PressEthic

Consumers and watchdog groups have always accused election ads of being "too negative." However, the ads during this midterm election cycle have turned even more venomous than usual, and many members of the media blame Republicans for the shift.

In his Washington Post column, E.J. Dionne writes about the differences between the ads this year and in those previous.

A conservative who attacks his opponent for wanting to raise taxes and a liberal who accuses an adversary of favoring cuts in Medicare or environmental programs are both being "negative," but legitimately so, presuming that the criticisms are rooted in fact. If candidates can't air their disagreements, what's the point of free elections?

But this year Republican campaigners and their advocates in the conservative media have crossed line after line in sheer meanness, triviality and tastelessness.

The examples are endless: Rush Limbaugh mocking Michael J. Fox's Parkinson-related symptoms as "an act," a Playboy model winking at Tennessee Senatorial candidate Harold Ford Jr., saying, "Harold, call me," Republican candidates accusing Democratic members of the ACLU as "defending child molesters" and "preying on our children."

On Slate, Jacob Weisberg describes an ad that was so grossly inaccurate, even the TV network refused to air it.

In a New York congressional race, the National Republican Campaign Committee tried to run an ad accusing Democratic candidate Michael Arcuri of spending taxpayer money to call a sex hot line. The call was a wrong number that cost $1.25. When television stations refused to run it, the NRCC went with a more conventional charge that Arcuri went easy on a child rapist as a prosecutor.

While these ads are ultimately indicativeof a party that is slipping fast, does the media play some responsibility as well? Could the media change the tone of political campaigns if they changed their coverage or set higher standards for the political ads that they were willing to air?

This election cycle has truly shown voters the extent to which politicians are willing to pander, stretch the truth and flat out lie to be elected. If political leaders are willing to perpetuate this and, in fact, are instigating many of the worst offenses, perhaps the media is next in line to alter the trend, even if it doesn't fall under their traditional jurisdiction.