Political Ad Influx Will Benefit TV, Public

[Commentary] This year, more money than ever before will be spent on political advertising and TV stations will get the biggest share of it.

The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United ruling, just took the lid off spending by corporations and unions. If they want, they can buy spots right up to Election Day. They still can't explicitly support a candidate, but that can easily be gotten around. The other nice thing about this for TV stations is that they don't have to give corporations and unions the so-called lowest unit charge discount that they must give candidates. According to Borrell Associates, the Citizens ruling will push total political spending (everything from national TV to posters) up this year by another $400 million to $4.2 billion. Of that, $1.8 billion will end up at TV stations. Some applauded the Supreme Court decision, saying it affirms the people's right to express themselves any way they want in the rough-and-tumble democratic process. But others, including the president, think that all the money flowing into politics is corrupting our democracy and tends to reduce campaigns to exchanges of mindless and often misleading 30-second spots on TV.

Jessell thinks that the any reformers should consider what impact their fixes may have on broadcasting. For whatever it has done to the Republic, the current messy system of political fundraising and spending has had a positive impact on local TV. He believes that one of the effects of the Supreme Court ruling will be to spur more news production at TV stations. A lot of station owners and managers might be sitting around right now trying to figure out how they can add another half hour or hour of news or perhaps a public affairs show that might attract potential voters and those political dollars.