Friday, November 09, 2007
Well I'll Be
The good folks at the Annenberg Public Policy Center have reached two new surveys regarding the rising use of "ad watch" stories in local television news and newspapers. And with any luck, it will be a trend that affects all media in the US.
Several years ago, the Annenberg PPC created the watchdog organization "Fact Check.org" to monitor the truthfulness by politicians and candidates because the MSM had failed to do so. Spurred in large part by such low points as the "Willie Horton" ad in the 1988 presidential election, where reporters knew that the ad distorted the truth, yet wouldn't correct the inaccuracies because the Democratic candidate Dukakis refused to challenge them, And taking advantage of the Internets and the ability of Americans to seek out the truth, "Fact Check" called to the carpet ads from any politician or Party that failed to tell the truth. The MSM was perfectly content to "outsource" this important role to the organization, and probably did not count on the organization to become as popular as it had. Thus, to capitalize on the popularity (and not because they should be performing this task), Annenberg's survey found:
Newspapers
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Several years ago, the Annenberg PPC created the watchdog organization "Fact Check.org" to monitor the truthfulness by politicians and candidates because the MSM had failed to do so. Spurred in large part by such low points as the "Willie Horton" ad in the 1988 presidential election, where reporters knew that the ad distorted the truth, yet wouldn't correct the inaccuracies because the Democratic candidate Dukakis refused to challenge them, And taking advantage of the Internets and the ability of Americans to seek out the truth, "Fact Check" called to the carpet ads from any politician or Party that failed to tell the truth. The MSM was perfectly content to "outsource" this important role to the organization, and probably did not count on the organization to become as popular as it had. Thus, to capitalize on the popularity (and not because they should be performing this task), Annenberg's survey found:
Newspapers
- During the 2005-06 election cycle, a total of 336 news stories questioned the facts of political ads, up from 94 in the 1999-00 election cycle
- Most of our large newspapers now run some kind of fact checking service as part of their political reporting, up nearly 100% over the 1999-00 cycle
- Showing a continued preference for the local among newspapers, midterm elections accounted for more ad watches than presidential election and more attention is paid to State and local elections over federal elections
- Similar to newspapers, local televisions are also running more ad watch segments now vs 10 years ago, with nearly half of those surveyed stating that they will continue to run these segments in future elections;
- Those surveyed claimed that they received positive feedback from their audience (well, duh) and the segments "improved the reputation of the station in the community," with 85% declaring that it represented "good journalism."
- And it only follows that if the public likes it, it translates into positive ratings--30% of news directors assert that the ad watch segments boost viewership.
- Also demonstrating a preference for the local, the State and local races received more fact checking than federal elections, which is where it should be. State elections, unlike federal elections, are not as regulated and are more remote to the typical voter.
