A look at the various media used to reach and inform voters during elections -- as well as the impact of new media and media ownership on elections.
Elections and Media
New law forces Google to suspend political ads in Washington state
A strict new real-time disclosure law has forced Google to suspend political advertising in the Washington state. "Ads related to ballot measures and state and local elections in the state of Washington, U.S.A., will not be accepted," a new Google policy says. The new rules were enacted by Washington state's Public Disclosure Commission to implement provisions of new campaign finance legislation that was passed in March. The rules require ad brokers like Google to provide information to the public about who is funding political ads and how those ads are being targeted.
In seconds, we faked our way into a political campaign, got unsecured voter data
On June 5, polls will be open to voters in eight states, including California, which holds gubernatorial primaries among many other national, state, and local elections. Under California law, voter data (name, address, phone, age, party affiliation) is supposed to be "confidential and shall not appear on any computer terminal... or other medium routinely available to the public." However, there's a big exception to that law: this data can be made available to political campaigns, including companies that provide digital analysis services to campaigns.
National Republican Congressional Committee targets 100,000 Californian voters with primary day text program
National Republicans are looking to boost turnout in June 5's pivotal CA primaries with texts targeting GOP voters in key districts. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting 115,000 Republican voters who have either not turned in their vote-by-mail ballots or need to vote on Election Day. Voters began receiving text messages the week May 25 and will receive one more on June 5 reminding them to vote. Voters will receive a text message that reads "ELECTION ALERT: Today is Primary Day!
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Almost seven-in-ten Americans have news fatigue, more among Republicans
Almost seven-in-ten Americans (68%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days, compared with only three-in-ten who say they like the amount of news they get. The portion expressing feelings of information overload is in line with how Americans felt during the 2016 presidential election, when a majority expressed feelings of exhaustion from election coverage. While majorities of both Republicans and Democrats express news fatigue, Republicans are feeling it more.
Inspired By Russia, He Bought Influence On Facebook
On June 5, California holds its congressional primaries and in one largely rural district, there is a new kind of money entering politics: payments to Facebook, where messages can be sharply targeted and it's cheaper to advertise than on radio, TV or newspapers. In CA's 4th Congressional District, one political novice bought his way into relevance using the social network, and has helped shape a hotly contested Democratic race, stirring up animosity in the process.
Sen Warner: Beware of regulating US tech companies in a way that gives Chinese tech companies an advantage
If politicians in the US make the mistake of over-regulating big tech, Chinese competitors could easily take over the market, according to Sen Mark Warner (D-VA). When asked if tech giants should be broken up under antitrust laws, Sen Warner said regulators need to be careful not to be too “heavy-handed” because breaking up those companies could create an opening for Chinese competitors.
Former Trump staffer joins Sinclair Broadcasting
A former Trump campaign member who later joined the White House communications team is joining Sinclair Broadcasting Group as the network has weathered controversy in recent months over its pro-Trump leanings. Kaelan Dorr, who worked for the Trump campaign as a deputy communications adviser and later joined the White House as Director of Congressional Communications, will join the right-leaning network where he tweeted he will work alongside Boris Epshtyn as an executive political producer for the show.
Internet Association urges flexibility in online political ad regulations
Large internet companies are pushing back against tougher election advertising regulations, asking the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to allow for some flexibility in how they disclose funding sources for political ads. The Internet Association (IA), a trade group representing the biggest web-based technology companies, said that the same disclosure requirements imposed on television and radio ads don’t work well for the internet.
Facebook’s new political ad rules could upend June 5th primaries
Facebook introduced new disclosure rules for political advertisements this week designed to block bad actors from meddling in elections. But in the meantime, the rules are blocking legitimate candidates from buying Facebook ads — and at least one congressional candidate in Mississippi says it could tip the election toward his opponent. The rules that Facebook implemented in the United States this week require anyone wishing to buy a political ad to verify their identity. To do so, Facebook mails a card to their physical location containing an authorization code.
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How ‘Googling it’ can send conservatives down secret rabbit holes of alternative facts
Type “Russia collusion” into a Google search, and the search engine will try to guess the next word you’ll type. The first of those is “delusion.” For Francesca Tripodi, a postdoctoral scholar at Data & Society and assistant professor in sociology at James Madison University, the search results are a powerful tell of a phenomenon she set out to document. The “collusion delusion” results are seeking a conservative audience — which is exactly the demographic that would be more likely to search for the phrase in the first place.