Disgusted with on-air political ads? Join the club. And the claims, are they all true? Well, they don’t have to be. The “dumbing down” of America is in full swing.

Prior to the mid 1980’s the Fairness Doctrine required broadcasters to provide equal time for competing political thought. One network couldn’t just push their own agenda over public airwaves. The Regan Administration and Republican controlled Federal Communication Commission struck this down. The “Rush Limbaughs” now had an opening.

Presently the F.C.C. has “Truth in Advertising” standards, but they only apply to commercial companies…not to political candidates. Companies/ corporations are bound by restrictions on making false claims about their or a competitor’s product.

A Ford ad can’t claim that a Dodge is an unsafe vehicle, but candidate A can claim that candidate B is an unsafe candidate. A station can have a blanket policy refusing all ads from all candidates, but they can not single out and decline a particular ad….even if they know that the content is false. Yes, potentially lost ad revenues typically win out over principles.

The F.C.C. says candidate’s statements and advertisements are considered “political speech” and fall under the protection of the First Amendment. This presents an opportunity for a candidate to go beyond simple distortions and exaggerations and make repeated use of objectively false statements.

And now that the Supreme Court ruled that money is “free speech” the fat cats basically have their own way.

Very depressing. Hit that mute button for me, will ya.

Steve Musica
Richmond