PIPAC: NAB Online Political File Stay Should Be Denied

The Public Interest Public Airwaves Coalition (PIPAC) has filed a petition with the DC Federal appeals court opposing the National Association of Broadcasters motion, filed only hours before, for an emergency stay of the FCC's online political file rules, scheduled to go into effect Aug. 2.

PIPAC -- comprising Free Press, the Benton Foundation and other online political file fans -- claims that NAB has not shown it is likely to prevail on the merits of its court challenge to the rules or that its members would be harmed if it goes into effect, both standards that must be met if a stay is to be granted. PIPAC adds that the stay would substantially harm other interested parties, its members, who it says would have to devote more time and resources to gather the info from stations -- political spot prices and who is buying the ads -- from local TV station paper files. Lastly, they argue that the stay would not be in the public interest.