In key battleground states, huge numbers of presidential ads are airing on TV stations that are not required to post to the Federal Communications Commission's online political ad database, new data released by the Wesleyan Media Project shows.
Continue readingMissouri primary: McCaskill and Democrats helped Republican Todd Akin to Senate nomination
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Democratic outside groups, pouring in over $1 million during Missouri's Republican Senate primary, got the guy they wanted: Rep. Todd Akin, who Tuesday upset two other Republicans to take the GOP nomination.
Recent polls have shown McCaskill trailing all three Republicans in head-to-head matchups, but Akin has the smallest edge. She is betting voters will see the six-term congressman -- who gave "thanks to God our creator" in his victory speech and has been endorsed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, an evangelical Christian -- as too conservative.
Late in the primary, McCaskill hit TV and ...
Continue readingBroadcasters put political ad buy files online today
With the 2012 election three months away, stations in some of the nation's biggest television markets will start uploading information on political ad buys to the Internet for the first time today, bringing out of the dark ages at least some information on who's behind political ads.
The move represents a major victory for open government groups that have been fighting for more than a decade to get the information contained in television filing cabinets on the Internet, but it does come with considerable limitations. The Sunlight Foundation, along with the Free Press and other partners, is seeking ...
Continue readingBroadcasters petition FCC to stay online posting of political ad files
The nation's broadcasters are trying another method to stop the Federal Communications Commission from putting information about political ads online.
On Tuesday, the same day that the FCC put TV stations in the nation's top 50 markets on notice to begin posting the ad information by Aug. 2, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition asking that the order be delayed until the trade association can try to have it countermanded in federal court. That likely would push resolution of the dispute well past this fall's election.
In its petition to the FCC, the broadcasters' association ...
Continue readingFeds order online posting of political ad info next month
Information about political TV ads must be posted online by Aug. 2 under an order published this morning in the Federal Register.
Sunlight Foundation learned of the order as soon as it was published early this morning from Scout, our new online alert service.
The order ratifies a May ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that requires TV stations affiliated with the four major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- in the nation's 50 largest television markets to make the information available via the Internet. The National Association of Broadcasters is suing to block the order.
Today's ...
Continue readingOMB clears way for FCC to put political ads online
Pushing back against the nation's broadcasters, the White House Office of Management and Budget has approved a rule requiring television stations in the nation's top markets to put information about political ad buys online.
The Federal Communications Commission had already passed the rule but the OMB had to certify that it does not violate government rules that call for minimizing paperwork. That's exactly what the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) unsuccessfully argued that it does.
That could mean that commercial time purchased on local broadcast stations by candidates and as well as by outside groups trying to ...
Continue readingHouse committee restores funding for political ad disclosure
A key member of Congress bowed to pressure Wednesday and withdrew a measure aimed at blocking online disclosure of political advertisements.
At a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., announced she was pulling a measure she introduced two weeks ago to defund a new rule that the Federal Communications Commission approved in April. The rule, now awaiting final approval by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would require the nation's biggest broadcast networks to put information about who is buying political ads on the Internet. The National Association of Broadcasters is suing ...
Continue readingTime Warner Cable posts its political file online, so why the fuss, NAB?
If posting already-public information on political ad spending is so damaging to broadcasters, as the National Association of Broadcasters argues, then why has one of the country's biggest cable providers been doing it since 2010?
Back then, Time Warner Cable created an online portal to search information regarding political ads sold on its system. Initially the portal served only the east coast, but has since provided data nationwide since 2011, according to a Time Warner spokesman. The ad buy records are available as downloadable PDFs.
Current law requires TV stations to keep political ad purchase orders on file at ...
Continue readingHouse Republicans Vote to Protect Broadcasters’ Interests, Ignore the Public Interest
So determined are Republican members of Congress to kowtow to the broadcast industry that today members of a House Appropriations... View Article
Continue readingHouse Subcommittee blocks funds for online political ad disclosure
Today a House subcommittee voted to defund a Federal Communications Commission initiative announced in April that would provide online access to spending for political ads on some local television stations. In the current election cycle, outside spending has already reached record levels, more than doubling what was spent as of the same date in 2008.
The provision, inserted into the financial services appropriations bill, would add to the uncertainty around the FCC's political ad disclosure rule, which is in limbo. The National Association of Broadcasters, a group that represents the major broadcast media companies, sued the FCC to try ...
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