TV stations awash in money from ads; will they do anything to mitigate the campaigns' misleading of viewers/voters?

Graph by Bloomberg News shows revenue projections for major local-TV companies.

"Political ads are rolling in at a record pace at TV stations across the U.S., especially in states with tight races that may decide which party controls the Senate," Todd Shields and Bill Allison report for Bloomberg News.

At Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns many stations with large rural audiences, "Election-year spending countered weakness in core ads," Bloomberg reports. "First-half political revenue was double the 2018 level, and up over 20% from 2020, Chief Financial Officer Lucy Rutishauser said on Aug. 3. Political revenue for Sinclair in the third quarter came to $89 million, putting the year on par with the record 2020 presidential year, she said."

Overall, political ad revenue “will probably rival if not exceed the last presidential election -- which is highly unusual,” Steve Lanzano, president of the Television Bureau of Advertising, a TV trade association, told Bloomberg.

Unfortunately, most TV stations appear to devote little if any time to examining the claims in the ads, which are often run not by the candidates' campaigns but by party committees and groups that don't reveal the sources of their money. Most broadcasters have never shown much willingness to bite the hands that feed them, but at a time where misinformation is poisoning the political process and accountability is all the more important, they should step up and give their viewers the truth. --Al Cross, director and professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog)