Justin Trudeau Attack Ads by the Conservatives – Should the CRTC regulate negative political ads?
Anyone watching the new Conservative party attack ad aimed at the new Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, might well wonder why we should permit such deliberately misleading claims to be made about a politician when we prohibit it in product and service advertising. Surely the democratic process deserves at least as much protection as the fortunes of Coke® and Pepsi®, Tide® and Sunlight®. Like most commercial advertising on television, attack ads are designed, researched, produced, and focus group-tested to appeal not to intelligence, but to emotion. Quotes are pulled out of context. Dramatic...
Read MoreAbout Wade Rowland
Ranked among Canada’s leading literary journalists, Wade Davies Rowland has written more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from television journalism, organized crime, and international environmental law to his current concerns, which include communications technology, the philosophy of science, and technology and human values. Full author bio.