Step 1:

Come to a class consensus on the role and meaning of fair elections in a democracy, wherein people elect representatives to government to represent their interests and values.

Discuss:

• What influences representatives to vote certain ways after they are elected? Possible answers include money, constituents’ interests and thoughts about re-election.
  • What is the connection between money and re-election?
• What is the danger of having elected officials who do not represent the interests of those who elect them?
• Watch Clip 1. Then, as a class, discuss the following:
• In this clip, Llew Jones says, “Dark money is the advertising where you don't know who's paying for the ads.” After watching the clip, how would you define dark money?
• How does the system of dark money campaigns threaten a fair election in Montana?
• How do critics of dark money think it might influence elections? How might dark money influence representatives after they are in office?

Step 2:

Conduct a Google image search for “campaign mailers” or “attack campaign mailers” to find copies of campaign mailers for students to analyze in groups. If there is an election currently happening in the students’ community, consider asking them to collect and bring in campaign mailers they receive at home.

Teacher Note: Remind students the idea of this exercise is not to debate a specific policy or candidate mentioned in the ads, but rather to analyze the content of the ads and the way their arguments are presented.

Use a jigsaw model to break students into small groups and use the questions in Handout One to analyze one or more campaign ads. Have students briefly present to one another what they determine about each piece and why.

Discuss as a large group:

• Was it clear who paid for the campaign ad? Was it from the campaign or from an “outside group” (aka third party group)?
• If a third party paid for the ad, what were you able to learn about this group? Were you able to determine where this group receives their funding?
• How does knowing that a third party paid for the ad influence how you feel about the message that it is communicating?
• In general, was it easy or challenging to find the information you wanted about the campaign ads?
• Do you suspect that any of the campaign mailers you analyzed were influenced by dark money? Why or why not?
• Were third party groups more likely to engage in negative attacks, instead of positive portrayals of a candidate or issue?

Step 3:

Before screening Clip 2, inform the class that in the course of the film, Montana’s largest two largest newspaper chains, covering almost all of the major cities, made the decision to close their Capitol Bureaus that cover the state legislature. A news program said of the layoffs, “Montana will lose more than just experienced journalists. It will also lose a great deal of its institutional memory.”

Watch Clip 2 and then pose this question: What do you think the filmmaker and the journalists in the film see as the role of a free press in a democracy?

On August 15, 2018, The Boston Globe issued a call to editorial boards in newspapers across the country to write editorials about the importance of a free press to a democracy. Hundreds of newspapers responded. Go to: https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2018/08/freepress/?p1=HP_special to access an editorial from your state, or have students do a close reading of the New York Times editorial, included in Handout Two.

In pairs or small groups, have students answer the following:

1. What is the editorial trying to convey?
2. What is the form of the piece? What do you know about editorial writing?
3. What tools do the authors use to make their points?
4. The Press is often referred to as “The Fourth Estate.” What are the other three?
5. What further questions arise from the text?

Have students consider what journalist John S. Adams and the authors of the editorial they read believe to be the role of a free media in a democracy and how the journalist and the editorial authors think a free media is related to the fight against dark money. Ask them to be prepared to answer whether or not they agree with those assessments.

Step 4:

Watch Clip 3.

Discuss:

• What did state senator Art Wittich do that was illegal? Why was it illegal? According to state or federal law — or both?
• How did he get caught?
• What needs to happen in order to prevent this kind of corruption? Who is responsible for ensuring adherence to disclosure laws in Montana? Knowing this, who is responsible in the students’ state?

Assessment:

Have students select a recent local or federal election and follow these analysis steps:

1. Assign students to gather as much paid campaign information as they can find about each of the candidates, such as websites, social media memes, mailers and press releases. Using the questions in Handout One, ask students to assess each campaign piece for reliability.
2. Using FollowTheMoney.org or OpenSecrets.org, have students research the known campaign contributions to each candidate. Ask them to relate those contributions, where possible, to the mail, web, social media and other campaign advertisements they found. Given the contributions, in which topics or issues do they think the candidates are most interested in? Whose interests do they seem to represent?
3. Ask students to seek out press pieces on each candidate. Does the press coverage match the information in the mailers and on websites and other messages about the campaign supported with money from private donors? Does the press coverage mention campaign contributions and if so, do the figures provided match the records?
4. Using all of the information gathered, have each student write an editorial detailing the strengths of each candidate, and questions they would ask a candidate about their campaign, based on their investigation.
5. Consider sending the editorials to a local newspaper, to active campaigns for a response or to a local journalist for insight and comments.