Breaking: politician uses staged amateur actors in a campaign ad.
The Texas Tribune would have you believe this is a scandal of massive importance. But is it? Of course it isn’t.
State Rep. Caroline Harris Davila (R-Round Rock) filmed a campaign ad about protecting children and the final shot has Davila and her husband standing with a group of children. In that shot, she picks up one of the kids. They aren’t her own — they’re constituents — and therein lies the “scandal.”
Let’s step back. Politicians often use staged amateur actors in ads. They’re all about optics supplementing a message. When a political ad on crime shows some thugs, you can bet your bottom dollar those actors aren’t actually criminals.
Rep. Harris Davila and her husband just got married last year and so they do not have children yet. It’s clear however that Harris Davila wants to create a familial theme in the ad — but again, that’s throughout the entirety of the ad. Not just the final shot.
And many politicians do this including, as state Rep. Ellen Troxclair (R-Lakeway) showed, Vice President Kamala Harris.
This is just plain unworthy of a story, and it reflects a continuous misunderstanding of political campaigns and what is newsworthy by journalists.
The rest of the Trib story talks about how campaign messaging shifts from primary time to the general. Uhh, in other news, water is wet and the sky is blue!
Dog-bites-man and man-bites-dog are clearly out the window.
Yes, the Harris Davila campaign is trying to project a familial feeling with the ad and the closing shot. But that doesn’t make it overtly deceptive, and certainly not story worthy. Why is the focus not on the policies Harris Davila says she will or will not support? That is, of course, the chief responsibility of a state representative.
False statements made within a political ad or campaign is certainly worth exposing, but for a reporter to assume Harris Davila wanted viewers to think these were her own children is only an assumption on the reporter’s part, who then took that assumption and created a story around it. That is manufacturing a news story, not reporting.
Both candidates in that general election race are running on issues that each think are important to their district and the State of Texas. How about reporting on those? Such a novel concept.
Oh wait. You know who is doing just that? The Texan. Check out this overview by our own Mary Elise Cosgray where she gives readers a rundown of the HD52 race.
The Texan reporters don’t “assume.” They don’t create stories where there are none. They just report the facts on campaigns, candidates, issues, and elected officials so Texans can become more informed voters at the ballot box.
We think that’s the role of the media. We hope you do too!
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