This election season, we've been treated to a boatload of "Issue Ads", political ads for a candidate or other that supposedly don't originate with that candidate. There are no limits on such ads, nor should there be. It's a free country, no matter what McCain-Feingold says.
My problem with most of these ads is that almost all of them lie in one form or another.
There are two types of lies, commission and omission. A lie of commission is when the truthful fact is reversed, or twisted in meaning enough to be reversed. A lie of omission is when a subject is brought up, and a position taken on such subject, but an obvious fact is left out that would have put the lie to the entire presentation.
These lies are obvious to the politically astute, and EVERY party has used lying in their campaigns.
My problem is that TeeVee stations feel that they have to present the material given to them, and present it unedited. I don't believe ANY FCC doctrine ever said that when a bald-faced lie, of either commission or omission, is told, that the broadcaster has to accept it without alteration or comment. There may be law holding that the station is not responsible for torts arising out of presenting lies, but I doubt that there are laws saying that a station cannot identify a lie that is presented with an advertisement.
Why don't we demand that the TeeVee stations refuse to air false political advertising?
There is a process by which we can do this. All these stations have to defend the re-issuance of their licenses in a public forum every few years. At such a forum, the public is invited, in some manner or other, to present their opinion on re-licensing, and back up that opinion with facts about where the TeeVee station might have erred in their broadcast decisions.
Presenting a known lie as political advertising is certainly an error. When that lie is presented either without challenge from the editors at the TeeVee station, or worse, it's challenged and airing of the challenges is refused, then that TeeVee station should, if it presents a pattern of such behavior, not have it's it's license renewed to operate on that channel.
I'm sure an acceptable formula for judging the accuracy of political advertising can be arrived at. The (D)emocrats even devised one themselves, but their fact-checking system only seems to work to check facts of the opposition, and glaring errors of truthfulness in (D)emocratic Party political ads seem to escape their review.
The obvious way to handle screening out lies would be for the TeeVee station to have a citizen's panel available for pre-screening political ads. I would volunteer to perform this duty myself.
The American political process has become completely immoral. It consists, in the main, of spinning lies about one's opponent, and broadcasting those lies. The best liar usually wins the election. The results of all this lying is that we get a pack of confirmed and practiced liars to represent us. Lying is a weakness in the human condition which is usually indicative of other weaknesses, like taking bribes, failing oaths, etc.
Let's attack the root of the problem. The next time a network (or independent) TeeVee station broadcasts their (obligatory) notice that their license is coming up for renewal, let's form a committee to oppose renewal based on the presentation of lies as truth during the political campaign.
The only defense these stations will have is to tell us (and the FCC) that lying is the expected norm in political campaigning. When they make THAT admission, we have them by the throat. Such a political action committee can probably win acceptance of lie-screening of political ads by the station, and win it on the committee's terms.