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Colorado Media Newsroom
May 1st, 2014, 08:09 AM
From The Denver Post:

Denver’s KMGH is among several TV stations cited in a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission, claiming the station did not fully disclose information regarding political advertising.

The Sunlight Foundation, along with the Campaign Legal Center, on Thursday will file “a complaint against several broadcast stations, including ABC/7 in Denver, for lackluster disclosure of political files.”

The complaint contends Scripps Media’s KMGH-TV failed to completely post online pertinent information regarding the sale of time for advertising of a political nature. Specifically, an ad from SMP (Senate Majority PAC, which spends to elect Dems to the Senate) from March, regarding the Cory Gardner and Mark Udall race. The ad in question was a counter-attack to an ad run by Americans for Prosperity. The AFP ad featured a woman speaking about why “Obamacare just doesn’t work.” The SMP ad attacked Gardner for his voting record in the U.S. House of Representatives and claimed “Gardner would end the Medicare guarantee, costing seniors.”

In the complaint, Campaign Legal Center and Sunlight contend that “KMGH-TV accurately disclosed the candidates referred to in the ad, but failed to disclose the issue addressed by the ad.” (That is, medicare.)

Sounds like a paperwork glitch.

Sunlight’s position: “Information in those files has become increasingly important because of the proliferation of new political groups, thinly disguised as social welfare organizations, that do not have to register with the Federal Election Commission. Following the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, such groups have become a favorite conduit for campaign contributions. Often the only clues to their agendas or political leanings lie in the paperwork they are required to file at TV stations where they purchase ads.”

More... (http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow/2014/05/01/kmgh-channel-7-cited-complaint-fcc/18485/)