This Election Has Been Hijacked By The Right Wing Press

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Reelection campaigns are supposed to be referendums on the incumbents. If a plurality or majority think the incumbent is doing a good job they will reelect him... If they thinking he is doing a poor job they will fire him...


By any objective standard, GDP growth, unemployment, personal income, investment income, Americans are worse off today then they were four years ago....

Our international situation is not as easily given to statistical measurements but surely America was more liked and respected in the world four years ago....


Although reelection campaigns are often referendums on the incumbent they are not always referendums on the incumbent. The Republicans are successfully making Kerry the issue much to our detriment... Kerry's a flip flopper's , aloof, lacks conviction are Republican memes repeated daily in the mainstream press...

How do we get the media to talk about the fact that * took the greatest economy in the history of the republic and drove it into the ground?

How do we get the media to talk about the fact that * invaded a sovereign country on false pretenses and ensnared this nation in a quagmire where there is no foreseeable exit strategy?

If these questions aren't asked how are we going to win?

[spooked]

1. Look's like that's their strategy...

don't ask, don't tell

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. It's Unbelievable...

This election is about * not Kerry....

[cthrumatrix]

18. I still think the CBS memo crap was all Rovian...keep it off ISSUES !!!!!!

[liberalnurse]

3. We need a boycott plan.......

It seems almost impossible but that it what it will take.

First; after the election.....Democrats avoid all right-wing talk, cable shows.....You know them well; CNN, MSNBC,Foxx... No Lannie, Donna Brazil or any Copngressman/women.....

While that is occurring......we picket outside their stations......

We can do protests....burn Newsweek, Time, and newspapers like the Pittsburgh Tribune, NY Post...and so on.....

Do not respond to online polls, no emails except addressing the boycott issues.


Media pundits can't stand not being the center of attention....they can't tolerate the loss of control.......



I'm game......

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. The Solution Is Allusive...

I just think a non-ideological case can be made that * hasn't done a good job as president but the press wants to focus on extraneous topics and personality and if that's the case we lose....

[Toots]

36. Newsweek has been very balanced this last few years

It has zero Advertising for the Democrats though. Why do you think there is virtually no Print Advertising in Major News Magazines. I enjoy Newsweek and think if you read an issue or two you may change your opinion.

[The Zanti Regent]

37. Why I won't read NEWSPEAK

WHOREWARD FINEMAN AND LYIN' MIKEY ISSIKOFF

'nuff said

[Toots]

38. I said balanced not one sided

Yes they have writers that I don't care for but they also have Clift and Alterman and others that tell the truth. They are on the whole way better than US News or Time anyway.

[The Zanti Regent]

41. Balanced? , hell just like 19th Century FOX, they're balanced to the RIGHT

Show me where NEWSPEAK is any different from the WHORESHINGTON POST.

They are two keys on the SAME NAZI PARTY PROPAGANDA ORGAN! Endless Nazi propaganda! Everything in that worthless rag is a lie, even when your so-called "balanced" reporters like Clift show the Swift Boat liars in a favorable light!

[kentuck]

4. And they pretend it is the genius of Rove and Bush.....

that has put Kerry on the "defensive" and why Bush doesn't have to address any of his failures...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Maybe The Debates Will Be Determinitive...

Isn't the first debate on 9/29?


If Bush weasels out of the Miami debate without repercussions I will implode....

[Fed Up]

6. the press is afraid what will happen if they don't carry his water.

If the press hammers Bush and he wins, they fear it will cost them dearly. Loss of access, paybacks, etc.

If they hammer Kerry, and he wins, no problem really, because the slate is made clean with a new guy in town, no hard feelings. We were just doing our job.


Personally I've stopped following the corporate press. I get all my news from DU.

[RetroLounge]

20. Loss of access???

To what? Really? Like bush* ever does a press conference.

RL

[AmerDem]

8. The media is a lost cause,. They are part of

the plan of remaking America into a new fascist state. What has happened is that from the corporate level orders are sent down thru management and producers to follow a set agenda slanting the news in a way that this administration benefits. This white house also has a team to literally watch all major news outlets and contact them immediately ( we are talking seconds) if they feel that shrub or his policies came off in a negative way. It is at that point were the media is given the mantra to spin things away from shrub. It's beyond corruption. It's a lockstepped ideology between corporate America and this white house. It is in fact Fascism ( aka corporatism ).

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. How Does The Saying Go?

Socialism is when the government control business , fascism is when business controls the government.

[buycitgo]

13. POST OF THE MONTH! both for analysis AND

conciseness!

make this a LTTE....dunno about the F word, as it scares people (I totally agree), but the thrust of the letter is undeniable, and POWERFUL

you should send it all over the place

most people have no clue that this is how it really works

just ask Kitty Kelley....she can't even get on the Larry King show, after being a featured guest for EVERY single one of her other books

she's also been cancelled for numerous other appearances

great post!

bookmarking

[AmerDem]

16. As of now, people will back away from the word Fascist

To alot people, they can not see the United States of America being anything like Nazi Germany. With the lack of discussion and laughing off of this comparison by a few of talking heads i've seen, this white house has been able to fly under the radar.

It would be a start if a LTTE were published. I'm not too sure if the newspaper would allow it to go through. I guess we wont know until we try.

[bain_sidhe]

10. It's not just cable

More people (especially the "non-political" people who make up the bulk of the undecided) get their news from broadcast networks. With that in mind, take a look at this graphic from MediaTenor on broadcast media coverage from August 30 to September 9:



The graphic is found at http://www.mediatenor.com/slant.html which includes some text about their findings and a short blurb about their methods.

Is bu**sh** pulling ahead, or at least staying even despite his horrible record on both the economy and war? The above graphic is the reason why, IMHO.

**edit for typo**

[Behind the Aegis]

14. graphic wonder!

I love this graph and have looked at the website and it seems to be able to back up its claims. So, here is an idea. Since it is obvious the media would never show its own bias...what about groups getting together nation wide and buying ad space in local and state papers and posting that graph (with author's permission), the site the info can be found, and a few REAL facts about what bush has done to the country. Also, this could be posted at websites world wide with the same information!

Just a thought.

[buycitgo]

17. permanent KICK, just for this graphic!

[bigpathpaul]

21. While I Appreciate the Meaning, the Chart is Very Confusing

I don't think you can convey positive/negative to a public with short attention spans with left-to-right, color-coded bars. When I first look at the chart it looks like Kerry (in Blue) has gotten a lot more of something good and Bush (Red) less of something bad.

In this case, positive negative should run top-to-bottom. I'm not trying to tell anyone how to do their job, I just don't think we can afford to confuse people. For what it's worth, I put together the way I'd show it. Again, for what it's worth:

[bain_sidhe]

25. That's good, but needs to note that

the bar represents the percentage difference between positive and negative coverage. At least I think that's what it means - their description is a little confusing. But if I'm understanding it right, the text version would go as follows (I'm a word person, so I tend to convert graphics into words in my own mind, when I'm trying to understand what they're "saying").

For the time period involved:

ABC gave Bush about 1% more positive references than negative references, and gave Kerry about 21% more negative references than positive ones.

NBC gave Bush about 15% more positive references than negative ones, and Kerry about 15% more negative references than positive.

CBS gave Bush about 5% more negative references than positive, and Kerry about 22% more negative references than positive.

FOX gave Bush about 7% more positive references than negative, and Kerry about 41% more negative references than positive ones.

(note, it's not my graph, so I wouldn't do a graphic to hand out with out getting the permission of the creator - contact information is at: http://www.mediatenor.com/slant.html)

[bigpathpaul]

43. Do not use my version! I contacted mediatenor.

Sorry. This was not meant to replace their graph. I sent them the same version as the one posted here on how I would do it. I didn't label it specifically for that reason. Also, I found even their description confusing.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. Support the Pacifica Foundation

and their string of progressive radio stations. Support programs like "Democracy Now!". Sign up with Dish Network and get Free Speech TV. Start donating to FSTV on a massive basis and turn them into a major power. Can you imagine what force a well-funded viewer-sponsored progressive TV network could do? These alternative progressive types of media have absolutely no access to President Bush whatsoever, but they do access the truth on a regular basis. Turning off CNN and FOX also requires turning on and supporting the anti-CNNs.

[AmerDem]

12. Here is Nancy Pelosi's letter on the Media Act.

July 14, 2004

HEAR WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY!


Dear Colleague:

For many years, a federal regulation required TV and radio broadcast stations to present the different sides of an issue in a reasonably balanced way, including giving time to opposing points of view. This “Fariness Doctrine” was repealed in 1987.

But the idea lives on with American listeners and viewers!

A recent poll of likely voters shows overwhelming support for restoring rules requiring fairness and balance on the public airwaves – and this opinion is held across the political and demographic spectrum, including Republicans and conservatives:

· When asked whether television and radio stations that use the public airwaves should be required to present the sides of an issue in a reasonably balanced way – including giving time to opposing points of view – fully 77 percent say that they should, and only 17 percent say that they should not.

· Despite being told that the Fairness Doctrine was repealed during the Reagan administration, 74 percent of conservatives and 71 percent of Republicans say that television and radio stations should be required to present the sides of an issue in a reasonably balanced way.

The people are right. We urge you to support H.R.4710, The MEDIA ACT (Meaningful Expression of Democracy in America Act), to re-instate the Fairness Doctrine and bring back balanced broadcasting. Should you want to cosponsor this legislation, please contact Sherrye Henry (Slaughter office) at 5-3685 or [email protected].


Sincerely
Nancy Pelosi
Member of Congress

Louise M. Slaughter
Member of Congress

[K. F. Gibbons]

15. Rove has a plan to win. period, no matter how evil.

Where is our plan to win, where is our master strategy.
Like Rove, we know what stands be for us, we know what our obstacle is.
Where is our plan.

[rumguy]

19. Could it have been any other way?

[ursacorwin]

22. what makes me so sad is that

people are so blind in their trust of the tv and papers. even some of my own family, whom i'm constantly giving the truth to via what i read here and other similar places, still cling to the idea that NPR is "worth my time" and "mostly trustworthy" and don't see the sophisticated propaganda that's mixed in with occasional factual report.

people in america are addicted to tv. and to a lesser extent, addicted to the USA today format in print media. sure, people still read books, but less and less often do they read ones which require an imagination, or critical reasoning facilities, or an education to appreciate what's in them.

some days i just feel like americans will get what we deserve: a banana republic with lots of feudal features and a permanent overclass of mostly white protestant fundies and their hypocritical sycophants. and we'll have our inability to turn off the tv to thank for it.

[AgadorSparticus]

23. the media has been dead for quite some time. nothing new.

but we do have the internet and we do have our mouths. this election year will truly be about the grassroots movement. eye on the ball, people, eye on the ball.

[JI7]

24. a lot of Democrats support Republicans in this

they follow the right wing media in things such as the swift boat lying crap where the right wing media says kerry brought it on himself by talking about his service and then they say if kerry can't defend himself on his service he wont defend the country and doesn't deserve to be president.

so once again rather than holding the liars accountable it becomes about kerry and the democrats help in pushing this also.

another example is iraq where the democrats also make it about kerry rather than keeping the focus on bush and his failures. the republicans turn criticism into kerry being a flip flopper and not having any plan or having 8 different positions or whatever, but instead of responding back by bringing up bush's failures the so called democrats accept the right wing argument and help them in making it about kerry. and once again bush gets a pass.

[Cha]

26. And why did we think it would be Any other

way? It's like it's always been here with us. From Clinton to Gore, to the 2002 elections and now we're in 2004 and it's only gotten more blatant.

I didn't pay any attention before 2000..so what I know about Clinton ..I mostly learned on DU, so I'm sure it's been even before Clinton.

My question is what are we going to do about winning against the rightwing propoganda Big Lie Machine?

They are Worse than bush because without them there would be no bush.

[Malva Zebrina]

27. How do I know?

I am only a single voter with a recent interest in politics. It is not up to me to put myself at risk as a single voice person for a campaign that is disappointing and tepid and confused although I do my best according to my resources and abilities.

This is screwed up and I hate it. I grieve for all the human waste of lost lives in a war that is by all moral parameters, illegal--every day.


This is the most crucial election ever in my lifetime.

And I feel like we are doing Gore, let em win, redux.

Something is broken here.

I know that the lack of cheerleading for Kerry is not accepted much here on DU, but sorry--it has been too bland, too political, too much concerned and too much belt way, my comrade on the other side of the aisle politics, and too cautious and I resent that. I wonder if anhyone realizes the consequences of a Bush win or if it is a game being played out by opponents on the other side of the "aisle"

This is NOT a run for the Senate. This is a crucial presidential election where our very existence as a democracy is at stake. Where the lives of our children are at stake and someone has given Kerry bad advice and he has failed to recognize that bad advice because he is playing belt way politics as if it were a run for the Senate.

That is not what we need.

Sorry--but a Bush win here will most certainly put us into a fascism like we have never seen and I fail to see if Kerry recognizes that.

[DeepModem Mom]

28. kick

[RevCheesehead]

29. Y'all are "Preaching to the Choir" (with all due respect)

If you want issues discussed, then TALK ABOUT THEM...and I don't mean here.

When you go to the grocery store, say "1,030 dead...how much longer will we be in this war?"

When you're at your kid's soccer game, start a conversation with "I'm so fed up with this negative campaign. The media seem to be making things worse" and then talk about issues that matter to you!

When you're in the doctor's waiting room, start a conversation about healthcare costs and insurance.

When you're out among friends, share these ideas.

We can whine about the Media.
So write a letter to the newspaper.
E-mail the news organizations with PRAISE when they do something right
Contact your local campaign HQ and volunteer to phone-bank, canvas, or stuff envelopes
Keep informed about issues around the world - not just domestic

So can we at least TRY to do something positive? Change only happens when you take action.

[StevieM]

30. I don't think any president in American history

has been given a free ride by the media the way Bush* has. Not Kennedy, not Eisenhower, not Reagan, not FDR.

Steve

[Kenergy]

31. Dem_Strategist was right

The media is working against us

[Southsideirish]

42. Enough "jawboning" - what is our plan? Any "fast n' dirty" ideas?

[Leilani]

32. I have a little different take on things.

In mid-July Kerry was doing quite well; polls showed him leading in all the Gore states & seriously challenging Bush in some of the others, for example: Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina & Virginia were also in play. His negatives were quite low.

The Dem Convention was good, but the Republican spinmeisters were there & worked hard, which did not help. Then the Swiftboat Liars came along; the charges & commercials did a lot of damage. The press (cable, internet) ran with the charges, & it took a real toll on Kerry s image.

Then came the RNC; they always put on a good show...they are quite good at creating image & production values. There was no Dem counterattack.

In this age of 24 hr news cycles, you have to feed the beast, & Kerry campaign has not done that. They allowed the repubs to spin their convention, they let Swiftboats go unanswered for too long; by that time the damage was done. And they were again missing in action during the RNC.

The Kerry people won the nomination early; they had more time than ever before to prepare & plan...they knew Rove & his history, but seemed surprised when the attack began.

You have to use the press, or they will use you. If reports are to be believed, Kerry remains aloof, & does not cultivate the press. Perhaps with the new Clinton additions to the campaign, who are very experienced, this will change.

I have posted this before, but I will repeat it. EVERY morning, the Bush people have a conference call; the MEMO OF THE DAY goes out. Everyone is on strict talking points. They limit themselves to few topics, & they are on message ALWAYS. Bush & Cheney hit the same topics on the campaign trail, & word goes out to all their house organs: FOX, Rush, Drudge, etc. And they make a headline, a soundbyte that is used by all media outlets.

IMO, the Dem party has not learned to use the media effectively. And they are at a real disadvantage because of FOX & talk radio. They need to use the so-called {fair media} to get their message out.

This is my take on the media; I also have strong opinions on the candidates & their effectiveness, or lack there of, but I will limit myself to the media.

Remember, the voters agree with Kerry on the issues, they are not happy with Bush, but the Kerry campaign s job is to sell their candidate & they are not doing that.

[lasttrip]

33. mindless powers tell us what to think. nt

[Leilani]

34. Important topic!

KICK!

[DeepModem Mom]

35. kick

[The River]

39. What The "Media" Wants

The "Media" gets. Face it: Never before in ALL of
human history has the media had such "reach".
Their ability to inform (in-form) public
opinion, is now Global. The real "news" is the News.
If they want an issue pushed, it gets pushed.
If not? Go Cheney yourself.

[underpants]

40. Zactly-they are questioning Kerry on W's failures

The world turned upside down

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. We're Still Be In Iraq For The 08 Election Cycle

I can see why Americans hate politics.....