WASHINGTON —  When the Federal Communications Commission votes on something at a public meeting, the document they are voting on isn't necessarily for public consumption, the agency said Wednesday.

Commissioners unanimously rejected an appeal by The Associated Press for a copy of a document that was approved by a 4-1 vote at a July 31 public meeting.

The document was an order establishing rules that would govern the conduct of a planned auction of television airwaves that would later raise nearly $20 billion.

While commissioners approved the rules in a public vote, staff requested "editorial privileges." A formal document was not released until Aug. 10.

AP filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking a copy of the document "as approved by the commission ... prior to editorial revisions." The agency rejected the request and AP appealed.

In the denial of the appeal, all five FCC commissioners agreed that the document was exempt from disclosure under FOIA's "deliberative process privilege."

Despite the vote, the document that was the subject of the vote was in fact a "draft" and was "predecisional" the agency said.

"The July 31, 2007 document was a draft generated as part of the continuing process of agency decision-making, whereas the publicly-released document reflects the Commission's final deliberations and editorial changes," the decision reads. "This practice is consistent with the practice of other agencies as confirmed by the courts."

In its appeal, the AP stated the document was "by its very nature 'post-decisional'" and that "were it not considered final, the public meeting and the vote itself would be meaningless."

The current commission is not unique. Past commissions have routinely voted on documents and waited weeks, sometimes months to release final versions.

Agency orders are often lengthy, dense and complex and subject to legal challenges. The "draft" orders typically go through multiple revisions up to the time of the meeting, and in some cases, actually delay the meeting. Any edits and changes to the voted document must be approved by all the commissioners.

News organizations that cover FCC decisions, when a final document is not made available, are given a press release and any prepared statements of the commissioners.

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