Transparency Groups Demand FCC Action on Sponsorship ID in Political Ads
Requiring broadcasters to dig into the true sources of funding for political ads as is requested in a letter Thursday from several transparency groups would create a thorny situation for the FCC, several broadcast attorneys said. The letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation said the agency should act on several complaints, applications for review on the matter that have been sitting since 2014 (see Ref:1411130068]), and a Media Access Project petition for rulemaking from 2011. The Communications Act requires broadcasters to “exercise reasonable diligence” to correctly identify sponsors of political ads, and the FCC should enforce the law, said Georgetown Law Institute for Legal Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who represents the groups.
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Putting that burden on broadcasters and requiring the Media or Enforcement bureaus to administer questions of whether a broadcaster sufficiently investigated an ad buyer’s funding sources would be “a nightmare” for FCC staff, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole. The FCC is reviewing the letter, a Media Bureau spokeswoman told us.
The FCC may not have acted because of the many high-profile proceedings that have taken place since the groups filed 11 complaints about alleged violations of public file rules in May 2014, Schwartzman said. But with the 2016 election campaign underway, the matter has become “urgent,” the letter said. On the scale of FCC rulemakings, the filings are relatively recent, Cole said. Applications for review have historically taken many years for the commission to address, he said. That could change if Wheeler, known for getting the commission to act quickly, takes a personal interest, or if congressional leaders urge the FCC to do something, Cole conceded.
Though other broadcast attorneys told us they hadn’t seen evidence of any particular interest in the issue from Wheeler, Schwartzman remained positive. “I’m optimistic we’ll see prompt action,” he said. “With the campaigns heating up, the FCC will see this as a matter of urgency,” said Meredith McGehee, Sunlight Foundation policy advisor. At the 2015 Radio Show, Policy Division Assistant Chief Robert Baker said broadcasters aren't required to conduct extensive investigations of those buying political ads to make sure the sponsorship is correctly identified. “You can rely on the person that hands you the check that they are who they say they are,” Baker said, unless someone produces “a mountain of evidence” to the contrary (see 1510020057).
The complaints and applications for review concerned political ads bought by groups that turned out to be primarily funded by just a few large donors -- in one case, the ad-buying entity Independence USA PAC turned out to be 100 percent funded by Michael Bloomberg, the letter said. “We are not asking for new laws; we are asking the FCC to enforce long standing laws," McGehee said. The Media Bureau has previously said the transparency groups need to inform the broadcasters before filing a complaint if they know sponsors are being improperly identified on-air and in the public file, but that improperly puts the burden on complainants, the letter said. Since such information is often available through rudimentary Web searches or possibly even on the station’s own newscast, it’s not asking too much to require broadcasters to use due diligence, Schwartzman said.
Asking broadcasters to investigate and determine the real sponsor behind an ad would be a big burden and create many questions, Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Jazzo said. That’s an obligation that should apply to the sponsors, and may be more in the Federal Election Commission’s province, he said. The Communications Act doesn't specify this sort of obligation for broadcasters, Cole said.