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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Will We Learn Who Is Paying for those Political Ads on TV?


The FCC has been trying to make local TV station tell who is paying for the political advertisements and how much they are paying. Obviously the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) don’t want this to happen have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The appeal was recently rejected. That does not mean they won’t keep up the objections a.k.a. delaying tactics as long as possible.

4 comments:

  1. If I don't like these ads, I ignore them. Problem solved.

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  2. 'Citizens United' - just a few folks
    with the SCOTUS-given ablility to speak much more loudly than the rest of us...

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  3. That's an ability "given" by the Bill of Rights. Check out the First Amendment. It contains no provision for the government to ration and control speech in this fashion. It would need an amendment to replace the First Amendment in order for it to be the "law of the land" for the government to censor criticism of government by those with "too much money".

    Of course, this would be a step in the direction of North Korea. And as free speech (like nature) absorbs a vacuum, hopefully people will find away around such censorship.

    I'm glad you referred to "Citizens United", BB. You do realize, don't you, that this case involved the fact that a few people made a movie critical of a sitting US senator. Real living Americans with names like Alan Peterson, Gary Aldritch, and Lee Troxler... who had the temerity to speak ill of a powerful member of the ruling elite using the art of the motion picture (as Michael Moore, another rich man critical of the ruling elites also does).

    Under the law at the time (now thankfully overturned), these few people were criminals for having done this. Are you sure this doesn't bother you, BB? You seem so reasonable otherwise.

    I'm glad that the right to criticize the government was preserved by the Citizens United decision. As I fear no film, not even those made by Michael Moore, I am glad that thanks to the decision, movies won't be censored any more for speaking truth to power.

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