Court Rules In Favor Of Allowing Political Ads On Public Television

The public airwaves are about to get inundated by corporate political ads. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an FCC ban on political advertising on public TV and radio stations – arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment. Originally the ban was imposed to protect the educational nature of public broadcasting stations – keeping the airwaves free from advertising for goods and services and issue advocacy. But as Judge Carlos Bea wrote in his ruling, "Public issue and political speech in particular are at the very core of the First Amendment's protection." This is essentially the same reasoning that the Supreme Court used to give corporations unlimited power to spend as much money as they'd like in our elections. So now – when you listen to NPR expect a wave of corporate ads pushing to repeal Obamacare, expand fracking, and cut down Wall Street regulations. The public airwaves are about to become Karl Rove's litter box. This could also mean the death of investigative journalism – as more and more public media outlets become beholden to corporate sponsors and decide not to bite the hand that feeds them. Our public TV and radio airwaves are just the latest portion of our commons to be hijacked by corporations that are solely interested in boosting their profits rather than providing for the common good. Stay tuned.