Sir:
As the Republican Presidential primary wraps up and we begin to enter the general election season once again, we are bound to see an influx of political advertising -- both national and local -- on your station and in other forms of media. Some of this advertising will come from the campaigns themselves, but we will likely see a drastic increase in external advertisements coming from Political Action Committees and their big brothers, the so-called SuperPACs.
The public is about to be bombarded with conflicting information as candidates and their supporters try to rally people to their side.
It would be a tremendous public service for someone to objectively assess this information. I would like to propose something that, as far as I am aware, has never been done before in any kind of consistent manner.
I propose that your station dedicates some time on the local news to these advertisements. For every advertisement that is submitted to your station, do an analysis and report on it.
Uncover who is behind each advertisement. For instance, if a spot is run by "Citizens for the Color Blue," report that the major players in that particular SuperPAC -- indeed, the ones who are speaking through the advertisement -- are Crayola, the Union of Blueberry Growers, and Cookie Monster.
Research the content of the advertisement. Tell the public if the views expressed are factually correct, out-of-context, misleading, or even blatant lies. If there are opinions expressed instead of facts, identify them and tell the public whether they are consistent with opinions expressed by that candidate or group in the past. If not, discover why.
Adding this segment to your broadcasts would be a great boon to the democratic process, and help to create a more informed electorate.
Thank you for your time,
