The Truth About Lying in Political Advertising

First and foremost we need to ask why the rules and regulations requiring honesty and factual proof of claims are required for brand advertising but not for political ads According to the Federal Trade Commission39s laws as outlined at their website quotWhen consumers see or hear an advertisement whether it39s on the Internet radio or television or anywhere else federal law says that ad must be truthful not misleading and when appropriate backed by scientific evidence The Federal Trade Commission enforces these truthinadvertising laws and it applies the same standards no matter where an ad appears When the FTC finds a case of fraud perpetrated on consumers the agency files actions in federal district court for immediate and permanent orders to stop scams prevent fraudsters from perpetrating scams in the future freeze their assets and get compensation for victimsquotIn a year when lies and blatant dishonesty have been political currency and when outright mistruths advanced by the media have marked the final commercial push by the Trump campaign why do these basic consumer rights to know the facts not apply And why do voters who are being scammed by fraudulent claims have no rights for protectionIn 2014 according to The Washington Post quotA federal judge struck downamp8230 campaign truthamp8230 issuing a significant First Amendment decision that pushes the state out of the business of trying to referee quotpolitical truthquot in campaign advertising In an opinion that cited authorities ranging from theamp160Supreme Courtamp160to the House of Cards character Frank Underwood federal District Court Judgeamp160Timothy S Blackamp160said Americans should be free to battle out their political ideas without a government overseer ruling whether what they say is true 39We do not want the government deciding what is political truth amp8212 for fear that the government might persecute those who criticize it39 Judgeamp160Blackamp160wrote in his opinion 39Instead in a democracy the voters should decide39quotThe rules for political advertising in the context of the wave of mistruths spouted across the political spectrum in recent elections are all too obviously outdated As reported in the Broadcast Law Blogamp160 quotIt39s very basic amp8211amp160broadcasters can39t censor a candidate ad so they can39t reject it or remove it from the air no matter what its content isquotCompounding this truly questionable application of First Amendment rights is the reluctance of television news media and especially local TV news to challenge the gift horse of political advertising by calling out mistruths and lies Citizens based on current federal law are being left to their intellectual curiosity to judge the claims of politicians Intellect is a core human quality that appears to be missing from much of the political decisionmaking reality in this election yearThe presidential election of 2016 may prove to be a turning point in TV and online news reporting and in federal campaign advertising regulations With the departure of Roger Ailes from Fox News the potential emergence of the Trump News Network under the aegis of Breitbartcom leader and Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon and the elevation of Trump39s candidacy thanks to a barrage of free media coverage the TV news landscape will be dramatically altered Trust in TV news amp8211 and journalism as a valid source of truthful knowledge is at an alltime low and is unlikely to ever recoverIt39s unfortunate that the news media that invest in truthtelling and relevant investigative journalism are being painted with the same negative brush as media outlets that are surrogates for partisan political operativesIn the last week of this campaign virtually every major television and online news media were consumed with the announcement by FBI head James Comey that new emails on the computer of Anthony Weiner were being reviewed for possible illegal communications by Clinton On November 2 Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported that sources within the FBI advised him that an indictment is quotlikelyquot in the case of payforplay at the Clinton Foundation quotbarring some obstruction in some wayquot from the Justice Departmentamp160A day later Baier acknowledged his information was inaccurate and quotapologizedquot Trump39s campaign however continued to include the quotleakquot and the Weiner story as integrated quotfactsquot in one of his campaign39s most aggressive TV ad campaignsOn November 4 Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as reported in New York Magazine acknowledged that quot39The damage is done to Hillary Clinton39 In a fleeting moment of delusional naamp239vetamp233 one might have thought that Conway was expressing her dismay at the pernicious effect reckless journalism can have on a campaign amp8212 sure she wants to defeat Clinton but she wants to do so fair and square But Conway hastened to explain that the 39damage39 here was very good damage because the inaccurate story helped the American people understand the truth about Hillary ClintonquotIt seems obvious the inaccurate story fostered and advanced by Fox News was designed to advance the lies the Trump campaign have put at the center of this election Billy Bush was humiliated and punished by NBCU for his role in being a party to Trump39s misogyny but Fox News is complicit in Baier39s actions by failing to penalize him in any way or accepting any form of corporate culpabilityAccording to PolitiFact 25 of Secretary Clinton39s claims are mostly false false or quotpants on fire falsequot 54 of her statements are true or mostly true By comparison 70 of Trump39s claims are false and only 15 have even a modicum of truth If not the government and if not the media itself where does the average person have to turn for truth How can we trust any politicians when outright lying is a basic and accepted reality of most campaignsWe have become a society that considers truth to be an obstacle in the path of our opinions no matter how misguided or dangerous they may be Although the Internet and social media are making it more difficult to get away with lying people seem to be more and more accepting of lies when they reinforce and support our own personal truths For our humble advertising business this is a dangerous path to follow Media and the advertising community should be at the forefront of advocacy for and insistence on truth or we will be standing by as our foundations erodeWhen we as a people lose all trust in our institutions and we are unable or unwilling to believe that the media is acting in the public interest and necessity we are on the road to anarchy If it39s not apparent to you that this election season has moved us well on the way down that road then please share with me why not I am interested in hearing your version of the truthClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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The Truth About Lying in Political Advertising

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Jack Myers

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