Posted on Mar 17, 2022
The truth in political advertising: 'You're allowed to lie'
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/17/ [login to see] /the-truth-in-political-advertising-youre-allowed-to-lie
Political candidates can say some outrageous things.
Sometimes, those things are even lies, like in an ad from Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Lake, a Republican former TV anchor who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, got lots of attention with an introductory ad in which she invoked the lie that the 2020 election was rigged (and that the news media won't cover the rigging).
"If you're watching this ad right now, it means you're in the middle of watching a fake news program," Lake said in the ad. "You know how to know it's fake? Because they won't even cover the biggest story out there: the rigged election of 2020. And rigged elections have consequences."
The Lake campaign spent only about $5,000 on the ad buy on local broadcast stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The spot aired 13 times locally, compared with 20 times on national cable. Ads, especially introductory ones, are intended to get attention, and this one appears to have gotten a good bang for the campaign's buck.
Political candidates can say some outrageous things.
Sometimes, those things are even lies, like in an ad from Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Lake, a Republican former TV anchor who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, got lots of attention with an introductory ad in which she invoked the lie that the 2020 election was rigged (and that the news media won't cover the rigging).
"If you're watching this ad right now, it means you're in the middle of watching a fake news program," Lake said in the ad. "You know how to know it's fake? Because they won't even cover the biggest story out there: the rigged election of 2020. And rigged elections have consequences."
The Lake campaign spent only about $5,000 on the ad buy on local broadcast stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The spot aired 13 times locally, compared with 20 times on national cable. Ads, especially introductory ones, are intended to get attention, and this one appears to have gotten a good bang for the campaign's buck.
The truth in political advertising: 'You're allowed to lie'
Posted from npr.org
Voting
Elections
Republicans
Donald Trump
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The Lake campaign spent only about $5,000 on the ad buy on local broadcast stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The spot aired 13 times locally, compared with 20 times on national cable. Ads, especially introductory ones, are intended to get attention, and this one appears to have gotten a good bang for the campaign's buck.
While it may have gotten her some attention to curry favor with the Trump-supporting base — the former president's Save America political action committee even pushed it out — it raises an old question: Can candidates simply lie in their paid ads?
The short answer is yes.
"Unfortunately, you're allowed to lie," said Tom Wheeler, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission under President Barack Obama.
The Lake campaign did not respond to emails requesting comment on the fact that the ad's premise is a lie.
While the Federal Trade Commission regulates truth in commercial advertising, the FCC does not do the same for political ads.
Some have called for a "neutral government regulator" to oversee political speech, but there's no broad, serious movement in Congress for something like that.
In fact, various courts have repeatedly upheld the First Amendment right of candidates to essentially say what they want on federally regulated broadcast channels. Local broadcast television stations (think ABC, NBC, CBS) can't reject ads, even if they're blatantly false.
Where it can get confusing, though, is that cable TV channels don't fall under the same umbrella and are able to reject ads. CNN did this a couple of times with Trump campaign ads that had falsehoods in them, for example.
Stations can reject ads from non-candidate outside groups. Super PACs that support candidates often do a lot of the dirty work for the campaigns, airing negative ads.
When it comes to digital advertising, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have wide latitude to ban ads, and there are essentially no federal rules, as these regulations (or lack thereof) were written before the digital age.
Some in Congress have been trying to add more disclosures to online political advertising, but one effort, the Honest Ads Act, has gone nowhere.
Wheeler, who also advocates for stronger disclosure rules, explained further:"
..."The Lake campaign spent only about $5,000 on the ad buy on local broadcast stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The spot aired 13 times locally, compared with 20 times on national cable. Ads, especially introductory ones, are intended to get attention, and this one appears to have gotten a good bang for the campaign's buck.
While it may have gotten her some attention to curry favor with the Trump-supporting base — the former president's Save America political action committee even pushed it out — it raises an old question: Can candidates simply lie in their paid ads?
The short answer is yes.
"Unfortunately, you're allowed to lie," said Tom Wheeler, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission under President Barack Obama.
The Lake campaign did not respond to emails requesting comment on the fact that the ad's premise is a lie.
While the Federal Trade Commission regulates truth in commercial advertising, the FCC does not do the same for political ads.
Some have called for a "neutral government regulator" to oversee political speech, but there's no broad, serious movement in Congress for something like that.
In fact, various courts have repeatedly upheld the First Amendment right of candidates to essentially say what they want on federally regulated broadcast channels. Local broadcast television stations (think ABC, NBC, CBS) can't reject ads, even if they're blatantly false.
Where it can get confusing, though, is that cable TV channels don't fall under the same umbrella and are able to reject ads. CNN did this a couple of times with Trump campaign ads that had falsehoods in them, for example.
Stations can reject ads from non-candidate outside groups. Super PACs that support candidates often do a lot of the dirty work for the campaigns, airing negative ads.
When it comes to digital advertising, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have wide latitude to ban ads, and there are essentially no federal rules, as these regulations (or lack thereof) were written before the digital age.
Some in Congress have been trying to add more disclosures to online political advertising, but one effort, the Honest Ads Act, has gone nowhere.
Wheeler, who also advocates for stronger disclosure rules, explained further:"
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SPC Les Darbison
Why didn't the Russia Russia Lies by Hillary and the DNC bother any of you? Talk about insurrection! And just how happy are you guys with Sleepy Joe. And if you could enlighten us all on Biden and his administration success at putting American Citizen and our Countries needs first? That would be great! Maybe you could explain how enriching our enemies and weakening Americas standing on the world stage is a good thing. Even rats leave a sinking ship so why don't Democ(rats) do the same?
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Why didn't the Russia Russia Lies by Hillary and the DNC bother any of you? Talk about insurrection!
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