How the FCC is expanding transparency

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission just made the cost of a Senate seat a lot easier to calculate. The FCC quietly signaled that -- opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters notwithstanding -- all broadcast TV stations must begin posting political ad buys online as of July 1.

That's a big deal. It means the FCC faced down a well-funded and influential constituency. And it means voters in six states with heated Senate races, but no top-tier TV market, now will be able to find out just who is paying for all the political ads clogging their airwaves and just how much they are spending. Until the FCC's 2012 order, the only way the public could access broadcast filings was by riding circuit to local TV stations and rooting through paper files.

Why is this important? Some of the biggest money in politics today is being spent completely off the Federal Election Commission's radar screen. Television advertisements that mention or depict a candidate and clearly express a point of view about that candidate don't have to be reported to the nation's campaign finance watchdog unless the ads run within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election. That means a lot elected officials are piling up a lot of IOUs to deep-pocketed donors without the public being able to see -- which is why we're using TV ad files to make them visible.