FCC’s political ad rule disappoints supporters and foes alike

After the Federal Communications Commission adopted new political ad disclosure rules, a number of groups weighed in.

• "Those missing markets include some key presidential battleground states, as well as states and districts with close congressional campaigns," said Lisa Rosenberg, a government affairs consultant with the Sunlight Foundation. "Moreover, by limiting the coverage to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, the ruling omits coverage for political advertising on Spanish-language television that could be especially important this year." Nonetheless, Rosenberg said, the FCC’s vote was a step in the right direction.
• The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which had fiercely opposed the rule before the vote, said the FCC unfairly singled out the television industry for disclosure. "By forcing broadcasters to be the only medium to disclose on the Internet our political advertising rates, the FCC jeopardizes the competitive standing of stations that provide local news, entertainment, sports and life-saving weather information free of charge to tens of millions of Americans daily," said Dennis Wharton, NAB’s vice president of communications.
• Free Press, one of many groups that had pushed for years to have the disclosure rule approved, said the vote was a “win for transparency, open access to information and the public." "We're pleased that the FCC has ignored the overheated rhetoric and unsubstantiated claims of the broadcast lobby in this proceeding," said Corie Wright, a senior policy counsel at Free Press. "These modest measures will place minimal, if any, burden on broadcasters but will offer great public benefits."