By a two-to-one vote, the Federal Communications Commission voted today to require broadcasters to make previously hard-to-find public records available online. Within two years, they will have to post in an FCC online database their “public file” including who purchased or attempted to purchase air time for political advertisements and how much they paid for it. This information is currently only available by showing up, in person, at each television or radio station, and there are often bureaucratic barriers to actually accessing the information. While this additional transparency will not allow citizens to know who is funding shady independent ads, it will at least allow them to track where the spending is going and how much is being spent for each airtime purchase. The two Democrats on the Commission voted for the rules, the lone Republican voted against.
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