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SALT LAKE CITY -- KSL's parent company, Deseret Media Companies, recently announced it would be taking a stand for civility in political advertising, calling for ads that encourage rigorous yet civil debate.
DMC launched a new initiative to provide feedback regarding the political advertisements airing locally on KSL's broadcast mediums. The stated goal is to provide important feedback to the campaign managers and candidates responsible for these advertisements.
Two groups are reviewing this year's crop: political science students at the University of Utah and DMC employees.
Some of the early results -- and ratings -- are in, in particular regarding ads in the governor's race.
When the initiative was announced mid-September, the campaign ads in the governor's race were fairly tame -- but much has changed.
Since then, the campaign has been roiled by questions about contributions to the governor's campaign from I-15 contractors, and about the bid for the state's biggest road project and a $13 million settlement to a losing bidder.
All of that has become fodder in a series of ads from gubernatorial candidate Democrat Peter Corroon.
In any campaign, like the race for governor, there are several fronts, including public events, debates and advertisements.
"We listen to them and then we rate whether they have a positive or negative tone, whether it furthers civility in politics or hinders it, and then whether our impression of the candidate is positive or negative after watching the ad," said political science student Whitney Benns.
"Seeing other people's results, I think it's also really nice because you just get to feel a consensus about how everyone does feel about these ads," said student Neena Pack.
Mike Petroff, vice president of Sales and Revenue Products for DMC, has led the DMC group tasked with championing this initiative. "I think there are many that would say that civility and politics don't mix, but we don't feel that way," he said. "We think there's an opportunity for rigorous debate, a deep dive into the issues, and it can be done in civil and dignified and respectful manner. And that's what we're trying to accomplish with this feedback process."
Participants in this project did find a clear trend in the ads. Corroon has hit Gov. Gary Herbert hard on the I-15 controversy over campaign donations, a disputed bid and a $13 million settlement.
Herbert criticizes Corroon for being negative, but his ads have mostly stayed with familiar themes of economic development and jobs.
"There's really low civility on Corroon's right now, and Herbert's seem (to have) a lot of positive tones on them," Pack said.
"I do think they're more negative, but I don't think they're super uncivil," Benns said. "That's my personal opinion."
Herbert expressed his stance on civility in politics this way: "I think the public deserves a civil discourse. We don't want to have Chicago-style politics here -- not to be pejorative about Chicago, but we know what we're talking about with that term," he said. "I think we need to have a high level discussion with civility and respect on the issues."
For his part, Corroon stated, "I'm a 'tell it like it is' person. I tell people what I believe. If they think it's negative, so be it, but the facts are coming out. I'm representing only facts, representing only issues that the media has come out with first."
This begs the question, can ads -- especially from an underdog challenger -- be tough, probing and civil at the same time?
"There is, at least for voters, a point where you can go too far, where the attacks seem uncivil or unfair or untargeted or all of the above," said Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics. "In that case, you can harm yourself rather than the person you're attacking."
The civility effort does not provide a "truth test" for the ads, but another new DMC initiative will soon check them for accuracy.
For now, Pack and others involved in the survey hope this provides perspective. "I think this will help the candidates running realize maybe what's going to help them and what's not," she said.
E-mail: jdaley@ksl.com
