Public Files? Not on a Student Budget
On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on a proposal that would require broadcasters to post political ad data online. While law currently requires the files to be public, the only way to access them now is to physically visit the stations.
As a broadcast journalism class at Kent State University demonstrated, it’s sometimes not the smoothest process.
Of four Cleveland stations the students visited, only one would allow them to take footage, they reported, and only one official commented when asked if the files should be posted online. The stations also said copying the documents would cost 50 cents per page (over four times what FedEx Office charges), so the students couldn’t afford to copy them all.