From the Sunlight Foundation:
Today, broadcast TV stations in the top 50 media markets will begin uploading information to this site — https://stations.fcc.gov/.
Writes Keenan Steiner on the Reporting Group blog:
The FCC has demonstrated the online portal for the broadcasters in recent weeks. The online system allows stations to simply drag and drop files onto the FCC’s web portal, or upload them via file-sharing programs such as DropBox. “We’re working hard to comply,” said Julie Hoover, a New York-based spokeswoman for ABC-owned stations. At one presentation, the chief of the FCC’s media bureau William Lake said, “We fully expect that the TV stations will find it easier, not harder, to use the new online filing system.”
….
[For] stations covered by the rule, ad buys made prior to [today] don’t have to be posted online, meaning that records of millions of dollars already spent, much of it by groups do not disclose donors, will still be gathering dust in station file cabinets. Stations have six months to post records of those ads. And stations outside the scope of the FCC order — those not affiliated with the four major networks (including Spanish-language stations) and those not in the 50 top broadcast markets — don’t have to begin posting their public files online for another two years.
In addition, the files that the FCC does post this year will be in PDF format. That means users seeking to track the spending of particular interest groups or campaigns potentially will have to sift through hundreds of files.
William Lake, the chief of the FCC’s media bureau, called putting the files in machine-readable format — which would enable easy searching, sorting and downloading — a “long-term goal.” For now, the agency would rely on third parties to “actively develop ways, including crowdsearching, to make documents more searchable.”
To ensure that we know what political ads are airing in every media market across the U.S., the Sunlight Foundation started the Political Ad Sleuth project. Our goal is to create am easy-to-use, searchable and sortable online database on political TV ad buys — both those posted by the FCC and those that are not. We are seeking volunteers — journalists, citizen journalists and interested citizens — to help with this project. More information on how to help and access training is available at http://politicaladsleuth.sunlightfoundation.com/.