Former FCC chair Minow weighs in on ads paid for with "dark money"

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The Money Behind the Ads
February 2, 2014

To the Editor:

“The Koch Party” (editorial, Jan. 26) deplores the role of secret money in this midterm election year. All these secretly financed commercials are on broadcast stations, and the rules implementing the Federal Communications Act require that political and controversial issue ads must “fully and fairly disclose the true identity of the person or persons, or corporation” or entity paying for them. The rules also require that a list of the chief executives or board of directors be made public on the Federal Communications Commission website.

We believe that the F.C.C., and the press, should remind all radio and television broadcasters what the law requires. The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, said that with the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of political expenditures can provide transparency, which “enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.”

Long before the Internet, Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

NEWTON N. MINOW
HENRY GELLER
Chicago, Jan. 27, 2014

The writers are, respectively, former chairman and general counsel at the F.C.C.
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