Campaign Legal Center, Others Take Another Shot at Sponsor ID Allegations Against WJLA
The Campaign Legal Center’s follow-up to a complaint against WJLA-TV Washington claims WJLA was aware of the financial backer of political advertisements that were run on the station. NextGen Climate Action Committee was identified as the ad sponsor, but the CLC argued NextGen isn't the true sponsor. The FCC Media Bureau dismissed the complaint last month (see 1410060041). The latest complaint, filed Monday evening, attempts to stop WJLA from continuing to run the ads without identifying Tom Steyer as the funder, and it requests an expedited ruling ahead of the Nov. 4 elections, the complaint said. Broadcast attorneys questioned the merit of the new complaint, with one saying the FCC may have the opportunity to address issues that weren’t mentioned in the bureau’s letter to dismiss.
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The complaint by CLC, Common Cause and Sunlight Foundation argues that Steyer provided and continued to provide substantially all of the funding for NextGen Climate Action. Although WJLA took notice of this, it continues to identify NextGen Climate Action, and not Steyer, as the sponsor of these commercials, it said. The station, its owner, Sinclair, and the bureau had no comment.
The groups rejected the finding by the bureau that if they had approached the station with evidence about the true sponsor, the bureau may have pursued the issue. WJLA was aware of Steyer’s role, said Meredith McGehee, CLC policy director. “They actually responded to our complaint previously,” and disclosed that Steyer funded the political action committee, she said. There’s “demonstrable showing that Tom Steyer is the main funder behind NextGen,” but the station continues to run the ads identified with the NextGen name, she said.
McGehee said she found the bureau’s findings “disconcerting.” The bureau took the position that it’s up to the public to alert the station, putting the burden of disclosure on the public instead of on the station, she said. “They’re setting a precedent here that is contrary to what they’ve done repeatedly in the past,” which involves a station doing reasonable diligence to make sure the true source of the funding is clear, she said. The ads are clearly intended to influence the outcome of the election and there’s a need for expedited action, she said.
A broadcast attorney questioned whether the initial complaint was enough to show that WJLA didn’t comply with the sponsorship ID rules. "I don’t see how a station can take a complaint filed as being a factual representation of who the actual sponsor of an ad was," said David Silverman of Davis Wright. “That doesn’t seem like adequate evidence,” he said. “For years, ads have been filed by groups with names that don’t reflect the actual people who are behind the groups." FCC rules say the station is supposed to include in the public file listing the CEO or members of the executive committee behind a political ad, said Silverman. "That satisfies the rule for sponsorship ID."
Another broadcast attorney previously claimed the bureau didn’t address what it considers a true sponsor, or whether that term includes the financial backer (see 1409050052). The fresh complaint gives the bureau another bite at the apple, that lawyer, Harry Cole of Fletcher Heald, said now. Whether it will result in anything more isn’t clear, “because it doesn’t look like they’ve provided any more information than they had before,” he said. The complainants asked for the FCC to review the bureau decision, “which gives the full commission the chance to weigh in on this and provide more detailed information on how its rules are to be read,” he said.
There is an issue with the complainants’ stance that Steyer, not the organization, should be identified because he provides the financial support, Cole said. “The rule itself doesn’t really say that.” The rule indicates true identity with respect to organizations that officers or directors should be identified, “but it doesn’t say anything about the financial sources of the organization,” he said. The rule is clear in terms of what constitutes a true sponsor, McGehee said. There's evidence making clear that true identity means where the source of funding is coming from, she said.
The purpose behind the rule isn’t necessarily to pierce the veil of a political group that claims to be the sponsor of an ad, Silverman said. "Individuals are contained in the public file and it’s really not a station’s responsibility to say that a group can’t list itself as a sponsor of an ad."
There has been a “hands-off” attitude toward broadcasters undertaking a searching inquiry into the organization of a sponsor to see the funding source, Cole said. "The petitioners here want to impose significantly greater burdens on the broadcasters.”