law enforcement or other
   public health and safety authorities from their duties. The public harm
   will be deemed foreseeable if the licensee could expect with a
   significant degree of certainty that public harm would occur. A “crime”
   is any act or omission that makes the offender subject to criminal
   punishment by law. A “catastrophe” is a disaster or imminent disaster
   involving violent or sudden event affecting the public.

   [ 57 FR 28640 , June 26, 1992]