By Noel Brinkerhoff
United States - An effort by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create more transparency for political advertisements is being opposed by television and radio networks.
Under current law, broadcasters must maintain a “public inspection
file” that the public can review in person to learn, among other things,
who is buying airtime for political ads.
The FCC now wants to require TV and radio stations to make these
files available online so citizens can obtain the information without
having to travel to the stations.
But organizations like the National Association of Broadcasters
(NAB) object to the new rule, claiming the posting of the file content
on websites would prove to be “a new burden” and, in a particularly lame
argument, would “provide no clear new benefit to the public.”
Between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2011, the NAB and its employees
donated $549,450 to the campaigns of members of the U.S. House of
Representatives and, over the past six years, $383,423 to members of the
U.S. Senate.
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