Chapter five of Denton & Kuypers’ Politics and Communication in America discusses two models of uneasy relationship between politicians and the press. A recent example of the “attack press” model surfaced against Rob Portman by environmental groups. Earlier, we viewed Rob Portman’s Announcement (COMM2040 Module) speech in which he presents himself as a “family man” and dedicated to the plight of the “average American.” However, once Portman announced his presidential candidacy, environmental groups jumped on his stance to support big business and the pollution that comes with it. The attack ad cleverly asks the viewers to “hold your breath” for the duration of the commercial while images of suffering asthmatic children are depicted as victims of Portman’s contradictory message. It is interesting to see this example play out exactly on cue as the book states about the progression of Presidential campaigns.
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Moms Clean Air Force will run television ads in major Ohio cities with pleas for voters to investigate Portman’s policies:
“Senator Portman led the charge in Congress last month to allow power plants to keep polluting our air.
“Pollution which is not only one of the major causes of catastrophic climate change, but also leads to childhood asthma attacks.
“Senator Portman’s supposed to protect the people, not the polluters.”
Powerful media can also be a positive means to begin the dialogue of questioning the people in power who have our lives, our future in their hands.
Vickie I totally agree with your idea that this is defiantly attack media. However as you continue to read this you will notice that it changes from an attack media to an explanation of why those ad are going to be ran. I really think you might want to consider this is a form of media consideration as discussed in chapter nine. We learned that many campaigns at a certain point need to see which way the media would best help their campaign. I believe that Portman’s campaign decided you know what we need to get ahead of this mess and stop it before it starts. I truly believe that they chose to use the press as a way to bring these issues out and clear the air and that is why later in the article, it talks about Strickland and how it is believed that Strickland’s camp released the attack ads. Portman’s campaign manager mentions that they believe the ads are really to cover up the fact that he was a poor Governor.