Does the Watchdog Bite? Newspaper AD Watch Articles and Political Attack ADS

Abstract

This study tested the influence of newspaper “ad watch” articles that monitor accuracy of televised political attack ads. Respondents read ad watch articles that either confirmed or disconfirmed ads, watched the ads, and evaluated candidates. Results indicate that attack ads that are confirmed boost the attacking candidate's evaluations while ads that are disconfirmed boomerang to hurt the attacking candidate's evaluations. It appears that newspaper ad watch articles can mediate the impact of television attack ads on candidate evaluations.