TV ad buys in the L.A. mayoral race

This is an interesting article on how the cost of media has an influence on the tone and content of a political campaign. This touches on a lot of issues relating not just to campaigns but how ad rates are set. There is an ongoing debate about how much media outlets (particularly TV stations) should chagre for ad space. This article shows that we should be especially concerned about this because of the results in the political realm.

Democracy is a public conversation. Should we be concerned about the fact that commerce is interfering with that quality of that conversation? What, if anything, should be done about it?

A few important points from the article you should pay attention to:

*Why is this causing more negative campaigns?
*Is TV the best way to get your message out? Why or why not?
*What can we do, in this particular context, to reduce the influence of money on the political process and improve campaigns?
*What is the impact of media clutter according to this article and what is your opinion of that clutter?

If the link does not work e-mail me at rspicer@comcast.net and I will fix it.