110 likes | 304 Views
The Deception of Political Advertising. By William Buchsbaum , Scott Blincoe , Lexi Perrault and Tommy Foertmeyer. Photo: http ://simple-politiks.com/2012/08/19/campaign-ads-more-misleading-information /. Misinformation Occurs C onstantly in P olitical Advertisements.
E N D
The Deception of Political Advertising By William Buchsbaum, Scott Blincoe, Lexi Perrault and Tommy Foertmeyer Photo: http://simple-politiks.com/2012/08/19/campaign-ads-more-misleading-information/
Misinformation Occurs Constantly in Political Advertisements • Acknowledged by President Barack Obama… • "Do we see sometimes us going overboard in our campaign — are there mistakes that are made or areas where there's no doubt that somebody could dispute how we are presenting things? You know, that happens in politics.” • -President Obama 2012 60 Minutes interview1
The 2012 Election • Obama’s “Troubled” Ad • Misrepresented Romney’s stance on Abortion based on a hypothetical statement • Romney’s ‘Who Will Do More?” ad • Claimed Jeep was shipping jobs overseas • Repudiated by Chrysler CEO
Why This Problem Exists • “Truth in Advertising” standard does not apply to political ads. • Considered “political speech,” protected by First Amendment2 • Federal Communications Act prevents stations from picking and choosing political ads2 https://weru.org/sites/default/files/programs/FSRN-tower.jpg
Why Does it Matter? • Political advertising is a huge “industry” • In the 2012 presidential race, over 5 billion dollars was spent on advertisements alone3 • According to the Journal of Advertising, negative and deceitful ads shake people’s faith in the democratic system6
What’s Already Out There? • Factcheck.org • Factchecker • Politifact.com • FactcheckEd.org-education use • www.openCongress.org - tracks legislation, sponsoring, progress….. • Opensecrets.org –follows only money • OnTheIssues.org -quiz site • RealClearPolitics -commentary, polling, links • FullFact.org -UK independent”to promote accuracy in public debate” • MediaMatters.org-liberal • Newsbusters.org-conservative • www.AIM.org • Snopes.com – religion, email scam, hoaxes..ect…. • TruthorFiction.com • HoaxSlayer.com Excellent Resources Biased Bad Resources
What’s Already Out There? • Websites, media, and organizations already critique and analyze • But is there a better way to present this information? • We aim to cut through the smoke and present the information effectively
www.adbuster.com • Non-partisan and non-biased website that rates the accuracy of TV campaign ads • Tackles presidential political advertising • User-friendly interface • Simplification of information • Archives all ads under each election year
Feasibility • The Museum of the Moving Image has all presidential political advertisements from 1952-present archived online.5 • Best Case: Work with them to get advertisements on our page • Alternative: Link to their archive, if nothing else • Hiring staff to assess validity and accuracy of advertisements may pose difficulty • Best Case: Possibly pay for this with advertisements on website, and donations • Alternative: Work with the better analytical sites (FactCheck, Politifact) and/or link to their content
In conclusion… • There are problems with accuracy of political advertising that affect the voting population • Our solution is feasible, simple, user-friendly
Sources 1: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-09-24/news/34066309_1_priorities-usa-action-mitt-romney-president-obama 2:http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1843796,00.html 3: http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/advertising-television-rockets-super-pacs-pour-dough-total-spending-5-billion 4:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/track-presidential-campaign-ads-2012/ 5: www.livingroomcandidate.org 6: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4188736?seq=5