Fact-Checking – Political Ad Self-defense

The politics are coming! The politics are coming!

Okay, they’re already here. Campaign ads and sound bytes and photo ops. The overblown promises. The groundless smears. The media’s rehashing of each tidbit until the next tidbit comes along. All coming to the 24-hour news cycle of media outlets near you. These are not discount outlets like the malls along the interstate. The ads are expensive to the candidates and news-time product ads are lucrative to the media that sell them.

The candidates and advertisers spend, and the media rakes it in during the run-up to national elections for one reason. They think you’re paying close attention. I hope they’re right. They also think you’re easily duped. I hope they’re wrong.

Stay skeptical! Here’s help to inform your critical thinking:

The tried and true FactCheck.org – a product of the Annenberg Public Policy Center and the University of Pennsylvania. Take a quick look at their again-timely 2004 article on candidates’ legal right to lie to us. Between the story of the relevant statutes and case law, and the bibliography, FactCheck reminds us, “We at FactCheck.org try hard to help. But on Election Day, it’s up to you.” So let’s figure out all the truths we can and support candidates who truly support us, not just claim to.

The eager newcomer, PolitiFact.com – a joint venture by the St. Petersburg Times and the Congressional Quarterly. Check out the Truth-O-Meter. Editor Bill Adair, the Times’ Washington bureau chief, wrote his Arizona State University senior thesis (in 1985) on the hospital lobby using a campaign of lies and exaggerations to kill a state health care initiative. So universal health care plans (and their countering “socialized medicine” scare tactics) will likely receive due scrutiny here.

Both have professional skeptics (journalists) digging into the claims of politicians and various “unaffiliated” (yeah, right) organizations. Bookmark ‘em, Danno!

Tags: campaign-ads, factcheck.org, politifact.com

This entry was posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 9:08 am and is filed under Directors Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.