The inflammatory language targeting a reproductive rights measure on Ohio’s fall ballot is the type of messaging that is common in the closing weeks of a highly contested initiative campaign — warning of “abortion on demand” or “dismemberment of fully conscious children” if voters approve it.

Only the messaging isn’t just coming from the anti-abortion groups that oppose the constitutional amendment. It’s being promoted on the official government website of the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate.

And because the source is a government website, the messaging is being prioritized in online searches for information about Issue 1, the question going before Ohio voters Nov. 7 to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution.

  • Whisp@kbin.social
    331·
    1 year ago

    From the article:
    "He said Democrats are exploring whether they can launch their own version to counter the GOP. "

    FFS. Get your thumbs out of your ass and stand up a website with actual factual information. This should have been done way back when it was first noticed, and not still thinking about doing something a few weeks out from the election.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      91·
      1 year ago

      2010 hit the ODP extremely hard. They weren’t amazing prior to then, but it’s been a disaster after 2010.

      Since that loss, the Ohio Democratic Party is famously bad at everything. You’re thinking, probably, that I mean they’re bad at their jobs. No. They’re bad at everything. Their cookouts even suck.

      My family is deeply embedded in the ODP. It’s failure all the way down. Not even corrupt (on the political spectrum) just… a bizarre combination of “kid who didn’t do the reading ad libbing in class” and “totally convinced of their own ability to win without effort”- only they lose fucking constantly

      Edit: I will literally never donate to the Ohio Democratic Party until they have a huge shakeup in leadership, and this opinion gets me in hot water with my family constantly. I’ve had some tense holidays, with people whose politics I 99% share -that’s how much I mean it.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    41·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    (tldr: 3 sentences skipped)

    And because the source is a government website, the messaging is being prioritized in online searches for information about Issue 1, the question going before Ohio voters Nov. 7 to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution.

    (tldr: 3 sentences skipped)

    “It’s a really strategic way to make something appear to be neutral information and fact when that’s not the reality,” said Laura Manley, executive director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

    (tldr: 12 sentences skipped)

    Under Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines, government sites are generally given added weight on the grounds that they present trustworthy, verifiable, authoritative content in the interest of the common good.

    (tldr: 1 sentences skipped)

    But of course, the mainstream media won’t pick this up because it’s factually incorrect and basically lies,” said Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora, whose caucus was angered by the blog and its home on the Senate’s official page.

    (tldr: 5 sentences skipped)

    John Fortney, spokesman for the state Senate’s majority Republicans, said “On The Record” doesn’t cost the public anything because it’s hosted on an existing government platform and is put together by his staff.

    (tldr: 12 sentences skipped)

    “There’s a difference between delivering a campaign speech to an anti-abortion group and putting these kinds of narratives on an official government website that’s designed to inform voters,” said Ziegler, a leading historian on the abortion debate.

    (tldr: 6 sentences skipped)

    The original article contains 1,274 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!