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Commentary by TrueDialog.org's Founder, Carl Lindemann October 12 - Collins Cries "WOLF!" into the Right Wing Echo Chamber (Clarification added 11/05) What is the reality behind the Collins campaign's big "news" item? According to Fox News, what's afoot is something like this: an ultra-Left conspiracy between Google, MoveOn.org and Al Gore (really) has set out to censor Susan Collins, stomping her First Amendment rights in a ruthless quest to remove her from the Senate. That, in any case, is what Fox's John Gibson claimed last night. Check the "full conspiracy" segment, or an edited version focusing on the Collins aspects: Full Conspiracy (2 minutes) Collins edit (1 minute) This fanciful concoction appears to be based only on the now discredited piece that the Collins campaign had published in The Examiner. The Fox News Web site also featured an abbreviated version of the Examiner piece on its top page with the headline Google: Don't Dis MoveOn.org. The Fox News online account refers to "The Examiner's Report" failing to note that the "report" is, in fact, an unsubstantiated opinion piece that fails to disclose the author's ties to the Collins campaign operative. The only other "report" I've been able to locate on this matter comes from the Multichannel News, a trade publication for the Cable TV industry (full disclosure - I used to write for a sister publication, Broadcasting & Cable). The piece published there isn't exactly a news item, but does offer a fresh quote from Google and Lance Dutson, the Collins campaign operative scripting the story: “They are, in fact, suppressing political speech but the question is whether it is being deliberately done. I can’t answer that question,” Duston said. “I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes at Google.” Adam Kovacevich, Google’s manager of global communications and public affairs, insisted that the takedown of ads when trademark issues arise is almost automatic. “Under our advertising policies, companies and organizations that demonstrate that they own trademark rights can request that their trademarked terms not be used in any ad text,” Kovacevich said in a statement. Let's look carefully at the facts, and then see what this all means. First, no one has detailed the exact nature of the Collins ad buy. Dutson purchased something from Google's "AdWords" - little more significant than a two-liner in the classified section of the local newspaper. Check what Google's "AdWords" advertising is about here. The Google program works by stating your budget for the campaign. Thus far, Dutson has not disclosed the dollars involved in the five-day run. It costs $5 to get started with Google AdWords. This was not a major media buy. To suggest otherwise as Dutson insinuates, is a gross distortion. Dutson posted the copy for the ads through an automated, online system. It seems that the ads ran for some time until Google became aware that there was a trademarked term ("MoveOn.org") in the copy. The ad was pulled, possibly in response to a complaint by the trademark holder. Check Google's trademark policy here or the complaint process for copyright infringement here. Whatever happened, it was no big deal for Google. Any intervention at all on their part was likely just some employee responding to protocol. Period. No "Vast, Left Wing Conspiracy" as Fox's Gibson fantasizes. Al Gore did not convene the Google board of directors to insist on some nefarious deed as he suggests. Now, what's more of interest is how the Collins campaign responded. Dutson provides a transcript of his "support chat" with the first person he connected with at Google. They promise to get back with a response from the trademark team responsible for such decisions. He treats this initial contact as if it were some final determination from a senior company official. Did he wait for the response from those who have the task of looking into such issues? Do we know what Google's actual position is? Apparently, Dutson had no need for anything like that. Instead, Dutson seems to have decided he was better off not resolving the issue. He had sufficient fodder to manufacture a "Collins victimized again" tale for the Blogosphere. He likely leveraged his relationship with The Examiner's columnist to get this picked up, and off we go! (Clarification, 11/5:. Dutson is the original source of this story, and it quickly found its to his associate, Media Bloggers Association president and founder Rober Cox. Dutson serves on the MBA board and is listed as the contact on the MBA website alongside Cox. Still, it is appropriate to add "likely" because I have no direct proof of the assertion) His other Blogger contacts picked this up till it achieved the ultimate validation - Fox News took notice. This is a textbook example of how the Right Wing Echo Chamber operates. Besides all this, is there any merit to whatever story may be lurking under this propaganda campaign? If there is, the Collins campaign apparently did not think it worthwhile to find out. Could anyone blame Google for not wanting to do business with the Collins campaign now? Dutson is likely savoring the unsavory - a successful smear campaign driven by unethical media practices. The question is whether the public will share such a taste for dishonest and distasteful tactics, a negative campaign that avoids any honest discussion of real issues. *** The Wages of Spin Project Spin Shop Ideas & Essays Spin Shops, State by State
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