The National Association of Broadcasters—which represents parent companies of NBC, CBS, and Fox, among others—yesterday moved to halt the Federal Communications Commission’s recent ruling requiring TV stations to post political ad buy data online (data the stations currently keep in paper form in their own filing cabinets—some of which CJR recently explored).
The NAB petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday for
relief from the [FCC’s] action on the grounds that it is arbitrary, capricious, in excess of the Commission’s statutory authority, inconsistent with the First Amendment, and otherwise not in accordance with law.
CJR has been writing about this issue for months (with frequent help from Steven Waldman, a former adviser to the FCC). Stay tuned here in the coming days for more on this latest development and what it might mean.
Free the press: abolish the FCC.
#1 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Tue 22 May 2012 at 07:23 PM
You guys sure are beating this dead horse into a pulp...
Nobody cares about this crap (as your stories plainly show).
Who gives a crud about this information? Really?
I don't see CJR posting the details about the donations it sucks in. I would hope that if the FCC were to attempt to force CJR to post this information, that CJR would go to court to stop it.
With everything else happening in this election year... Honestly isn't there something you can cover that people actually give a crap about?
#2 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Tue 22 May 2012 at 10:53 PM
I'm interested in who's buying ad time on the public's airwaves.
I'm interested in the data detailing who is responsible for the explosion of campaign costs and how those exploding costs are allocated.
Why don't you go back to talking about how America needs a healthcare system more like the french?
#3 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 23 May 2012 at 11:13 AM
You're not interested enough about the matter to walk into a TV station office and look at the books, Thimbles.
Neither is just about anybody else in this country, as CJR recently found out when their watchdog checked on the logs.
Nobody gives a crap about this issue.
You notice CJR soliciting anonymous donations and keeping the details secret, don't you? You think the FCC should make them come clean too?
This is nothing but partisan silliness gone nuts. The reason nobody checks on TV ad funding is simple and three-fold (i) NOBODY cares about it, because (ii) EVERYBODY already knows who pays for the ads, and (iii) ANYBODY can get the information anyway from the stations or other sources.
#4 Posted by padikiller, CJR on Wed 23 May 2012 at 03:38 PM