Advertiser awareness may save our country
Battenkill Books to host conversation on value of newspapers in their community
By Ken Tingley
The title was provocative - “Telling the Truth.”
The panelists were well known - Brian Stelter (CNN), Jonathan Lemire (AP, MSNBC), Devlin Barrett (Washington Post) - and they all had written books.
One panel was on “Truth in the Media” and the second on “Politics and Disinformation.” It lured me to make the trek to the University at Albany.
But the most important speaker of the evening I had never heard of before.
Meet Nandini Jammi.
Jammi is a young woman who immigrated from India as a child and describes herself as an “activist” whose job is to inform businesses when their advertisements are appearing on what she describes as “bad faith publishers.” It’s what we would describe as websites that host fake news, conspiracy theories and advertising fraud.
“What percentage of advertising dollars goes toward undermining our democracy,” Jammi asked during her presentation. Obviously, way too many.
She called it a “ disinformation tax.”
Jammi was appearing with Stelter, a polished TV commentator who can be riveting, engaging and funny. But there were times when it appeared Stelter was more interested i what Jammi was accomplishing.
I think we all were.
If you are a small business owner who purchases Google ads, you might not always know where your ads are landing online. As it turns out, big and small businesses alike have often been funding bad actors with websites that print news with no basis in fact.
Jammi said she found there were millions of dollars of advertising where companies did not place filters preventing their ads from ending up on “fake news” websites.
What Jammi found was that big and small businesses alike were unaware their ads were helping to fund the undermining of democracy.
“Most advertisers are small business owners who don’t know exactly where their ads are going,” Jammi said.
Soon after the 2016 presidential election, Jammi and a colleague began looking closely at the far-right Breitbart News website. Their “Sleeping Giant” campaign urged advertisers to stop advertising on Breitbart and later tried to persuade advertisers to abandon various Fox News programs such as “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The campaign was effective. Breitbart lost 90 percent of its revenue in a three-month period.
“It’s all about the advertisers,” Jammi said.
She described how most big companies have a set of core values it tries to follow as part of a corporate mission statement, yet they were not aware how their spending was aiding the erosion of democracy.
“Don’t think of the internet in terms of left-wing and right wing,” Jammi said. “Move toward a set of values we can rely on.”
It was a rare ray of sunlight in the war against disinformation. Perhaps, it was possible to starve out the bad actors.
Jammi has since co-founded her own non-profit company “Check My Ads” and is setting her sights on Fox News and its disinformation.
“Friends don’t let friends share fake news,” Stelter said at one point.
Business Insider recently name Jammi one of the 23 industry leaders “fixing“ digital advertising.
I’m hoping that Jammi will be invited back for the “Telling the Truth” event in 2023 for an updated. It is imperative that she succeed.
A real bookstore
So many people have lamented the lack of a bookstore in downtown Glens Falls over the years. It’s why Northshire is celebrated in Saratoga Springs and why more people should visit Battenkill Books in Cambridge.
It is a delightful little shop that is a throwback to another generation.
And even though it is about a 50-minute drive from Glens Falls, it is a beautiful drive through the rolling hills of Washington County. You should check it out.
You have the opportunity on Wednesday evening with WAMC Radio host Joe Donahue and I engaging in conversation about newspapers, journalism and my new book “The Last American Newspaper.”
It kicks off at 6 p.m. and should be an enjoyable evening.
If you can’t make the trip then, do it soon.
Great game
The Glens Falls sectional football game Saturday should go down as one of the great high school football games of all time.
Lansingburgh roared out to a 34-7 lead on unbeaten Glens Falls and in most high school games, that would be the end of the story. But this Glens Falls team put together a highlight reel of big plays in the second half and then covered 75 yards in the last minute of play to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Lansingburgh won the toss and scored on its first possession of overtime. Glens Falls needed a fourth-down pass to match the score. It appeared it was going to a second overtime, but Glens Falls coach Pat Lilac decided to go for the two-point conversion and the win.
Lansingburgh stopped Glens Glens falls sweep to the right to pull off the upset of the year with a 41-40 victory.
If Glens Falls had kicked the extra point, they might still be playing.
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WOW, she sounds impressive! We must support her as best we can!
I think truth in political ads should be investigated after Fox News. Those ads are full of lies😢