Keeping campaign ads sleaze-free

By Joe Hallett - Columbus Dispatch
Friday, July 18, 2008 - Web Link
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July 18, 2008

"We Believe," an association of moderate and liberal pastors in the Columbus area, has introduced a new tool -- called a "Sleaze-Free Zone Test" -- to rate television ads aired in Ohio during the presidential campaign season.

The We Believe clergy have appointed bipartisan panels of campaign monitors to view campaign TV spots and determine whether they are truthful and instructive or deceptive and polarizing.

"We are trying to assure truthfulness, transparency, fairness and to keep things positive," said John Martin, a Republican and retired Fairfield County Common Pleas judge. "Obviously, we do not appreciate sleaze."

The Rev. Eric Brown, a Democrat and pastor of Woodland Christian Church in Columbus, said separate panels of three judges each already have evaluated campaign spots run by the two presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Even though the panels included a partisan mix, "We all came to pretty much a concensus on all the ads we evaluated."

The ad monitors use a five point scale on which to evaluate ads, with five the highest score and one the lowest. Ads are rated on eight criteria, including: promoting what a candidate stands for; creating a positive tone; refraining from personal attacks on an opponent; being factual; refraining from false or misleading information, or using hot-button issues to polarize voters; speaking to We Believe issues such as poverty, jobs, health care and education; and whether it is endorsed by the candidate.