This paper discusses the equal time law: Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934. Section 315 is the major legislation governing the use of the broadcasting media in the area of politics. The underlying philosophy of the law is that people have a right to a full and complete disclosure of conflicting views of news of interest. The essence of the law is that if a broadcaster allows one candidate for public office the use of broadcast facilities, an equal opportunity to all other candidates for the same office must be afforded. Many of the problems with this law are discussed including the fact that stations are not required to provide any air time at all for candidates running for public office, sometimes there are a large number of candidates running for a particular office, and the incumbent usually has an advantage over the challenger due to news coverage of both political and nonpolitical activities while the incumbent is in office. A case study of the Humphrey-McGovern debates during the California Presidential Primary in 1972 is presented and discussed. The results and conclusions of the study and recommendations based on the conclusions are presented. (TS)