Media Bureau Pushed for Faster Resolution of WCPO-TV Political File Complaint
The parties that have brought 16 complaints against Scripps' WCPO-TV Cincinnati on alleged incomplete or inaccurate information filings on buyers of political ads (see 1609260077) are demanding the FCC Media Bureau speed up its handling of the complaint. In a…
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letter Thursday to the bureau, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Sunlight Foundation and Benton Foundation said the FCC should tell Scripps to respond to the complaint by Wednesday, instead of the Oct. 28 deadline the bureau gave. The bureau's Policy Division "frequently and publicly brags that it handles election-related matters on an extremely expedited basis," the complainants said. "That appears to be the case when the parties are advertisers and broadcast licensees, but not when affected parties are journalists and other members of the public." An Oct. 28 deadline means the pleadings cycle would wrap up Nov. 17, nine days after the election, they said: "That schedule is nothing less than an abandonment of your duty to serve the public interest." The FCC and Scripps didn't comment.