(StraightShooterNews.com) – After discovering edited headlines in campaign advertisements that falsely suggested endorsement, WDAY Radio in Fargo, North Dakota, is considering legal measures against the Kamala Harris campaign.
Steve Hallstrom, president of Flag Family Media, which owns WDAY, said he was not pleased with the Harris campaign’s manipulation of their content.
The controversy came to light after a report highlighted that the Harris campaign had been modifying news headlines within Google search ads to falsely imply that major news organizations supported her.
Notably, WDAY was the only family-owned outlet mentioned in the report, which also listed major organizations like Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR and others as victims of the deceptive practice.
“We feel insulted and violated by what was done here,” Hallstrom stated. “You have a political campaign that used our news brand and our URL to effectively lie to people about the headline we wrote.”
“They lied to every single person that saw that ad. It’s misleading, it’s dishonest, and it hurts us as the company, our news brand,” Hallstrom added. “So as of today, we’re starting to make some calls here. We are considering all of our options here, including legal action.”
The deceptive ads, which were linked to WDAY’s website, carried headlines like “Harris Picks Tim Walz – 215,000 MN Families Win,” among others.
However, the linked articles did not contain those headlines or the text snippets presented in the ads.
Despite this, Google stated that these ads did not breach its policies. However, it acknowledged some ads lacked necessary sponsorship disclosures due to a glitch.
Hallstrom revealed he was frustrated with Google’s response and questioned the integrity of their ad approval process.
“I’ve heard the excuses about how this meets the approval of the Google Ad criteria people, and I don’t care,” he remarked.
He criticized the ads’ misleading nature, noting that they misrepresented the original content to serve the campaign’s interests.
Determined to address the misuse of their content, Hallstrom emphasized the need for accountability: “We don’t want to let this go. We want to fight on this one.”
This issue adds to the scrutiny Harris faces for refusing to engage with the media. Since becoming the presumptive Democrat nominee, she has not held any press interviews.
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