Court Opinion

ID: 9465576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:50:07.622947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:15.164507
License: Public Domain

LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge,
with whom TAMM, Circuit Judge, concurs:
This case presents a challenge to § 399(b) of the Federal Communications Act, and to the rules promulgated pursuant to that section by the Federal Communications Commission.1 Section 399(b) requires any noncommercial educational television or radio station that receives federal funding to make audio recordings of all programs in which any issue of public importance is discussed.2 These recordings must be maintained for sixty days and made available at cost to any person who requests them.
*1136The petitioners, noncommercial educational broadcast licensees, press First and Fifth Amendment claims. As a predicate for these, they contend that Congress has no valid interest in recordings of public affairs programs broadcast by noncommercial stations, particularly where no recording requirement has been imposed on commercial licensees. They argue that the taping requirement is an instrument of censorship and will chill the airing of public issues by noncommercial stations.
In brief summary our view is this: Under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967,3 Congress appropriates funds for the production of programs to be broadcast by noncommercial stations. Every program or series of programs of a controversial nature is required to maintain a stringent standard of “strict adherence to objectivity and balance.” That standard is more rigorous than that applicable to licensees generally under the fairness doctrine, which provides a loose standard of general balance in a licensee’s overall programming and has no requirement for individual programs.
Congress reserved for itself the oversight responsibility of assuring, primarily through reports and review of appropriations, that federally funded programs conform to the strict objectivity and balance standard. This is a legitimate and substantial government interest. Construed in light of its purpose and context, the minimal audio taping requirement of § 399(b) is a permissible auxiliary of this congressional responsibility. The oversight does not abridge First Amendment freedom.
The Act does not apply to commercial stations, but this does not mark an invalid classification. There is no corresponding congressional interest in a taping requirement for commercial licensees, which do not broadcast programs funded under the Act.
I. CONGRESSIONAL RESERVATION OF REVIEW OF THE “STRICT OBJECTIVITY AND BALANCE” OF CPB-FUNDED PROGRAMS
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 (the “Act”) reflected Congress’s commitment to the development of a vital, nationwide noncommercial broadcasting system. It embodied three major legislative objectives: (1) the development of more broadcast facilities devoted to noncommercial programming; (2) the encouragement of educational and cultural programs of high quality; and (3) the better understanding of the instructional uses of broadcast media.4
This case concerns the second objective. The first objective was to be accomplished by extending and improving the matching funds program established by the Educational Television Facilities Act of 1962.5 Congress recognized, however, that the development of facilities would only set the stage. More high quality programs were also needed.6 To meet that objective Congress established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
In 1967 the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television recommended that Congress create an independent, private, nonprofit corporation to channel federal funds into public broadcasting. Its report, Public Television: A Program for Action, concluded that such an entity was essential if public broadcasting’s freedom of expression were to coexist with substantial federal support.7 An independent corporation would serve as an institutional buffer, insu*1137lating local stations from the political interference or pressure that might otherwise accompany federal funding.8
Congress shared the Carnegie Commission’s concern about the potential for abuse inherent in federal support of public broadcasting. The House report on the Public Broadcasting Act echoed the Commission’s' rationale for the creation of an independent nonprofit corporation:
How can the Federal Government provide a source of funds to pay part of the cost of educational broadcasting and not control the final product? That question is answered in the bill by the creation of a nonprofit education broadcasting corporation. ... It was generally agreed that a nonprofit Corporation, directed by a Board of Directors, none of whom will be Government employees, will provide the most effective insulation from Government control or influence over the expenditure of funds.9
Similarly, the Senate Report concluded:
An independent entity supported by Federal funds is required to provide programs free of political pressures.10
The Act reflects this congressional commitment to the freedom of public broadcasting stations. CPB was instructed to carry out its activities to assure this “maximum freedom” from “interference with or control of program content.”11 Local stations were to remain the “bedrock’ of public broadcasting.12 Their autonomy and ability to respond to the needs and desires of their communities were to be enhanced, not suppressed, by the creation of CPB. Thus CPB would assist in making programs available to stations, but the individual stations would continue to determine what programs would be broadcast.13
Congress also sought to ensure that federal funds would not create a propaganda machine that could be manipulated by any political party or ideological clique. Congress wanted a funding institution that would remain accountable to and responsive to all the American people. Thus it created a corporation that was independent,14 yet limited by statutory safeguards designed to ensure responsible management and political insulation.15
*1138As the keystone in the structure that it designed, Congress placed itself in a direct and continuing relationship with CPB by imposing on CPB annual reporting16 and auditing requirements.17 Congress did not establish the trust fund recommended by the Carnegie Commission.18 The Carnegie Commission had urged that CPB be financed by an excise tax on television sets, the revenue to be channeled to CPB through a trust fund. The Commission regarded Congress’s ordinary budgetary and appropriations procedures as “not consonant with the degree of independence essential to Public Television.” 19 Congress, however, perceived the appropriations process, and its role in that process, as necessary to assure CPB’s accountability and to safeguard against its capture by a self-serving group. Congressional oversight through the appropriations process would achieve this end without governmental interference in ongoing programming operations.20
The debates reflected the emphasis, in both Houses and on both sides of the aisle, that Congress placed on its role vis-a-vis CPB and the problem of political abuse:
If Congress maintains close scrutiny and carries out its oversight function as it should, I think the problem can be kept in manageable proportions.21
[I]f, as time goes on, we have occasion to feel that there is a slanting, a bias, or an injustice, we instantly and immediately can do something about it. First, we can make very uncomfortable, and give a very unhappy experience to, the directors of the corporation. Second, we can shut down some of their activities in the Appropriations Committee and in the appropriating process of Congress The corporation is much more readily accessible ... to the Congress, if it is desired to correct any injustice or bias which might appear.22
The fear of government control of programming was recurrent during consideration of this bill by my committee . . . I believe we were successful in adding amendments which' — along with a reasonable degree of vigilance on the part of Congress — will prevent this corporation from becoming a Government propaganda tool.23
[W]e will create a monster only if we fail in our responsibility to keep it from becoming a monster . . . . Provision is made in the bill . . . for constant review by Congress of the activities of the corporation and the conduct of the program.24
*1139Congress did not assume authority to direct or interfere with CPB’s day-to-day programming decisions. What Congress contemplated was a reserved power, an ability to alter the level of appropriations if CPB’s overall performance strayed from statutory mandates.25
Many of the activities Congress expected CPB to undertake were specifically authorized in the Act.26 Prominent was the authority to fund educational programs for broadcast by noncommercial licensees. Section 396(g)(2)(B) empowers CPB
to contract with or make grants to program production entities, individuals, and selected noncommercial educational broadcast stations for the production of, and otherwise to procure, educational television or radio programs for national or regional distribution to noncommercial educational broadcast stations.27
CPB was instructed to maintain especially high standards for the programs it would obtain with federal funds. Section 396(g)(1)(A) provides that such programs are to be “of high quality, obtained from diverse sources, . . . with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.”28 This specification of “strict adherence to objectivity and balance,” applicable to each program (or series of programs) created with federal funds, reflects a more rigorous requirement than *1140that imposed by the fairness doctrine on licensees generally.29 There is no need to itemize the differences in standards. It suffices here to point out that § 396(g)(1)(A), even after it was liberalized in the conference committee to permit the objectivity and balance requirement to be satisfied by a series of programs instead of each individual program,30 is more rigorous than the fairness doctrine, which requires only that a licensee’s overall programming result in balanced presentation of controversial issues of public importance.31 The fairness doctrine thus incorporates a looser standard of rough overall balance for a licensee as contrasted with a standard of adherence to strict objectivity and balance for each program (or series).
Public affairs programming by noncommercial educational stations was deemed “uniquely fitted to offer [the] in-depth coverage and analysis which [would] lead to a better informed and enlightened public.”32 Congress was eager to encourage such programs, yet it recognized that they presented a great danger of political bias or propaganda. The elevated standards of objectivity and balance were designed to forestall the use of federal funds for partisan expression.33
This court has fully respected Congress’s reservation to itself of the critical role of overseeing compliance with the mandate embodied in § 396(g)(1)(A). We upheld the FCC’s determination that it had no authority to monitor compliance with § 396(g)(1)(A). Accuracy in Media, Inc. v. FCC, 172 U.S.App.D.C. 188, 521 F.2d 288 (1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 1664, 48 L.Ed.2d 175 (1976). And in Network Project v. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 183 U.S.App.D.C. 70, 561 F.2d 963 (1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1068, 98 S.Ct. 1247, 56 L.Ed.2d 770 (1978), we refused to find an implicit private right of action under the Act because we determined that Congress did not intend any judicial assist*1141anee in overseeing adherence to § 396(g)(1)(A). As Judge Robinson pointed out, the House Committee Report referring to the role of “interested citizens” “anticipated that citizen participation through the political process would assist Congress in its oversight function.” 183 U.S.App.D.C. at 82, 561 F.2d at 975.
In these cases we stressed the careful framework designed by Congress to balance public accountability with maximum freedom from governmental interferences. Congressional oversight was the means to maintain that balance. While the exact manner in which Congress would review CPB’s performance had not been specified, it was understood that such scrutiny would occur through the annual reporting and appropriations processes.
II. TAPING REQUIREMENTS TO AID CONGRESS IN THE ASSURANCE OF “STRICT OBJECTIVITY . AND BALANCE”
Section 399(b) was enacted in 1973 as a little-noted part of Public Law 93-84.34 The prominent feature of that law was its authorization of a two-year financing appropriation for CPB, and most of the legislative history focuses on that financing provision. The Senate and House reports simply described the taping requirement, with no statement of its rationale.35 To discern Congress’s purpose in enacting § 399(b), all counsel have looked to a single colloquy during the Senate hearings and a single statement from the House floor.
During these 1973 Senate hearings, Senator Robert Griffin, the sponsor of § 399(b) and amicus in this case,36 discussed the taping requirement with the then president of the Public Broadcasting Service, Hartford Gunn. They agreed it would assist appraisals of the “strict objectivity and balance” provision.
Senator Griffin: During this committee’s consideration of the 1970 Public Broadcasting authorization bill, I offered an amendment which was quickly opposed by many people in Public Television — an amendment which would have provided that audio tapes of public affairs programs would be available at the expense of the person requesting a copy.
There is the provision in the 1967 act which states that one of the purposes of the act is to facilitate the development of high-quality programs “with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature.”
You certainly agree with that part of the act, I would think?
Mr. Gunn: Yes.
Mr. Griffin: And you don’t want Government censorship of your programs?
Mr. Gunn: No, sir.
Senator Griffin: But it would seem to me that private individuals who are interested in trying to assess the objectivity of those programs should have some way of finding out what was on the air.
Mr. Gunn: I agree, yes, sir.
Senator Griffin said that his interest in the issue arose out of a concern that the requisite balance had been lacking in a nationally distributed program concerning the Anti-ballistic Missile System, a controversial issue decided in the Senate by one vote. He continued:
Senator Griffin: I had heard about this program and that it was biased and unbalanced. Unfortunately, I did not get to see it, but, of course, you can’t be watch*1142ing all the channels all the time. At the time, I asked for a transcript or a tape and indicated that I would be glad to pay for whatever expense was involved, but the answer was no, even though I was a Member of Congress, and even though I was a member of this committee.
Mr. Gunn: Was that request made of the Public Broadcasting Service or was it made of the producer of the program? I am trying to recall.
Senator Griffin: I can’t recall either. In any event, I did not get any help. Frankly, your letter to the Wall Street Journal only keeps me going, because you are going to make these tapes available only to people that you consider have proper credentials in research or journalism.
Now, if you believe that policy is a substitute for my legislation, I don’t. To avoid any kind of Government censorship, you should make programs broadcast over-the-air available to the public as is the case with material that is printed in the newspaper. It is in the public domain at that point. I don’t see how any broadcaster can refuse or make it difficult to find out what has been put on the air.
Mr. Gunn: I agree with you absolutely. Public Broadcasting — Hearings on S. 1090 Before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Senate Committee on Commerce, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 113-114 (1973).
Petitioners contend that this dialogue reveals an intent of censorship. The exchange does not support that view. There was no suggestion of advance clearance. Senator Griffin’s remarks arose in the context of a statutory mandate that CPB fund programs that meet the “strict objectivity and balance” requirement. That mandate, as already noted, must be met by every program (or series, if the program is part of a series) as contrasted with the fairness doctrine’s loose standard pertaining to the general programming of a licensee.
Senator Griffin was interested in a means of providing information about program content to permit assessment of the required objectivity and balance. His further reference to the taping requirement as a means of avoiding governmental censorship was not explicated. It is reasonably read as indicating a belief that general access to tapes would obviate the need for Congress to institute any kind of formal monitoring in order to oversee compliance with the strict objectivity and balance standard of § 396(g)(1)(A).37
The thrust of Senator Griffin’s position during the 1973 hearings was essentially identical to, and is illuminated by, his position the previous year. Appearing before the House Subcommittee on Communications, Senator Griffin stated that adoption of a taping requirement would “ensure greater objectivity and balance.” He continued:
At present, there is no procedure whereby broadcasts of public interest can be monitored to insure that both the spirit and the letter of the law are carried out.
It is inconceivable to me how these provisions of the Public Broadcasting Act can ever have any meaning when the public is denied the right to examine what is broadcast over government regulated air waves by broadcasters who are subsidized with public funds.
Of course, I am aware of the fact that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting *1143has recently reiterated its intent to be objective and fair in public affairs programming. I am also aware that the Corporation can require a station to provide copies of all programs to the Corporation which are underwritten by grants from the latter.
But this procedure needs to be expanded so that all the public can have a reasonable opportunity to review controversial programs.
Hearings on Financing for Public Broadcasting Before the Subcommittee on Communications and Power of the House Comm, on State and Foreign Commerce, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 241-243 (1972).
We turn to the only other fragment of legislative history attending the passage of § 399(b). On the House floor Congressman Van Deerlin stated:
The 2-year authorization period serves notice that we intend to protect an institution of free expression that is the property of the American people, and not the instrument of a partisan unit of government. This does not mean that the legislative branch must surrender all its responsibilities. The oversight and appropriations processes will continue to assure that legislative responsibility is being met.
In addition, section 2 of the proposed legislation stipulates that any station receiving assistance from CPB make audio transcriptions of programs in which any issue of public importance is discussed. These tapes must be maintained by the station for 60 days, for possible public scrutiny. Of course, no commercial broadcaster is saddled with this requirement — it comes dangerously close to censorship. For this reason, I must point out that as far as I am concerned the provision in question is in no way a “hunting license” for the Federal government. Rather, it is a housekeeping device, which I anticipate will be rarely if ever used.
119 Cong.Rec. 25175 (1973).
Plainly, Mr. Van Deerlin found the rationale for the taping requirement in Congress’s responsibility for the appropriations and oversight processes. In the absence of that responsibility as to commercial broadcasters, who do not produce or broadcast programs funded under the Act, Mr. Van Deerlin thought that application of the taping requirement to commercial broadcasters might be deemed a threat to editorial freedom. Whatever the merits of that observation, Mr. Van Deerlin’s statement cannot be read as suggesting that a taping requirement is censorial when Congress has oversight responsibility and concern that the funded programs comply with the special standard of strict objectivity and balance.
When relevant legislative history appears in oral rather than written exposition, as it does here, some imprecision in the formulation of Congress’s objective is hardly extraordinary. However, the history fairly reveals one purpose for § 399(b) — to facilitate monitoring by the public arid Congress of compliance with the strict objectivity and balance requirement of § 396(g)(1)(A). That purpose is entirely consistent with Congress’s legitimate interest in ensuring that the expenditure of federal funds is consistent with statutory mandates, an interest emphasized in the Senate and House reports.38 Congressmen may look to the *1144assistance of citizens in discharge of the oversight function. See Network Project v. CPB, 183 U.S.App.D.C. 70, 82, 561 F.2d 963, 975 (1977).
III. LIMITED SCOPE OF THE STATUTE, AND ITS CONSTITUTIONALITY
With this background, we consider petitioners’ intertwined equal protection and First Amendment challenges to § 399(b).
This is not a regulation that can be said to “abridge” speech because it is aimed at suppressing ideas or information, which would raise a presumption of unconstitutionality.39 Although the taping regulation is not limited to mere “time, place and circumstance,” it does not preclude expression of ideas; while it may be pesky, it is a minimal burden. It calls First Amendment considerations into play as a matter of analysis rather than by reason of substantial impact. It is much ado about little for a public licensee to complain that keeping an audio tape of what is aired to the public at large is a substantial restraint on freedom of communication. We live in a world where lively and tendentious journals, magazines and books are routinely deposited in the Copyright Office, subject to public access, without a whisper of deprivation of First Amendment freedoms. In fact, in declining to impose this minimal record-keeping requirement on all licensees, the FCC relied, in part, on the public’s failure to examine those programs that had been taped under § 399(b).40
This is the intermediate case of a claim that there is a government rule of such a nature that compliance with it might discourage the communication of ideas or information. This kind of claim is typically encountered when a statute regulates conduct, whether by prohibition or requirement, but may have an adverse impact on expressive freedom. The analysis applicable for such intermediate cases is to give the rule or statute the type of scrutiny that is appropriate whenever the First Amendment is brought “into play,” but to sustain incidental limitations on First Amendment freedoms so long as there is a “substantial” governmental interest, and so long as any incidental restriction on First Amendment freedoms is no greater than is needed to serve that interest.41
No further constitutional difficulty is presented, even given First Amendment overtones, by basing the challenge on equal protection grounds42 and by attacking the validity of either or both of the two statutory classifications — the first, that commercial broadcasters are not subject to the Act (Public Broadcasting Act); the second, that the taping requirement applies only to programs involving issues of public importance.
As to both sets of constitutional contentions, the validity of the statute is grounded in the statutorily expressed governmental interest in maintaining “strict adherence to objectivity and balance” in those programs that are funded by the government and are of a controversial nature. In our view, that is a substantial interest, and the limits on content that are inherent in a requirement of objectivity and balance are not violative of First Amendment freedoms. This point, which will be developed further, establishes the validity of § 396(g)(1)(A).
*1145As to the audio taping requirement of § 399(b), it imposes an insubstantial burden; it serves the governmental interest of assuring a record that will be available to verify compliance with the objectivity and balance requirements; and no less intrusive means of achieving that objective is available. The classifications in § 399(b), properly construed in light of the purpose of that section, are narrow and directly related to the substantial governmental interest in § 396(g)(1)(A).
We begin our analysis by confronting the fact that the literal terms of § 399(b) do not limit the taping requirement to programs that are subject to the standards of § 396(g)(1)(A), i. e., programs funded by CPB. The statute appears to apply indiscriminately to any program in which an issue of public importance is discussed that is broadcast by a noncommercial station that has received any aid under the Public Broadcasting Act after August 6, 1973.
If the statute were applied literally, it would mean, for example, that any commercial licensee who received assistance after August 6, 1973, in the form of a grant for facilities approved by the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare43 would be bound forever to the audio taping requirement, even though no subsequent Federal assistance was sought or received. This was not the understanding of Mr. Van Deerlin, the only Congressman who spoke to § 399(b) on the floor, and who referred to it as a requirement imposed on stations “receiving assistance from CPB.” As for Senator Griffin, he was concerned that the arrangement whereby CPB obtains tapes of programs that it underwrites “be expanded so that all the public can have a reasonable opportunity to review controversial programs.” 44 Neither expression of purpose suggests that the taping requirement was intended to do any more than aid in congressional enforcement of the “strict'objectivity and balance” requirement imposed on CPB-funded programs.
A literal application of the statute would also mean that a private college radio station that received a grant to broadcast a series of local concerts would thereafter be indefinitely obliged to tape all of its public affairs programming. Such an application of § 399(b) would work a drastic alteration of the whole thrust of the Public Broadcasting Act. That Act was designed to preclude interference with local stations while assuring adequate control of the mechanism, CPB, through which federal funds would be channeled into public broadcasting. The Act was not to “impair or affect the existing statutory duty and responsibility of the station licensee.”45 Noncommercial stations were to remain subject to established regulation, including the fairness doctrine.46 But stations were to be strengthened, not burdened, by the Act. Apart from a provision not pertinent to this case concerning station editorializing,47 the Act avoided any restrictions on licensee freedom.
*1146We think it inconceivable that Congress would have intended such a radical change in its approach to public broadcasting without any reference in the legislative history.48 It would be particularly difficult to reconcile such a change with the emphatically voiced concern for the protection and enhancement of licensee vitality and independence found in the legislative history of Public Law 93-84.49
The legislative history of § 399(b) reveals Congress’s purpose for imposing the taping requirement on programs funded by CPB: furtherance of the substantial governmental interest in oversight of the use of federal funds. Congress gave no clue as to what, if any, substantial interest would be advanced by also imposing a taping requirement on programs that are produced without federal funds. In the absence of any guidance from Congress, we are unable to discern such an interest.50 Nor may we rely on judicial imagination to answer the question before us. Courts engaged in the careful scrutiny of legislation, as we must be, are not free to conjecture an important governmental interest when one has not surfaced in congressional deliberations.51 Sound constitutional principles demand that Congress carefully consider the justification for a statute touching on First Amendment interests.
A court is not obligated to invalidate § 399(b) in toto simply because some of its literal applications are constitutionally problematic or infirm. We call attention to several principles, no one of which is fully applicable to this case, but which taken together fairly point our path. These include the doctrine that a court may depart from the literal meaning of a statute on *1147discerning that it does not “mean what it says,”52 the rule that literal meaning does not control when it leads to unreasonable results for which there is no expression of legislative intent;53 the more general concept that in statutory interpretation and application legislative history may override the plain meaning of text; 54 the approach of avoiding statutory interpretations raising constitutional problems; 55 the principle of severability, retaining part of a statute although another part is invalid;56 and the principle permitting a narrowed construction which excises the breadth inimical to First Amendment interests so long as there is an ascertainable line that delineates permissible applications.57
In our view, the proper scope of § 399(b) consists of application to programs subject to the provisions of 396(g)(1)(A). This conclusion sustains Congress’s substantial interest in overseeing compliance with the statutory mandates applicable when federal funds are used for program production. The limiting construction excises the consti*1148tutionally suspect application of the taping requirement to nonfederally funded programs, an application for which there is no expression of congressional purpose and which is inconsistent with those congressional concerns that have been expressed.58
Section 399(b), thus limited, does not violate petitioners’ constitutional rights. It directly and narrowly furthers the governmental interest in effective oversight of the expenditure of federal funds. It is not invidious to distinguish between those who broadcast programs made available by CPB and those who do not. There is a plain nexus between means and ends, and it passes scrutiny. The standards of strict objectivity and balance are more stringent than the fairness doctrine, and apply to each program or series of programs, rather than to the station’s coverage as a whole.59 Congress could reasonably decide on an audio recording to help in a fair determination of such difficult questions as a program’s “objectivity,” and we cannot fault this approach to fulfillment of a congressional function.
Furthermore, the burden imposed on stations to comply with § 399(b) will be negligible, if not de minimis. CPB already requires stations to send it tapes of locally produced programs it has underwritten.60 Under the provisions of § 399(b)(2), stations can designate CPB as the entity to make recordings available to the public.61 Similarly, with regard to programs procured by CPB for regional and national distribution, CPB can be designated as the entity which will make and supply the tapes in response to public inquiries.
Since our opinion supports the constitutionality of § 399(b) because of the government’s interest in the strict objectivity mandate of § 396(g)(1)(A), the constitutionality of that section must be addressed.
Federal support of expression does not of itself violate the First Amendment.62 In Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 92-93, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976), the Supreme Court pointed out that the provision protecting free speech contains no establishment clause; the Constitution forbids abridgment or censorship of speech, not its enhancement. The Court noted that legislation to support First Amendment values “is the rule, not the exception. Our statute books are replete with laws providing fundamental assistance to the exercise of free speech, such as aid to public broadcasting and other forms of educational media, 47 U.S.C. §§ 390-399 . . . .” Id. at 93 n.127, 96 S.Ct. at 670.
The content standards of § 396(g)(1)(A) are requirements of objectivity and balance. These standards were enacted to minimize the possibility of a governmental or politically partisan perspective in federally funded programs. Congress has a substantial interest in avoiding the use of government *1149funds to endorse a “political” message.63 “The real danger in the injection of government money into the marketplace of ideas is that the market will be distorted by the promotion of certain messages but not others.” Advocates for Arts v. Thomson, 532 F.2d 792, 798 (1st Cir. 1976). The requirement of a “neutral” message bears no such threat to First Amendment concerns.
We conclude that the government is constitutionally permitted to finance program production, although this, and concomitant authority to set neutral standards, brings some amount of governmental authority into the realm of program content.64 We are not confronted in this case with the First Amendment considerations that might be implicated were the government to possess a programming monopoly or a captive audience.65 Stations may reject programs that are federally funded.66
Congress has made an effort to support public affairs programming while ensuring that federal funds are not spent on propaganda directed at U.S. citizens. This is not constitutionally impermissible. Federally funded producers are not required to forego the exercise of rights they would otherwise enjoy. They remain free to express themselves as they choose in programs developed without public funds.
Judge Robinson’s concurring opinion contends that the taping requirement does not “reasonably [relate] to any objective to which the Government permissibly can aspire,” concurring opinion at - of 192 U.S.App.D.C., at 1135 of 593 F.2d, and in support develops commentary suggesting that the existence of government financing does not justify even a neutral requirement, and that legitimate fears of government propagandizing might support restrictions on the government, but not on the broadcaster.
This fails to grapple with the effort of Congress to minimize the possibility of a governmental or politically partisan perspective in federally funded programs and in avoiding the use of governmental funds to endorse a “political” message. Philosophers may cherish the nicety of a contention that even-handed balance is a kind of tilted propaganda. But it borders on the quixotic to assert that it is not reasonable to take a different approach. Indeed the opposite approach is implicit in the fairness doctrine and in the approach taken by the Supreme Court in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 89 S.Ct. 1794, 23 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969). And indeed in the adversary system. It is as simple as the belief that presenting both sides of controversial items is likely to lead to truth. To say that balance on controversial programs is not even a reasonable objective or corollary of government funding takes one’s breath away.
Judge Robinson says that all Congress needed to do was to take action against government influence and propaganda. But Congress was setting up an institution with considerable independence, and was concerned that it would develop an elitist partisanship, fostered from within its own institution. A markedly independent CPB might develop its own policies. On the other hand, even an independent CPB might develop a subtle political steering with an eye on appropriations — and mandatory balance is a reasonable way of coping with that problem.
While Congress has reserved the function of examining the performance of public television during its appropriation and oversight reviews, there are safeguards. The *1150appropriations function is a blunt instrument — and can only be exercised in terms of total dollar appropriations. This inhibits its use by particular Congressmen for “getting at” particular programs. Similarly the bipartisan nature of Congress forestalls any efforts at political domination or coercion of public television. Also, as cases in this court have established, there is no judicial or agency enforcement of the standards of § 396(g)(1)(A).
In contrast, Judge Wright’s opinion raises the question whether there is any means, that he would consider constitutionally acceptable, for Congress to implement a system of congressional oversight of public broadcasting. To deny this to Congress might prove more doom than boon to public broadcasting. We cannot assume that Congress would provide funds without any further meaningful role, if that emerges as a judicial requirement.
We are not insensitive to the tension between federal funding and public broadcasting’s freedom of expression. There have been suggestions of reforms in order to enhance the independence of public broadcasters.67 Examining the existing relationship between federal funding and public broadcasting, we do not see a violation of the First Amendment. In our view, the government has authority to set standards of objectivity and neutrality for the programs it funds through CPB, and § 399(b), providing a taping requirement for those programs, is a non-intrusive and non-discriminatory means to monitor compliance with those standards.
The theoretical risk of a “chill” bids us be wary, but not to the point of hypochondria-sis. The possibility that this tape-recording requirement will actually chill expression by licensees verges on the minuscule — although the matter must rest in the domain of judgment and cannot be proved in the abstract as a matter of logic. For the theoretical risk there is a comparable and adequate response. Even a requirement that is upheld in the first instance as limited and related to a valid purpose, may prove in the light of experience to be an encroachment; then, and in that event, it must be declared invalid. This is the approach of Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 392-94, 89 S.Ct. 1794, 23 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969). For the present, we cannot say. that the statute is facially invalid.

. For the rules pursuant to § 399(b), see FCC, Report and Order, 57 F.C.C.2d 19 (1975).

. 47 U.S.C. § 399(b)(1), (2) (Supp. V 1975):
(b)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), each licensee which receives assistance under sections 390 to 399 of this title after August 6, 1973 shall retain an audio recording of each of its broadcasts of any program in which any issue of public importance is discussed. Each such recording shall be retained for the sixty-day period beginning on the date on which the licensee broadcasts such program.
(2) The requirements of paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to a licensee’s broadcast of a program if an entity designated by the licensee retains an audio recording of each of the licensee’s broadcasts of such a program for the period prescribed by paragraph (1).

. Act of Nov. 7, 1967, Pub.L. No. 90-129, 81 Stat. 365, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 390-99 (Supp. V 1975).

. S.Rep.No.222, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 2 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 1772, 1773. The third objective is not pertinent to this case.

. Act of May 1, 1962, Pub.L. No. 87-447, tit. Ill, 76 Stat. 64, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 390-395 (Supp. V 1975).

. H.R.Rep.No.572, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 16 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1799, 1806. See 47 U.S.C. § 396(a) (Supp. V 1975) (Congress’s declaration of policy).

. Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, Public Television: A Program for Action 33-35 (1967).

. The Commission believed so strongly in the need for a buffer between the government and recipients of federal funding that it concluded that it “would be most reluctant to recommend the other parts of its plan unless the corporate entity is brought into being.” Id. at 5.

. H.R.Rep.No.572, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 15 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1799, 1805.

. S.Rep.No.222, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 4 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 1772, 1775.

. Section 396(g)(1)(D), 47 U.S.C. § 396(g)(1)(D) (1970), authorizes CPB to “carry out its purposes and functions and engage in its activities in ways that will most effectively assure the maximum freedom of the noncommercial educational television or radio broadcast systems and local stations from interference with or control of program content or other activities.”

. S.Rep.No.222, 90th Cong., 1 st Sess. 7 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 1772, 1778; H.R.Rep.No.572, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 17, 18 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1799, 1807-1808.

. Congress expected CPB to provide program assistance to local stations in three principal ways: (1) grants and contracts to help support local programming by local stations; (2) grants and contracts for the production of programs by local stations for more than local use; and (3) the creation of programs which would be made available to local stations. H.R.Rep.No. 572, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 10 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1799, 1800.

. 47 U.S.C. § 396(b) (1970).

. Board members are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. 47 U.S.C. § 396(c)(1) (1970). No more than eight of the fifteen Board members may be from the same political party. Id. No Board members may be employees of the United States. Id. § 396(c)(2). No political tests may be used in CPB personnel actions and decisions. Id. § 396(e)(2). CPB may not support any political party or candidate for election to public office. Id. § 396(f)(3). And CPB may not own or operate any broadcasting station, network or interconnection facility. Id. § 396(g)(3).

. A detailed and comprehensive annual report must be submitted annually to the President for transmittal to Congress. 47 U.S.C. § 396(i) (Supp. V 1975).

. CPB’s accounts are to be audited annually by an independent accountant, 47 U.S.C. § 396(1 )(1)(A), and the audit results are to be included in the annual report. Id. CPB may also be audited by the General Accounting Office, § 396(f)(1)(A), and the audit results are to be submitted to Congress. Id. § 396(f)(1)(B), (i )(2)(B).

. Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, supra note 7, at 68-73.

. Id. at 69.

. Congress has not been unaware of the tension between annual appropriations and freedom from government control. It succeeded in passing a long-range financing plan with the Public Broadcast Financing Act of 1975, Pub.L. No. 94-192, §§ 2-4, 89 Stat. 1099, which authorized a five-year appropriation for CPB. A new statutory provision was included in the Act which required CPB officers and directors to be available to testify annually before appropriate congressional committees. 47 U.S.C. § 396(i) (Supp. V 1975). The Senate Report on the Act noted: “Even with long-term Federal financing, the Corporation remains fully accountable to the public and to the Congress for its use of public funds. This section will provide the opportunity for annual Congressional review of the Corporation and its activities in any manner Congress believes proper.” S.Rep.No. 447, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. 13 (1975), reprinted in [1975] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 2206, 2218.

. 113 Cong.Rec. 26391 (1967) (remarks by Rep. Anderson).

. Id. at 13003 (remarks by Senator Cotton).

. Id. at 26394 (remarks by Rep. Brotzman).

. Id. at 26395-96 (remarks by Rep. Kuykendall).

. “It is to be admitted that the Congress of the United States can refuse to appropriate the money because it is dissatisfied with the type of program that has been initiated. But this idea that the Congress of the United States is reserving unto itself the privilege to pass upon each program is a fallacy, because . [i]t is stated in the law authorizing the money to be appropriated that there shall be no interference.” Hearings on S.1160 Before the Subcommittee on Communications of the Senate Committee on Commerce, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 125-26 (1967) (remarks of Senator Pas-tore). Senator Pastore also noted, “We don’t have to repeat the appropriation if we feel this is a failure. This is all subject to the scrutiny of the Congress of the United States . . . .” Id. at 123.

. These activities include publicizing, establishing an interconnection system, raising funds, conducting research, and establishing a library. 47 U.S.C. § 396(g) (1970).

. Payments could also be made to local stations to aid in financing their programming costs. Id. § 396(g)(2)(C).

. The full text of subsection (1)(A) of 47 U.S.C. § 396(g), which sets forth the authority of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is as follows:
(g) Purposes and activities of the Corporation; powers under the District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act.
(1) In order to achieve the objectives and to carry out the purposes of this subpart, . the Corporation is authorized to—
(A) facilitate the full development of educational broadcasting in which programs of high quality, obtained from diverse sources, will be made available to noncommercial educational television or radio broadcast stations, with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature; .
In addition to program grants, CPB provides generalized support to noncommercial licensees: e. g., technical support, funds for the establishment of interconnection networks; funds for scholarships and fellowships; and unrestricted block community service grants. Its “community service” block grants are allocated among stations by a formula based on income and population. See generally Annual Report of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for Fiscal Year 1974, H.Doc. No. 58, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. (1975).
The “strict adherence to objectivity and balance” standard appears only in subsection (1)(A) of § 396(g), and hence is a mandate to CPB only as to activities by which programs are “made available” to noncommercial stations. This must be read broadly to include instances where CPB provides only part of the funds for a program. But it does not apply to the other paragraphs of § 396(g)(1), such as (B) and (C), which do not involve programs as such but concern general aid to noncommercial licensees. Section 396(g)(2)(C) authorizes CPB to make general operating grants as well as program grants to local stations.
In view of the congressional instruction that CPB carry out its functions so as to “most effectively assure the maximum freedom” of noncommercial licensees, see note 11 supra, and the location of the strict adherence standard in the paragraphs of the CPB charter adopted to define CPB’s authority, we cannot fairly discern a legislative intent to stretch that standard into a back-handed mandate controlling all noncommercial licensees. The strict objectivity and balance mandate applies when CPB makes programs available to noncommercial licensees, and these licensees are governed at other times by the fairness doctrine.

. Accuracy in Media, Inc. v. FCC, 172 U.S. App.D.C. 188, 196, 521 F.2d 288, 296 (1975) cert. denied, 425 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 1664, 48 L.Ed.2d 175 (1976); see Note, “Balance and Objectivity” in Public Broadcasting: Fairer than Fair?, 61 Va.L.Rev. 643 (1975).

. H.R.Rep.No.794 (Conf.Rep.), 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 13 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1834, 1836: “As so modified [by the House amendment], each program in a series need not meet the test of objectivity and balance, but the series, when considered as a whole, must.”

. The fairness doctrine looks “to the general balance of a station’s programming.” Hale v. FCC, 138 U.S.App.D.C. 125, 127, 425 F.2d 556, 558 (1970).

. S.Rep.No.222, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 1772, 1778; H.R.Rep.No.572, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 10, reprinted in [1967] U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1799, 1800-01. See also Carnegie Comm’n on Educational Television, supra note 7, at 95-96:

Contemporary Affairs

Public Television can extend our knowledge and understanding of contemporary affairs. Its programming of the news should grow to encompass both facts and meaning, both information and interpretation. It should be historian, in addition to being daily journalist. Its program should call upon the intellectual resources of the nation to give perspective and depth to interpretation of the news, in addition to coverage of news day by day.
Programs should assess the broad significance of a news item: the mine disaster, the Supreme Court decision, the new tax, the labor strike, the scientific discovery. The bare reporting of incidents is not sufficient to meet the responsibilities we see for Public Television. Programs should find ways to show us the context of incidents, the past and present from which they spring, the impact they may make on tomorrow.

. A typical statement of Congress’s purpose in passing § 396(g)(1)(A) is the following by Representative MacDonald of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee: “[T]he Corporation must not become overwhelmingly an organ of one party or the other. Governmental and political interference or control must be kept at an absolute minimum. Along these same lines, the committee amended the section of title II pertaining to programming to provide for strict balance between opposing viewpoints on controversial matters.” 113 Cong.Rec. 26380 (1967). The House version of the Act, H.R. 6736, contained the objectivity and balance provisions. They were incorporated in conference into the final bill. H.R.Rep.No.794 (Conf.Rep.), 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 13 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1834, 1835.

. Act of August 6, 1973, Pub.L. No. 93-84, § 2, 87 Stat. 219.

. S.Rep.No.93-123, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 14-15 (1973); H.R.Rep.No.93-324, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 3, 16 (1973).

. Senator Griffin advocated a taping requirement for years before its enactment in 1973. In 1970 the Senate adopted Griffin’s amendment as part of pending public broadcasting finance legislation, but the taping requirement was deleted in conference after it was disclosed that the amendment had not been the subject of hearings in either house. H.R.Rep.No.1466 (Conf.Rep.), 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 3 (1970), reprinted in [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 3963, 3964.

. By its terms § 399(b) requires the recording “of any program in which any issue of public importance is discussed.” Section 396(g)(1)(A) requires “strict adherence to objectivity and balance in . programs of a controversial nature.” The scope of § 399(b) is conceptually broader than that of § 396(g)(1)(A), although it is difficult to visualize a CPB-funded program in fact, as contrasted with theory, that is not “controversial” notwithstanding the discussion of an issue of “public importance.” Assuming arguendo that there might be such an instance, it is reasonable for Congress to write a record-keeping requirement modestly broader than the substantive standard, in order to assure that all programs which are “of a controversial nature” are recorded. The “issue of public importance” provision in § 399(b) is a practical delineation of the class of programs likely to present an issue as to the applicability of § 396(g)(1)(A).

. S.Rep.No.117, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1973):
As long as Federal funds are being given to public broadcasting, your Committee strongly believes Congress not only has the right but the obligation to assure itself they are being expended as it intends. The Committee’s own oversight responsibility, and the necessity of an annual appropriation assures this. There should, therefore, be no misgivings that a two-year authorization would permit the Corporation to ignore or otherwise disregard its statutory mandates.
Similarly, the House report stated:
Your Committee believes that as long as federal funds are given to public broadcasting, Congress has the obligation to ensure their proper expenditure. This obligation can be fully satisfied by resort to our oversight powers and responsibilities as well as through the appropriations process. Congress has ample authority to ensure that CPB satisfies its statutory mandate without the necessity of a crippling annual authorization.
H.R.Rep.No.324, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 9-10 (1973).

. L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 580-85 (1978). “[0]rdinarily, at least, government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject-matter, or its content.” Id. at 581 (quoting Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 95-96, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972)).

. See Petition For Rulemaking To Require Broadcast Licensees To Maintain Certain Program Records, Third Report and Order, 64 F.C. C.2d 1100, 1110-14 (1977). The fact that the public is not looking at the program tapes does not mean that Congress exceeded its powers in providing for public access to them.

. See United State v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367, 376-77, 88 S.Ct. 1673, 20 L.Ed.2d 672 (1968); L. Tribe, supra note 38, at 580-84.

. We recognize that there are instances of cases with First Amendment overtones where successful constitutional challenges are put on equal protection grounds. E. g., Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley, 408 U.S. 92, 99, 92 S.Ct. 2286, 33 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972).

. 47 U.S.C. § 392 (Supp. V 1975).

. See pp.---of 192 U.S.App.D.C., pp. 1142-1143 of 593 F.2d supra (statements of Rep. Van Deerlin and Sen. Griffin).

. 113 Cong.Rec. 26384 (1967) (Statement of Congressman Staggers, chairman of the House committee which considered the Public Broadcasting Act and floor manager for the Act).

. See Accuracy in Media, Inc. v. F.C.C., 172 U.S.App.D.C. 188, 195, 521 F.2d 288, 295 (1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 934, 96 S.Ct. 1664, 48 L.Ed.2d 175 (1976).

. Section 399(a) provides: “No noncommercial educational broadcasting station may engage in editorializing or may support or oppose any candidate for political office.” 47 U.S.C. § 399(a) (Supp. V 1975). Some have found this provision constitutionally suspect. See, e. g., Emery, Is There A Constitutional Flaw in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967?, 2 Educ. Broadcasting Rev. 17 (1968). The context of this case does not require us to consider § 399(a) or the possible constitutional problems it raises. Although commercial licensees may editorialize, Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, 13 F.C.C. 1246 (1949), the editorialization restriction placed on noncommercial licensees was not advanced as a justification for the imposition of a taping requirement solely on the latter class of broadcasters.

. The Supreme Court expressed itself similarly in an analogous situation where a statutory interpretation, plausible in light of the statute’s express terms, entailed a radical departure from prior Congressional policy, a departure that was not discussed anywhere in the statute’s legislative history. Tidewater Oil Co. v. United States, 409 U.S. 151, 157-58, 93 S.Ct. 408, 34 L.Ed.2d 375 (1972).

. S.Rep.No.123, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 8-11, 13 (1973); H.R.Rep.No.324, 93d Cong., 1st Sess. 3, 7, 9 (1973). See, e. g., 119 Cong.Rec. 14522, 14526, 14599, 25700 (1973).

. In response to the inquiry of a panel of this court as to the important interests furthered by § 399(b), the FCC referred to a possible interest in “a temporary archive [which] could prove useful to individuals simply desiring to obtain copies to preserve significant programs that stations may have broadcast in carrying out their obligations as public trustees.” FCC, Response to Remand (Adopted May 24, 1977) at 14. The FCC does not argue that this interest is substantial. Furthermore, the FCC does not explain why Congress would not have had such an interest with regard to significant programs of commercial licensees, who have, along with fairness considerations, the same duty as noncommercial licensees to present programs on important contemporary issues. FCC, The Handling of Public Issues Under the Fairness Doctrine and the Public Interest Standards of the Communications Act (Fairness Report), 48 Flc.C.2d 1 (1974). The FCC considered a requirement that commercial licensees make ,- Vdilable a transcript or tape recording of all their news and public affairs programs, but concluded that benefits to the public would not outweigh the costs. FCC, Petition For Rule-making To Require Broadcast Licensees To Maintain Certain Program Records, Third Report and Order, 64 F.C.C.2d 1100 (1977).

. In cases, like this, invoking an intermediate level of scrutiny, the Supreme Court has disallowed after-the-fact rationalizations for legislative action that were advanced by counsel. In Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636, 648, 95 S.Ct. 1225, 1233, 43 L.Ed.2d 514 (1975), the Court stated that “mere recitation of a benign, compensatory purpose is not an automatic shield which protects against any inquiry into the actual purposes underlying a statutory scheme.” Following Wiesenfeld, the Court in Califano v. Goldfarb, 430 U.S. 199, 214-17, 97 S.Ct. 1021, 51 L.Ed.2d 270 (1977), looked to the legislative history of the challenged statute to determine for itself what the “actual purpose” of the statutory discrimination had been. Finding that Congress gave no attention to the objectives advanced by appellants, the Court refused to accept those objectives as justifications for the challenged statute. We read these cases to support our conclusion that it would be inconsistent with careful scrutiny to hypothesize the very interests we are then obliged to scrutinize. See L. Tribe, supra note 38, at 1085-87. Tribe also suggests that “[i]n first amendment cases, the Supreme Court is least likely to take into account governmental interests which, though conceivable, are not actually advanced by counsel, or were not actually considered by the relevant decision-maker.” Id. at 602.

. National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States, 435 U.S. 679, 687, 98 S.Ct. 1355, 55 L.Ed.2d 637 (1978).

. See, e. g., Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226 (1892); C. Sands, Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction § 54.06 (4th ed. 1973).

. See, e. g., United States v. American Trucking Assns., 310 U.S. 534, 542-544, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940); C. Sands, Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction § 48 (4th ed. 1973).

. See, e. g., Lynch v. Overholser, 369 U.S. 705, 710-711, 82 S.Ct. 1063, 1067, 8 L.Ed.2d 211 (1962); (“a statute should be interpreted, if fairly possible, in such a way as to free it from not insubstantial constitutional doubts”); Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22, 62, 52 S.Ct. 285, 76 L.Ed. 598 (1932); United States v. Delaware & Hudson Co., 213 U.S. 366, 407, 29 S.Ct. 527, 53 L.Ed. 836 (1909); United States v. Thompson, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 5, 452 F.2d 1333, 1337 (1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 998, 92 S.Ct. 1251, 31 L.Ed.2d 467 (1972); Doe v. Martin, 404 F.Supp. 753, 762 (D.D.C.1975). Cf. Simpson v. United States, 435 U.S. 6, 13, 98 S.Ct. 909, 55 L.Ed.2d 70 (1978).

. The guiding doctrine appears in Champlin Refining Co. v. Corporation Comm’n of Oklahoma, 286 U.S. 210, 234, 52 S.Ct. 559, 565, 76 L.Ed. 1062 (1932):
Unless it is evident that the legislature would not have enacted those provisions which are within its power, independently of that which is not, the invalid part may be dropped if what is left is fully operative as a law.
Precisely that doctrine and language were relied on in Buckley v. Valeo—both by this court, see Buckley v. Valeo, 171 U.S.App.D.C. 172, 229, 519 F.2d 821, 878 (1975), and by the Supreme Court, 424 U.S. 1, 108-09, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) (aff’g in part and rev’g in part). The limitation to CPB-funded programs leaves § 399(b) both operative and in furtherance of the oversight of compliance with the strict objectivity and balance standard that was the core justification for the taping requirement.
Opinions of this court illustrate the judicial role in limiting statutes to avoid constitutional difficulties. In United States v. Thompson, 147 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 452 F.2d 1333 (1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 998, 92 S.Ct. 1251, 31 L.Ed.2d 467 (1972) this court, in an opinion by Judge Wright, acknowledged that it was departing from the statutory term — “ ‘any criminal offense committed in the District of Columbia’ ” — if “read literally.” 147 U.S.App.D.C. at 10, 452 F.2d at 1342. In limiting the scope of the strict bail provisions of the D.C. Court Reform and Criminal Procedure Act of 1970 to violations- of statutes having local application, on the ground that this furthered the legislative objective, Judge Wright applied the doctrine that courts avoid an interpretation that “would create a substantial doubt” as to constitutionality. See 147 U.S.App.D.C. at 5, 9, 452 F.2d at 1337, 1341. See also Founding Church of Scientology v. United States, 133 U.S.App.D.C. 229, 409 F.2d 1146, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 963, 90 S.Ct. 434, 24 L.Ed.2d 427 (1969), which held that although the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act proscribed any mislabeled device, the court would not apply the Act to Scientology’s “E-meter,” and literature. Judge Wright observed, 133 U.S.App.D.C. at 242, 255, 409 F.2d at 1159: “Were the literature here introduced clearly secular, we might well conclude that under existing law it constituted ‘labeling’ for purposes of the Act. . However, such broad readings are not favored when they impinge upon constitutionally sensitive areas, especially in the absence of a showing of legislative intent to regulate these areas.”

. See, e. g., Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 158-63, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974); Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374, 380-391, 87 S.Ct. 534, 17 L.Ed.2d 456 (1967); Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 491, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22 (1965); L. Tribe, supra note 38, at 714-16; Note, The First Amendment Over-breadth Doctrine, 83 Harv.L.Rev. 844 (1970).

. Therefore, the relation of § 399(b) to ongoing CPB funding for programs cannot rightly be described as “little more than coincidental.” Judge Wright opinion at p.-of 192 U.S.App. D.C., at p. 1120 of 593 F.2d. The very purpose of § 399(b) is rooted in the maintenance of the strict objectivity and balance standard, as appears from the statements of its sponsor, Senator Griffin. The legislative history makes clear that the taping requirement was directed toward assuring compliance with the strict objectivity and balance requirement in programs funded by CPB.

. See note 29 supra.

. S.Rep.No.869, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. 8 (1970), reprinted in [1970] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 3954, 3960.

. 47 U.S.C. § 399(b)(2) (Supp. V 1975): “The requirements of paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to a licensee’s broadcast of a program if an entity designated by the licensee retains an audio recording of each of the licensee’s broadcasts of such a program for the period prescribed by paragraph (1).” See FCC, Report and Order, 57 F.C.C.2d 19, 23 (1975) (analysis by the FCC of the function and purposes of the designated entity).

. See T. Emerson, The System of Freedom of Expression 627-633, 645-653 (1970). Emerson acknowledges the need for affirmative governmental action to promote the functioning of the system of freedom of expression, although “government supported expression can never be an acceptable substitute for independently financed expression.” Id. at 653.

. See Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights, 418 U.S. 298, 304, 94 S.Ct. 2714, 41 L.Ed.2d 770 (1974).

. T. Emerson, supra note 60, at 652.

. The applicability of First Amendment values to the broadcasting media is well established. See, e. g., Columbia Broadcasting System v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U.S. 94, 93 S.Ct. 2080, 36 L.Ed.2d 772 (1973); Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 89 S.Ct. 1794, 23 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969).

. S.Rep.No.222, 90th Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1967), reprinted in [1967] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 1772, 1778.

. See, Chase, Public Broadcasting and the Problem of Government Infíuence: Towards a Legislative Solution, 9 U. of Mich.J. of L.Reform 64 (1975); Canby, The First Amendment and the State as Editor: Implications for Public Broadcasting, 52 Texas L.Rev. 1123 (1974).