BALDWIN CAMPAIGN ADS USING WISCONSINEYE VIDEO VIOLATE THE NETWORK’S TERMS OF USE
MADISON, WI (Submitted to OnFocus) – For more than 17 years, WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network has produced thousands of hours of video content from its programming and production operations. Since its inception, the network’s policy on use of its content in political and issue campaigns has been clear and definitive: No WisconsinEye content can be used for any type of political or issue campaign commercials according to the network’s Terms of Use agreement.
The WisconsinEye video archive is free for all to view and use for educational purposes. However, that use comes with an expectation that users share their selections in the spirit of WisconsinEye’s mission to inspire informed, civil dialogue. Specifically, the network’s Terms of Use reads: “Use of our content for commercial purposes or for political purposes is prohibited.”
Over time there have been a few occurrences violating this policy. WisconsinEye has consciously asked those responsible to pull the political advertising which contains WisconsinEye content from commercial broadcast, cable, and social media outlets. All such ads – whether attack ads, biographies, issue ads, compare-and-contrast ads, or any variation of these types of ads – are subject to WisconsinEye’s Terms of Use agreement.
The Tammy Baldwin for U.S. Senate campaign has produced several negative ads utilizing WisconsinEye footage for political purposes. The ads are based on sound bites edited from a 12-year-old WisconsinEye interview with challenger U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde.
The ads, broadly distributed via commercial broadcasting and social media, violate the network’s Terms of Use and defy the spirit of the WisconsinEye mission to promote civil dialogue.
One of the ads asserts Hovde as saying that “farmers don’t work hard.” Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and campaign watchdog, declared the ad was misleading and the claim untrue, stating: “No. Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde did not say in a 2012 interview that farmers don’t work hard.”
Every election cycle WisconsinEye produces in-depth conversations with candidates, injecting those interviews into the media culture as a counter-balance to the barrage of TV ads and social media messaging that all too often are negative, misleading or divisive. These interviews are presented as a public service, made possible by sponsors who have invested in the WisconsinEye mission of promoting context-rich civil dialogue.
WisconsinEye expects compliance with its Terms of Use agreement.
The network is obligated to shed light and transparency on the misuse of its content, and reminds those in the political arena that while its video coverage is extensive and insightful, such coverage is meant to promote public access to the policymaking process and encourage civil dialogue, and is not permitted to be used for political purposes. The network will continue to call out those who violate the Terms of Use.
WisconsinEye has asked the Tammy Baldwin for U.S. Senate campaign to withdraw these ads from commercial broadcast and social media networks and to cease using WisconsinEye content for any type of political campaign ads.
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Author: News Desk
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