If you’re a Credo member you can vote for us - Free Press. A vote = a donation.
Avalanche of misinformation
Colorado’s airwaves have been awash in misleading ads, according to a new report by the nonprofit FreePress.net.
In August and September, six of the biggest nonprofits and super PACs spent more than $6.5 million to air nearly 5,000 ads on Denver’s four major-network affiliates, the group found.
But even when local reporters called these ads’ claims “debatable,” “misleading” or “playing fast and loose with the facts,” that didn’t keep the TV stations from pulling the ads — or from doing business with the offending groups.
That troubles Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy at Free Press.
“Lying is a liability not only for super PACs and other groups that produce dishonest ads, but also for the stations that air them,” he said in a press release.
Strikingly, Free Press found that the big four Denver TV stations devoted only 10 minutes and 45 seconds to local reporting on ads from these six groups, while at the same time airing 29 hours of ads.
That’s a ratio of one minute of news to every 162 minutes of ads by the six groups studied: American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS, Restore Our Future, Americans for Prosperity, Priorities USA Action and House Majority PAC.
phonejustice