Dissecting American political advertising

U.S. TV stations want people to view ads, not to know who pays for them

A screen shot from a Rick Santorum attack ad paid for by a group supporting Barack Obama.

The B.C. Catholic has an illuminating story from CNS' Mark Pattison about the "secretive world" of U.S. political advertising:

When you watch your local news, don't you get reminded time after time that you can go to the station's website for breaking news, updates on traffic and weather, and learn more about anchors Stan and Jess, Rob on sports and Terry with the weather?

You also may get an invite to download an app for your mobile phone where you can summon up the station at any time, day or night.

That may be all fine and good. TV stations want your eyeballs. The more people watch their shows -- both news and entertainment, both on the tube or on the phone -- the more people can watch the commercials.

But while stations want your eyeballs on their programming and the ads that go with it, they seem far less inclined to want your eyeballs on who's paying for those ads. Especially political ads.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.