TIPA - Truth In Political Advertising

ACCURACY = 4.8 out of 10.0. This advertisement was factually misleading on the addressed issues. The republican senatorial committee, as they have in previous attack ads, takes issues out of context to frame Ken Salazar as an irresponsible and unsuitable candidate for Senate.

FAIRNESS = 4.4 out of 10.0. This ad received low fairness ratings for its distortion of the truth, which gives a false impression of Ken Salazar. The Republican Senatorial Committee designed the ad using half-truths about Salazar intentionally designed to mislead the audience.

RELEVANCE = 5.2 out of 10.0. This ad is nominally relevant to the real concerns of voters in this election. Issues regarding union workers, sex offenders, and terrorists are important topics in the election; however, the issues are skewed in a way that ultimately confuses viewers.

OVERALL = 4.7 out of 10.0. This ad received a low overall score. The message is lacking in substance and insight. In general, the ad is reflective of monotonous political rhetoric that is used and abused by both parties in the race for the Senate.

Silence fills the screen until three alarming beeps flashing 5...4...3... alert viewers attention. This is the opening scene of “Close Look”, an attack ad released by the Republican Senatorial Committee against Ken Salazar. Salazar’s picture is shown on the right hand side of the screen while three issues regarding unions, sex offenders, and tracking down terrorists are addressed.

This advertisement, like many that viewers are used to seeing, posits that voters should fear Ken Salazar and his policies because his track record indicates that he will not protect Americans. The issues are utterly taken out of context and misleading, completely misrepresenting the position Ken Salazar takes on the given issues.

One panelist explained the missing piece of information regarding sex offenders, saying, “The fault is with the legislature, who failed to repeal parts of a 1979 law that was in conflict with the new 1993 and 1996 laws, thus forcing release of these scumbags. Put the blame where it belongs!”

Instead of gathering complete facts to frame a fair political ad, the Republican Senatorial Committee maliciously skews the facts. Another Panel member states, “The sponsor statement at the end of this ad could more accurately describe itself as the ‘Fear and Smear Committee’”.

Based on the ratings provided by Advisory Panel members and weighted so Democrats and Republicans were equal in number from a statistical averaging perspective, the TIPA has compiled a set of ratings for the advertisement “ Close Look”.

The TIPA uses a "1" to "10" rating scale for Accuracy (with greater accuracy reflected by a higher rating), Fairness (with a higher rating indicating a greater degree of fairness), and Relevancy (with a higher rating meaning the advertisement was most relevant to the U.S. Senate campaign). The Rating System is presented in detail on the TIPA Web site.

ACCURACY RATING. “Close Look” received an Accuracy rating of 4.8. The ad inaccurately states that Ken Salazar will not defend the law for union workers; he releases sex offenders early out of prison; and that he supports notifying suspected terrorists prior to home inspections.

One Advisory Panel member commented that the ad consisted of “Low accuracy and fairness ratings because of sins of omission with regard to the sex offender case and with regard to the fact that Republicans also support notifying people that they will be searched under certain circumstances.”

Another panelist added that this ad is “Perhaps one of the most misleading ads I’ve seen. None of the statements are accurate, totally misleading.” Overall, the Republicans scored this ad highest in Accuracy (6.6), while Democrats (3.8) and Independents (3.0) felt the ad was extremes inaccurate in its report.

FAIRNESS RATING. The Republican Committee’s attack on Ken Salazar was overstated, and therefore received a low score for Fairness – 4.4 out of 10. One interesting aspect of this ad is that both candidates in some way or another support in certain circumstances to notify suspected terrorists prior to a search. It is a gutsy for the Republicans to call out Salazar on this topic when they themselves cannot deny their hand in the matter.

An Independent Panel member briefly explains the unfairness of the ad. “Once again, another ad that takes comments out of context, makes unwarranted inferences, and uses cheap production tricks to make a candidate seem like he should be jailed, not elected.”

A similar partisan gap in the ratings remains amongst the Republicans versus the Democrats and Independents. The Republicans gave the ad a 5.6 out of 10, whereas the Democrats gave the ad a 3.6 and Independents a 3.5.

RELEVANCE RATING. Although issues regarding unions, sex offenders, and terrorists are important political issues, this ad received a fairly low Relevance score of 5.2 because of its misleading and malicious content.

One panelist addressed the relevance of the ad, stating, “Salazar’s positions are taken out of context, because they are extracted from positions he took on bigger issues surrounding each complaint.”

Like many political ads, “Close Look” stretches the truth to frame candidates as either bad or good. This ad, instead of focusing on specific subjects, casts a negative light on the democratic senate candidate Ken Salazar, while indirectly stating the Pete Coors is the better candidate even though viewers never hear his position on these issues.

There was less of a gap between the ranges of opinion about the Relevance of the advertisement. However, once again the Republicans (6.4) were outliers compared to the Democrats (4.2) and Independents (4.5).

OVERALL RATING. “Close Look” was another run of the mill attack ad that received a poor overall rating of 4.7. Issues of importance were brought to attention, but they were illustrated in a skewed and misleading way. The public, when watching this ad, gets 30 seconds of fear tactics instead of a fair or accurate depiction of Salazar’s position on the issues.

(C) Copyright 2004 by the Democracy & Media Education Foundation. All rights reserved. Reproduction, duplication, transmission, or conveyance of this document – in whole or in part – without the express written consent of the DMEF is strictly prohibited. Bona fide print and electronic Press organizations, however, may quote this Report as long as proper attribution is given (i.e., “The Truth In Political Advertising Project”) and the quotation or reference accurately reflects the contents and conclusions of this Report. For questions, please call Zachary Adler at (303) 449-5043 or send an e-mail to Zachary@TIPAP.org. Thank you.