House
Republicans are trying to “keep the public in the dark” by blocking a new rule
that requires broadcasters to post political ad data online, according to the
media reform group Free Press.
The Federal
Communications Commission adopted a measure in April that requires broadcasters
to provide information about political ad buys - including advertising rates -
on the Internet. Previously, the rule only required the files to be available to
the public. However, in almost all cases anyone who wanted access to them had to
physically visit the stations.
A House
Appropriations subcommittee approved the 2013 Financial Services bill on
Wednesday, which includes a provision to block the new FCC rule. Democrats tried
to strip the provision from the bill, but lost a party-line
vote.
“Some members of
Congress, working at the behest of the broadcast industry, want to keep the
public in the dark,” Free Press Action Fund Senior Policy Counsel Corie Wright
said. “The FCC’s online political file rules will shine a brighter light on the
political ads that have inundated local airwaves this
year.”
“Broadcasters
spent nearly $14 million on lobbyists in 2011,” Wright added. “Now they’re
spending millions more on campaign contributions to buy support from some
members of Congress - but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to over $3
billion in political ad revenues that television stations stand to pull in this
election cycle.”
NBC News, ABC
News, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today,
Politico, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution have all lobbied against the
measure.
“This
information is already available in paper format, and it is entirely reasonable
to make it accessible online, especially when there is little actual cost to
doing so,” Rep. Jose Serrano said. Rawstory
AT/KK
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