TV show’s host asks Obama campaign to pull commercial

The host of a Northern Nevada news discussion television program has asked the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama to take down a commercial that uses footage from his show.

Sam Shad, host of "Nevada Newsmakers," interviewed Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain, in May 2007. A short clip from that interview is featured in a new Obama campaign ad that takes McCain to task for his support of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

The Obama campaign maintains that permission was not necessary to use the eight seconds of footage that are featured in the ad.

In a letter to Shad on Tuesday, lawyers for the campaign said federal law "provides broad protection for the use of copyrighted work."

Shad said he objects to having footage from his show used for political purposes, an objection other campaigns have honored.

During the primary campaign two years ago, he said, the campaign of Brian Krolicki, then the state treasurer and a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, used a clip from the show in a commercial critical of another Republican candidate, Barbara Lee Woollen. Shad asked Krolicki's campaign to pull the ad, and it complied, he said.

"My request is not political or partisan in nature, I would request the same of the McCain campaign or anyone else who attempted this," Shad wrote in an e-mail to the Obama campaign lawyers Tuesday. He added, "Your client did not seek permission to use this and it would not have been granted if they did."

Under the copyright law doctrine of "fair use," a small amount of copyrighted material may be excerpted without permission for certain non-commercial purposes, such as when the text of a book is quoted in a book review.

Shad said he did not think the campaign ad met that standard because it was a paid advertisement, not a political commentary. He said Tuesday he was awaiting a further response from the campaign but would consider other options, including legal challenges.

A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, Kirsten Searer, said the ad, which began airing Monday statewide, would not be pulled or altered.

The clip featured in the ad shows Shad asking McCain, "Would you be comfortable with nuclear waste coming through Arizona on its way, you know, going through Phoenix, on its way to Yucca Mountain?"

McCain answers, "No, I would not," and the commercial cuts off the rest.

"He's not worried about nuclear waste in our state -- only in Arizona," a narrator says in the ad, titled "Backyard."

But in the original interview, McCain went on to say, "I think it can be made safe, and ... what people forget is the (other) option of leaving this waste in areas outside, maybe unprotected or certainly not well-protected, all over America rather than having it in a safe and secure repository for it."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.