Newspaper Ad Directors see Political Ads as Less Honest
| Autor: | John C. Schweitzer, Alan D. Fletcher, Billy I. Ross |
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| Rok vydání: | 2002 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Newspaper Research Journal. 23:50-58 |
| ISSN: | 2376-4791 0739-5329 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/073953290202300105 |
| Popis: | Historically, readers have placed great confidence in newspapers' coverage of the news, particularly political news. I And newspaper advertising directors throughout the United States have claimed to be concerned about the acceptability of and honesty of political advertising appearing in their newspapers.2 In 1994, Ross, Fletcher and Schweitzer found that 85 percent of newspaper advertising directors said their newspapers had stated policies concerning the acceptability of political advertisements.3 That study addressed the approaches that the advertising directors took in enforcing their policies. Of particular interest in the earlier and the current study was the growth of negative political advertising, some of which is considered misleading. Politicans and researchers have studied the effects of negative advertising, and some researchers have concluded voters found them to be unethical.4 Some research, in contrast, has shown that truthful negative advertising can be as effective as any other political advertising. The danger can come from ads that mislead. In addition, some research has shown that negative ads can damage the sponsor with a backlash effects "The battle with negative campaigns is always the backlash," says Cheron Brylski, president of the Brylski Company, a New Orleans public relations and marketing firm that specializes in political campaigns. "The public always says that they hate negative ads, but the truth is, they are what seem to get the public's attention in the final days of the campaign. It definitely works at stalling a campaign, at depressing votes and at confusing voters."6 Since the 1994 study, the number and ferocity of negative and attack ads seem to have increased.7 Chang, Park and Shim studied the impact that attack ads had on voters in a 1996 study.8 The majority of the 297 respondents who were interviewed perceived attack ads as uninformative and dishonest. However, the study also revealed a significant ability to tar an opponent. When shown a negative ad, 59.3 percent felt negative toward the attacked source, but a nearly equal number (58.9 percent) felt negatively toward the sponsor of the attack ad. Weaver-Lariscy and Tinkham reported that the impact of attack ads on the person attacked "increases substantially" over time and that the person attacked is nearly defenseless to counter the attacks.9 A similar, but somewhat different type of ad is advocacy advertising. The newspaper industry defines advocacy advertising as advertising that "defends or maintains a particular social, economic or political view and is not submitted for commercial gain. Although it may contain a political view, advocacy advertising is distinguished from political advertising by the fact that it does not require a vote by the electorate."10 According to the broadcasting industry, two types of advocacy ads exist: * Express advocacy ads primarily advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. Buying advertising for federal elections by candidates and party committees is regulated. Individuals and groups are subject to disclosure laws, and in some cases, their spending is limited. * Issue advocacy ads appear to promote a set of ideas or policies. Political parties, issue advocacy organizations, corporations, unions and individuals can use this type of ad. Almost no disclosure of the amounts or sources of money involved is required; what is known comes from local radio and television stations' own sales records or from news reports of interviews with media consultants. These ads differ from general advocacy ads that do not specifically mention an election or political issue." Both the legitimate and shady kinds of issue advertising are on a steady upward climb. The surge in issue advocacy campaigns to support or attack a political issue and the politicians associated with them has generated a great deal of controversy.12 Issue Ads @ APPC, part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), points out a common perception of these ads. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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