Last Friday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to put television broadcasters’ public and political files online to make them easier to access. This is a major victory.

The FCC’s decision will give the public easy access to vital information that was previously hidden away at TV stations in dusty filing cabinets. But there’s a catch.

While all TV broadcasters will have to migrate the majority of their public records online this year, only stations in the top 50 media markets that are also affiliated with major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC) are required to digitize their political files this election season. All other TV stations can delay posting until 2014.

These exemptions mean that not a single Spanish-language station will be required to put its political file online this election year. And Spanish-speaking voters will not have equal access to information about who is paying for political advertising. The exemptions also mean that voters in cities across the nation —including Albany, New Orleans, Omaha, Providence, Spokane and Toledo — will remain in the dark about who is paying to influence them in the 2012 election. In some cases, entire states — including battlegrounds like Iowa — will not have online access to political ad information this year.

This kind of information is essential for all voters, whether they live in a big city and watch English-language TV or not. So Free Press and our allies will fill the gaps; together we’ll work to ensure that more voters can view their local stations’ political files online by November.

Battleground States: Crowd-Sourcing Election Information

With the help of trained volunteers, Free Press has already collected over 50 public and political files from stations across the country. We’ve partnered with the New American Foundation, Sunlight Foundation and other organizations to collect political files from those communities the FCC’s order temporarily exempts.

Over the next few months, we will train volunteers and send them where the ad dollars are pouring in: battleground states, heated congressional districts and communities with contested ballot initiatives (if you have a tip on a local issue or race that is drawing lots of advertising, email us at channels@freepress.net). And we will get files from these areas online so that voters, journalists and anyone else interested in the information can quickly access it.

Informing Spanish-Speaking Voters

Free Press will also focus on collecting political files from Spanish-language stations. Latinos will be a key targeted demographic in the presidential race and deserve access to information about the sources of political ads on Spanish-language stations. We are recruiting volunteers to canvas Spanish-language stations in all major media markets. Working with journalists and academics, we will digitize the information we collect to shed new light on political advertising aimed at Latino voters.

We invite you to join us in crowd-sourcing political files at a station near you. Pledge to join us today.

If you'd like to support our file-inspection campaign, please consider a donation to the Free Press Action Fund.