• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. election 2020>

TV stations fight FCC over political ad disclosure

Sara Swann
December 06, 2019
TV stations fight FCC over political ad disclosure

TV stations are obligated to maintain public files for political ads, but they're pushing back against the FCC on how much disclosure is needed.

Evgeny Gromov/Getty Images

Broadcasters are pushing back against the Federal Communications Commission after the agency made clear it wants broader public disclosure regarding TV political ads.

With the 2020 election less than a year away and political TV ads running more frequently, the FCC issued a lengthy order to clear up any ambiguities licensees of TV stations had regarding their responsibility to record information about ad content and sponsorship. In response, a dozen broadcasting stations sent a petition to the agency, asking it to consider a more narrow interpretation of the law.

This dispute over disclosure rules for TV ads comes at a time when digital ads are subject to little regulation. Efforts to apply the same rules for TV, radio and print advertising across the internet have been stymied by Congress's partisanship and the Federal Election Commission being effectively out of commission.


Already presidential candidates have spent more than $100 million on TV ads since Jan. 1. Unsurprisingly, billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg are collectively responsible for 77 percent of the ad buys so far. Broadcast and cable TV ad spending for the 2016 election totaled about $5.8 billion, according to media tracker Borrell Associates.

Television stations are required to maintain public files that document the content of ads and who pays for them. Good-governance groups access these files to track activity and ensure proper disclosure. When discrepancies are found, groups will often file complaints with the FCC.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

While it seems the FCC will stand by its clarification of the law since it favors more ad disclosure, the agency did agree to allow for public comments until mid-January after TV stations complained input wasn't considered in the first place.

Rather than announce the clarification in a separate order, the FCC included it in a document that also addressed complaints filed by good-governance groups against the TV stations for improperly disclosing ad information.

The stations were admonished — officially reprimanded, but not fined — by the FCC for their violations and warned that, moving forward, failure to comply with the clarified disclosure obligations would result in "enforcement action."

So what did the FCC clarify?

In addition to ads made by or on behalf of candidates, broadcasting stations are also responsible for reporting who sponsored ads relating to "any political matter of national importance." This clause was the main focus of the FCC's clarification because TV stations were interpreting it in different ways.

If an ad mentions federal candidates, elections or legislative issues, federal law requires broadcast licensees to include the name of the candidate, election or issue in their public filings. Some licensees argue that because the law uses the term "or" when referring to the three types of information, they have the discretion to select what information is reported. The FCC disagrees and says all categories referenced must be included in the ad report.

State and local election ads are not necessarily exempt from the "national importance" clause, the FCC says. For example, if an ad about a gubernatorial candidate mentions immigration reform, it would trigger a disclosure obligation because immigration reform is a national issue.

The FCC also clarified how licensees should report who pays for the ads. The law requires licensees to report "a list of the chief executive officers or members of the executive committee or board of directors" of any group seeking to purchase political ad time. In the case a complete list is not provided, the FCC says licensees must inquire further with the ad buyer. This is meant to increase transparency around ad sponsorship since outside groups often don't have to disclose their donors (see "dark money").

The agency says requiring broader disclosure by stations will "avoid illogical results than a narrower reading" would. For instance, if two stations ran the same ad, but reported differently, the political ad files would contain "dramatically different records, creating the potential for confusion and, thereby, frustrating the ability of those who are seeking to track and analyze political advertising in a particular market."

Some licensees argue these rules are "too onerous," but the FCC is not sympathetic. It believes the benefits of disclosure "outweigh the marginal burdens stations may incur."

And what did the TV stations have to say about this?

The National Association of Broadcasters, Hearst Television, Graham Media Group, Nexstar Broadcasting Fox Corporation, Tegna and the E.W. Scripps Company argue in their petition that the FCC's interpretation of the law is too broad and has "inadvertently and unnecessarily created a minefield" for broadcasters.

They recommend narrowing the definition of "a political matter of national importance" to mean "a message directed to or about national political actors in a position to take national political action on the matter" — eliminating the possibility of state and local ads being subject to disclosure.

Rather than require "a laundry list of issues" referenced in each ad, the petitioners say the FCC should allow TV stations to "make reasonable, good faith efforts to disclose the topics that are a focus of political ads."

"These decisions will have significant, far-reaching and imminent impacts on all broadcasters, especially during the 2020 election cycle," the petitioners wrote.

Good-governance groups weigh in

Although this dispute between the broadcasting group and the FCC is still ongoing, the agency continues to issue enforcement orders.

On Tuesday, the FCC settled a complaint filed two years ago by good-governance groups Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center. The complaint was directed at two Georgia TV stations for improperly disclosing information for ads that ran in the 2017 special election for the state's 6th district — the most expensive House race in U.S. history.

The FCC admonished the stations for failing to provide complete information about the content of the ads. Both Issue One and the Campaign Legal Center said they are pleased with the agency's ruling. (The Fulcrum has been incubated by Issue One but remains journalistically independent.)

"Stations that air political ads have an obligation to ensure that viewers have relevant information about who is attempting to influence their vote. The FCC should continue to uphold the public's right to basic information about the content ads and the wealthy special interests that fund them," said Brendan Fischer, CLC's director of federal reform.

Meredith McGehee, executive director of Issue One, said the FCC should be wary of the broadcasters' proposal to narrow regulations governing disclosure of political TV ads.

"Weakening of current disclosure standards would be misguided, especially at a time when dark money groups are spending millions on political ads and trying to hide who is paying for political advertising in elections," McGehee said.

From Your Site Articles
  • Rare agreement that Twitter's political ad ban won't do much - The ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • FCC Seeks Input on Issue Ad Disclosure Petition - Broadcasting ... ›
election 2020

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Texas leads the way

Lawrence Goldstone

Why the Founders would be aghast at the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

Beau Breslin

Risks and rewards in a polarized nation: Businesses face tough choices after Roe v. Wade ruling

Richard Davies

The economic blame game, part 1: Blame your opponents

David L. Nevins

How a college freshman led the effort to honor titans of democracy reform

Jeremy Garson

Our poisonous age of absolutism

Jay Paterno
latest News

Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Our Staff
17m

Wait, what? Democrats are also funding election deniers?

Damon Effingham
3h

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Our Staff
4h

Busy day ahead with primaries or runoffs in seven states

Richard Perrins
Reya Kumar
Kristin Shiuey
22h

The state of voting: June 27, 2022

Our Staff
22h

Video: Faces of democracy

Our Staff
27 June
Videos

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Video: David Levine & Georgia Election Official Joseph Kirk Discuss 2022 Primary

Elections
Doug Mastriano

Wait, what? Democrats are also funding election deniers?

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Podcast: The crucial role of political centrists

Leadership
U.S. and Texas flags fly over the Texas Capitol

Texas leads the way

State
Founding Father John Dickinson

Why the Founders would be aghast at the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

Judicial
Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey

Busy day ahead with primaries or runoffs in seven states