In the next couple of months the Supreme Court will issue a decision in the case of Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin. The case may determine the future of Affirmative Action, but news coverage that centers on the sympathetic plaintiff in the case misses a fascinating back story. Bob talks with ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones about the case.

A few weeks back we spoke with Justin Elliott, who highlighted ProPublica's Free the Files project. The idea there was to get ProPublica readers and journalism students to go to local TV stations and pick-up the station's 'public file,' which contains information about, among other things, who's buying political ads and for how much. The FCC recently ruled that some stations would have to put their files online. Not having those public files online and in a searchable, digital format is why the files had to be physically freed from stations in the first place. (Note: it turns out they may remain 'unfree' for a while meaning Free The Files remains an important project.)

Back in January, OTM reported on an FCC proposal that would require local television stations to disclose political ad buys online. According to an article by ProPublica, the National Associations of Broadcasts has sued to block the proposal from taking effect.

In January, we covered a proposal to put the 'public files' of television stations online and the broadcaster's objections to the move. A public file, which stations are legally required to keep, contains information about what organizations are buying political ads and how much they've paid for each ad. Brooke speaks with Justin Elliott, reporter at ProPublica about a recent FCC ruling that will require some stations to put the files online.

Billy Bragg and Wilco - Union Prayer