Attention campaign-finance reporters: learn how to use Sunlight Foundation database, Sept. 3

The National Press Club Journalism Institute will teach campaign-finance reporters how to use the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Ad Sleuth database at a class in the Bloomberg Room on Wednesday, Sept. 3, from 9:30-11 a.m.

Register here. The fee is $5 for Press Club members; $10 for the public. National Press Club members should log in to obtain the discount code.

Journalists all know the frustration of trying to track the "dark-money" groups that have proliferated since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. But there is one place where nonprofits that don't register with the Federal Election Commission leave a paper trail: the TV stations where they buy their ads. The data can be gnarly, but the Sunlight Foundation has managed to put together a database that lets users search across the filings of more than 2,000 broadcast station nationwide.