FCC’s McDowell On Putting Political Files Online: What's the Rush?

Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell says that the FCC's proposal to make TV stations' political files part of an online public database managed by the FCC is fixing "what appears to be a nonexistent problem" with "little to no" evidence that the information in that file is not already available to whoever needs to see it.

He cautioned the FCC not to rush into such a regime. Commissioner McDowell pointed out that there is speculation the move was prompted by some wanting to track political spending in the wake of the Citizens United decision. He pointed out that decision reaffirmed that political speech was core protected speech. "Given this Constitutional context why would the government want to have such information loaded onto its website to monitor in real time?" he asked. He also said what he called an over-regulatory path would lead to economic hits on broadcasters. Compliance costs for putting the files online could average $120,000-$140,000 a year, he said, diverting funds from newsgathering and local programming, all arguments broadcasters have made to the FCC in opposing the move.