Can I see... the "public file?"

This past Thursday, our journalism class set out to access the public files from local broadcast television stations for a ProPublica project.

The public file is file that television stations are required to keep that keeps track of advertising spending for political advertising. We sought to find how much money various Super PAC's spent on advertising. Wisconsin held its presidential primaries on April 3, so candidates were sure to be spending money on advertising.

I went to TMJ4 Milwaukee with my classmates Eric and Mark. I was expecting hostility towards us, as I figured the network did not like people exploring the public file and possibly stirring up trouble. It seemed like this would be reality at first, as the receptionist questioned why all three of us needed to access the public file rather than just one person.

However, the woman who helped us get the public file could not have been more helpful or nice towards the three of us. We explained how this was a class project and that our class would be going to all the local networks to access the public file, which may have eased her mind a little bit. Only a couple of the Super PAC's that we were supposed to get information on had purchased ads with TMJ4. We scanned this information and sent it on to ProPublica.

This was a good journalism opportunity for us, as our teacher Mr.Lowe insisted it would be, rather than an "assignment." It was a neat experience to seek out this information to bring to the public light, and a good experience in simple investigative