I understand that advertisements do not necessarily tell the truth because there is obviously a biased and manipulation in order to get the audience to do something, but blatantly lying to people is not right. I just don’t understand how the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth can blatantly lie without having anybody put them in check. I love the big wig’s of media placing the blame on the imaginary hand that controls the media, like they don’t accept the contracts to run these ads and how frequently. I’m not saying that they have to examine every single smear campaign or stop running ads from candidates, but if they actually did their job and reported on the issues and the candidates credentials instead of predicting the horserace then they wouldn’t have to worry about it.

The talking points memo piece was interesting. I think that it is sad that people have to resort to spreading lies about the other party’s candidates rather than spreading the truth about the candidate that they are endorsing. It doesn’t say much about the state of American politics today.

 

The salon article raises the question what exactly is fair and balanced reporting when it comes to politics? Greenwald states that the writers of the Washington Post believe that each side should be allowed to say whatever they want and if the paper gives the other side a chance to defend themselves or deny the allegations then the paper has effectively worked on setting the record straight. It is apparent that Greenwald is outraged by this type of thinking. He believes a reporter has the right to report the facts and identify the false statements as false. I completely agree with Greenwald, however the problem calling out the falsehoods would actually mean calling each side a complete liar from time to time. How do you call someone who is providing a billion dollars worth of advertising a liar?