Campaign Reformers Push Back on NAB Political Ad Ask

Campaign reform groups are telling the Federal Communications Commission to reject broadcasters' petition to 'clarify' the FCC's disclosure requirements for third-party political ads and follow the National Association of Broadcasters' "rationally tailored approach." NAB and others asked the FCC to narrow its definition of non-candidate ads on “any political matter of national importance" (i.e. "issue" ads) and the disclosure obligations on broadcasters to identify the issues in those ads. In response, the Campaign Legal Center, Sunlight Foundation, Common Cause, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and Issue One say the FCC should not " exclude from disclosure advertisements that address a political matter of national public importance if they also refer to a local or state election." It was complaints from those groups about TV station disclosures, or the lack of them, that prompted the FCC guidance broadcasters are trying to clarify.  Those groups say that the public's need to know who paid for an ad that addresses an issue of national importance doesn't decrease because the ad mentions a local candidate.