Throw Political Mud or Not?

Some of us were asked by the USA TODAY network-Tennessee to read and comment on David Waters thought-provoking column denouncing political ads that degrade the opposition: Inquiry: "what do you think about this issue and how should the public today respond to negative messages during the 2018 campaign?"

~This was my written response:

The March 1964 Supreme Court decision in Sullivan verse the New York Times, in effect, paved the way for "state/print what you want" in all forms of media, from that time until this. As the court exerted the burden of proof being on "actual malice" to judge someone liable, societal common decency has been muzzled for the wider craw of monetary and political gain. For whatever reason candidate Gayle Jordan admitted her beliefs, her truthfulness was used by opponents, and magnified in the public domain. I would rather truth and common courtesy take a "front seat" in our political discourse, so perhaps the weighing of "is it true" when one is exposed to campaign statements be examined by all media platform beneficiaries, and revealed accordingly; is that not the duty of non-social media reporters? As for social media posts, let them be measured by the phrase, let the consumer beware.....Johnny Counterfit