Cancer on the body politic; can negative attack ads be eliminated or at least curtailed?

Civil Discourse Now ^ | April 30, 2012 | Mark Small

[teflon9]

Why do negative ads work? Some people say the negative ads give them information upon which to base their decision at the voting table (those little four-legged stands we use in Marion County). A study from Stanford University says the information from negative ads generally is not accurate.

Perhaps negative ads work in the same way as Big-Time Championship Wrestling (as it was called when I was young; whatever it is called now). No one doubts the efforts of the participants, and the world is made a much simpler place when painted in black-and-white (with slightly better resolution vis-a-vis the graininess). As human beings, each us has a darker side, otherwise negative gossip would not be the nation’s leading pastime at work.

[faucetman]

“The truth is free speech, whether it offends you or not. “

Exactly correct! To the rest of you.... FREE SPEECH..... you might have heard of it.

TRUTH is what we need.

Negative is just another persons freedom fighter.

[discostu]

But they’ll never do that. And we really don’t want the media, an inherently biased group, deciding which ads are negative or aren’t. It’s a job they won’t be good at.

[rmlew]

Without negative political ads, teh only way people would learn about records would be from the leftist media.

[teflon9]

But it wouldn't be a law. I'm talking about a private agreement among all broadcast media to boycott these ads. If the boycott were upheld properly, Zero (or the guy running for county dogcatcher) could send negative attack ads to the broadcasters until they were blue in the face--they just wouldn't be aired!

[repentant_pundit]

But it wouldn't be a law. I'm talking about a private agreement among all broadcast media to boycott these ads.

OK, fair enough. I'm all for private agreements.

But if I had a media company, a website perhaps, I'd not join the coalition of "all" broadcast media.

This is a large nation; many others would refuse to join such a coalition to boycott "negative" ads.

I, and many others, would gladly accept ads that tell the truth about someone like 0bamao.

And the truth might just be percieved as negative toward him !

[teflon9]

If such a boycott movement ever gained traction, public support for it would be so overwhelming that only the smallest and most obscure outlets would ignore it.