Senators Applaud New FCC Rule to Make Political Advertising More Transparent The Federal Communications Commission voted to take a helpful step towards transparency by requiring broadcasters to post files online about who is buying advertising time for political candidates.
part to open up election spending to greater public scrutiny and hope other agencies will follow suit."
In an effort to find how much time and money it would take to retrieve political advertising information, FCC staffers recently tried to access the political ad buys at a station in Baltimore. According to FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, it took more than 60 hours and cost the FCC nearly $2,000 in photocopying fees.
The new rule would require broadcast stations to make files related to political advertisements available publicly online. The stations are currently required to make the files available to the public, but only in paper form, requiring individual trips to each station to review the information. The data will now be compiled on the FCC’s website.
