A nationwide media response...

[John Q. Citizen]

is needed to help direct public opinion that it's OK to wonder if the election was rigged, and to let people know that a whole lot of people wonder if this election was rigged.

One way suggested was advertising on TV, radio, billboards, etc.

I believe that effort should highlight the documented problems from the 8 hour poll tax (anything over an hour should be called un-American) and give an overview of the other problems such as widespread "glitches" and the potential problems of computer tabulated results and the inherent danger in BBV, etc. A global picture and an appeal to Americans to defend their elections before it's too late and a way to get involved.

2. Another way would be to have a nationwide day of postering and flyering. Why not a third world response to a third world election? Then the Networks could say it's both the cybernuts and the wacko street activists who think they've been ripped off.

5,000 people relatively distributed around the country each posting 100 flyers that reached an average of 100 people would have the power to communicate to 50 million people.

I believe this flyer should be an attack on broadcast media's failure to investigate and report on the many and widespread problems with our elections, including fraud. We could ask people to contact the media and ask why they aren't reporting.

We could get our message out at colleges, Laundromats and grocery stores with a copy, replicate and spread request on every flyer.

By making an issue so big it can't be ignored we can force our way into traditional media outlets. If we could pull off such a flyering we would be a story unto ourselves. This is a way that people can be involved in a national effort from their home area using the internet to coordinate a national media blitz.

Does anyone have any feedback or other suggestions as to how to break the media cold shoulder to reporting the story of this election?

[New Earth]

1. i still can't tell if it being on the media too much is good thing

it could undermine any success and make things harder for those who are investigating/doing recounts etc.

[PeterPan]

2. indeed making a distinction between 'the media' and 'the government'

is simply false - they are one and the same
there was a 'media' in the soviet union too

[99Pancakes]

3. "was"

Yes, it was taken under control again. Bye-Bye free press.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. I spoke with friends in five seperate households yesterday

who knew nothing at all about the recount/audit efforts, knew only little about the 1000 plus glitches and the 8 hour poll tax problems, voter suppression efforts or how and why they occured but had no problem at all considering the probability that fraud occurred, that the election was rigged. All felt that way in thier gut.

William Pitt says we need funding to go forward and he's right. We also need political cover and the will to go forward and these are two areas where mass awareness of the issues help.

Also, many of the problems discovered in this election have come from individuals taking a look. The more people believe there might be something there, the more people will be looking around themselves at what's going on and the more evidence we will obtain.

I don't see a huge downside in public awareness of the issues. With Kerry and the Democratic establishment laying low it's a perfect opportunity to make a non-partisan push for honest elections.

[Us vs Them]

4. On board here.

It's been said many times, we need to be the media. Not only that, but we can also buy the media. That's right, an effective campaign would not only include flyering, but also television and newspaper spots.

Aside from donating to media fight-back funds, it would be amazing to suddenly see thousands of flyers attack our city streets on the same day. This is something EVERYONE can (and should) do. Not to mention, I think it would be rather fun.

[New Earth]

6. so far

everyone i have told about what's going on knows NOTHING about it. I talked to my mom, my daughter's grandmother, one of my friends, and my daugher's dad about all of this and they literally knew NOTHING - and if they did, the news was given to them so lightly that they only had an inkling, and didn't think much of any of it.

We do have to get the word out there, so at least if the outcome changes more people will be prepared to adjust. That is the biggest concern i have with all these people not knowing what's going on.

[John Q. Citizen]

8. When is pearl harbor day? That might leave enough time to

produce an "official flyer" and a poster, with the more limited production posters going to high traffic permanant locations and flyers everywhere else.

We would need to set up a permanent web sign-up site. Maybe Randi Rhodes would host us and get the word out for local people interested in a flyer frenzy day.

Or we could shoot for sometime close before or on 12/13/ the day the
Electoral College meets.

[Us vs Them]

9. I think that's too late.

How does next Thursday sound to everyone?

[Us vs Them]

10. Not Thanksgiving but the following week.

However, I would be thankful if I could be sure my vote counted.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. That would be Dec 2?

I'm not sure that gives us enough time to organize. For instance, we need someone to make us a web page with a way to interact, we need to think out and design a flyer and to produce and distribute a poster. Our message must be well thought out simple and salient and we need to ask people to take a specific action in reponse to the flyer.

If we can demonstrate an organized method that creates an overwhelming response, (say 3% of 50 million) perhaps we will have a tool for a while that can also be replicated by others on our side to circumvent Big Media and communicate directly on a mass scale with a wide range of Americans. Since the individual investment to print up and distribute 100 flyers is relatively small for an individual yet the combined impact could be significant, this seems worth pursuing as an experiment in mass media. It also has a certain poetic and romantic flair to it that seems very appealing. The 911 families and some of the people doing investigations on unanswered questions around the 9/11 attacks comes to mind as groups that can't seem to get breakthrough media coverage on the inadequacies of the 9/11 investigations.

[Us vs Them]

12. I like the way you think, John Q. Public!

Though, selfishly, I will admit I was contemplating the same. I think it would be perfect to centre these efforts around a webpage. (For a good reference we could take www.democracyforamerica.com as example.) Not only could there be a forum for contact on a local level, but it would also serve as a hub to generate ideas on a National scale. We also need to pick a date and hype the hell out of it.

Speaking of the families affected by the attacks on 9.11, have you heard much about who is behind those ads that have been running on network stations in the New York area? I remember reading an article and downloading a sample of the ads that were run, and was instantly inspired to initiate the same thing with regard to voter indiscrepancies. I just don't know how to start.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. I think that was an "eccentric millionaire" running the 9/11 ads,

some guy from S. Cal.

We need a date, a plan, and we need access to existing liberal/left - wing electronic networks to get the numbers for a successful effort. We also need to track where we were effective at distribution and how to get widely dispersed coverage i.e. small town America as well as Urban America.

We need a way to translate internet communication into on the ground hard copy, just as Trippi did with "in the bank" campaign cash and the Kerry campaign/527's did with the travellers and the phone banks.

[Oak2004]

17. I will happily create a subdomain of

americanresistance.info (or loan the entire site) temporarily or permanently to any group of people working on any project to resist the loss of democracy.

There's not much else I can do as a disabled person, so somebody, please help yourselves to my webspace.

http://www.americanresistance.info/main

[Solitaire]

7. Protest..

I just posted on another board, but got few responses.

What about a protest to share all we know, in front of Fox & Friends on a Saturday morning? Then they couldn't ignore us?

[saracat]

13. It would have to be massive to get coverage.

You need to buy air time. And they would have to be willing to sell it to you! And why would they? It is not to their advantage! It may be too late. We needed our own media. We have acted as though there was one!

[boi1946]

15. Pearl Harbor Day--Dec 7

to protest the newest attack on America....

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Ads currently would be best directed towards the provable problems

of voter suppresion and best directed to the states and locations that experienced them. And include an action people can take.

[pixelthief]

18. Great ideas

These are all great ideas. I, too, think a massive protest is in order. I think this is just what we need to force the media to sit up and pay attention to this issue.

I also love the idea of ads. Billboards in particular would be quite effective. Maybe we should tie these two concepts together somehow. A billboard campaign with a two-pronged strategy could be effective.

First, let the people know there are questions arising and it's okay to question the outcome of the election. Communicate this with print ads/billboards.

Perhaps the second wave of advertisements could be a call to action. Actually use them to plug a protest. Maybe we add tv spots at this phase. Has anyone ever tried getting the word out about protests this way?

I'm just kicking ideas around. We've got to step things up. We don't want to lose the momentum.