Voted items at FCC are secret, agency says

When the Federal Communications Commission votes on something at a public meeting, the document they are voting on isn't necessarily for public consumption, the agency said Wednesday. Commissioners unanimously rejected an appeal by The Associated Press for a copy of a document that was approved by a 4-1 vote at a July 31 public meeting. The document was an order establishing rules that would govern the conduct of a planned auction of television airwaves that would later raise nearly $20 billion. While commissioners approved the rules in a public vote, staff requested "editorial privileges." A formal document was not released until Aug. 10. AP filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking a copy of the document "as approved by the commission ... prior to editorial revisions." The agency rejected the request and AP appealed. In its appeal, the AP stated the document was "by its very nature 'post-decisional'" and that "were it not considered final, the public meeting and the vote itself would be meaningless."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_go_ot/fcc_secrecy