Republicans Block Online Disclosure Of Campaign Television Ad Spending
by Adam Peck, thinkprogress.org -- Jun 9, 2012
The Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision has created a flood of television ad spending -- hundreds of millions of dollars -- from outside groups, corporations, and individuals. The Justices who voted for the decision and its supporters argue that disclosure is all voters need to make informed decisions. But yesterday, a panel of House Republicans moved to keep much of this spending in the dark.
A new FCC guideline that would have forced the nation’s top television stations to list the funders behind political advertisements online.
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Republicans vote to block transparency on political ads
by Justin Elliott, ProPublica -- Jun 10, 2012
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The FCC voted in April to require television stations to put detailed data on political ad purchases online. The information, which includes who buys ads, for how much, and when they run, is currently open to the public but is available only on paper at individual stations. Media companies have lobbied hard against the rule, and the National Association of Broadcasters recently sued in federal court to stop it. The rule is currently under review by the government and will not go into effect until July at the earliest.
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Afterall who really cares about Free Speech and "the free flow of ideas" when there are billions in non-competitive,
take-it-or-leave-it Ad-rates hanging in the "free market" balance?
Certainly not those fading bastions of truth and fact-finding -- the for-profit media story-tellers ... you those corporate persons who call the race.
[Image Source: americablog.com -- The GOP Horse race]
Get your Programs, folks. Place your bets, people. Ready, set, and they're Off!
Let the race begin, and begin, and begin ... Oh it's gonna be a squeaker! You can bet on it.
Republicans block rule to put political ad buy data...
by Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau; therepublic.com -- June 08, 2012
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Broadcasters, who are expected to reap as much as $3 billion from political ad sales this year, had lobbied heavily against the proposal, arguing that it would cost too much money and would force them to reveal information that would make them less competitive.
Stations are required to offer their lowest ad rates to political campaigns, so making the information easier for the public to access would help inform the station’s competitors and their other customers about the prices they’re charging. (Super PACs are not entitled to the lowest rates.)
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Meanwhile, some in the media have sought to make the files public on their own. ProPublica has asked people to visit their local TV stations and submit the paper files for publication. And a group of journalism students from Kent State University, responding to a similar challenge from Bill Moyers, made a video illustrating how cumbersome the task can be.
Meet the Media Companies Lobbying Against Transparency
by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, April 20, 2012
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But now many of the country’s biggest media companies, which own dozens of newspapers and TV news operations, are flexing their muscle in Washington in a fight against a government initiative to increase transparency of political spending.
The corporate owners or sister companies of some of the biggest names in journalism -- NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and dozens of local TV news outlets -- are lobbying against a Federal Communications Commission measure that would require broadcasters to post political ad data on the Internet.
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Among them are:
News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal and Fox News;
Walt Disney, which owns ABC News and ESPN;
NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast and includes NBC News;
Allbritton, which owns several TV stations and Politico;
Gannett Broadcasting, a division of Gannett, which owns USA Today:
Post-Newsweek Stations, the broadcast division of The Washington Post Co.;
Belo Cos., which owns 20 TV stations;
Cox Media Group, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Austin American-Statesman and other newspapers and TV stations;
Dispatch Broadcast Group, which owns Ohio and Indiana TV stations;
Barrington Broadcasting Group, which owns several TV stations around the country;
The E.W. Scripps Co., which owns TV stations and newspapers, including The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.;
Hearst Television Inc., which owns 29 stations;
Raycom Media, which owns TV stations;
Schurz Communications, which owns newspapers and TV stations nationwide.
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(ProPublica has been inviting readers and other journalists to send in the files to be posted as part of our Free the Files project.)
Here's the people's version of what New FCC Regs had intended. You know the one the R's just blocked.
All on-line no less.
Free the Files -- ProPublica
If TV Stations Won’t Post Their Data on Political Ads, We Will
by Daniel Victor, ProPublica -- March 20, 2012
[...] the files could be a window into what may be otherwise undisclosed spending by “dark money” nonprofit groups that are playing an increasing role in the elections.
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As our PAC Track interactive chart shows, Restore Our Future has spent more than twice as much as any other PAC so far — nearly $37 million.
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[Image Source: chestofbooks.com -- Marinoni's Rotary Printing Press]
It's our democracy, or at least it used to be.