Sunlight to FCC: 2,100 Files Missing From Political Database

The Sunlight Foundation said that due to imprecise rules and broadcasters' varying interpretations, 2,100 entries in the Federal Communications Commission's television station political files database are missing.

Sunlight says that of the 220 stations that are required to post documents on political ad spending -- the top affiliates in the top 50 markets -- more than half have since removed some of those documents. Sunlight has been monitoring and trying to expand the database (through its Political Ad Sleuth project), as has ProPublica, which Sunlight says has most of those missing files in the cloud. Sunlight says it has started backing up the FCC filings so it can preserve the non-paper trail. In a story on its website, Sunlight Reporting Group's Jake Harper said that broadcasters have been updating ad revisions by replacing the original file, which Sunlight says keeps the public dark on changes like shifts in strategy and spending.