Before I even read this article:
Dear Mr. Okrent (
[email protected]):
I am very concerned about the lack of coverage by your newspaper of the Ohio recount and subsequent House Judiciary Committee's minority forum on the Ohio election problems that include both voter intimidation and possible electronic election fraud.
As a voter for more than 16 years, it bothers me that we seem to have moved backwards in regards to the ability and protection of minorities to exercise their Constitutional right to vote. It is also troubling to hear that the technology used my have contained glitches - nefarious or not - that resulted in undervotes for the Kerry/Edwards ticket (there have been nil to no claims that any of the glitches went in favor of the Democratic ticket - most have favored the Bush/Cheney ticket).
But, what is most disturbing is the news media's lack of interest in all of this.
This is my first time in contacting you, but I have heard from others who have written their local, state and national media outlets complaining about the lack of coverage. Nearly all who have received replies have been told that the Ohio recount/House Judiciary Committee forum was "not newsworthy" because A.) The forum consisted only of Democrats and was, therefore, partisan; and/or B.) There is no "proof" of the allegations.
First, let's make this clear: Republicans were invited to attend the forum, but refused. It seems to me that the Republicans are the party responsible for participating in out-and-out partisanship and not the Democrats, who invited their counterparts to the forum. It is the Republicans who, without having heard any of the testimony of the disenfranchised voters, decided not to attend and face these citizens before calling them "tin-foil-hat-conspiracy-theorists" and "bitter-enders."
I even wrote the two Tennessee Republican representatives on the House Judiciary Committee and urged them to attend for democracy's sake. Apparently, they either did not get my e-mail or simply refused to honor my request.
Secondly, how do you know there is no "proof?" You haven't spent much time investigating these claims, judging by your lack of coverage; therefore, how can your organization, alone, contend that the allegations of voter intimidation and fraud aren't valid? Without a full vetting of the raw exit polling data, actual votes, paper trails and complaints, how is anyone to determine whether the system was flawed? Your silence is aiding and abetting the murder of the democratic process.
You covered the Bush Administration's zeal to go to war against Iraq before "proof" of necessity was submitted; you covered President Bill Clinton's alleged wrongdoings in both Whitewater and with Monica Lewinsky before any "proof" was offered and you covered Scott Peterson, ad nauseum, before the police released any "proof." Since when has "proof" become the harbinger for covering conflict and social injustices? If Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had waited for "proof" of President Richard Nixon's involvement in Watergate before proceeding with a story most thought of as only a second-rate burglary, Nixon's crimes may never have been discovered.
I was a reporter for 12 years. I know the business. I know your need to balance the entertaining story with the newsworthy one. That is precisely why I'm having such difficulty understanding the mainstream media's reluctance to cover this most interesting set of events. This story is newsworthy in that it involves the very epitome of American democracy - our almost sacred right to vote and have it count. And, it is entertaining because it pits the complaints of the Average Joe against the bureaucracy of more powerful government officials who don't want to admit mistakes and mankind against technology. Both of these struggles are the basic themes for some of literature's most solid storytelling techniques.
These citizens aren't conspiracy theorists or the wearers of tin-foil hats, as you seem to believe, either. It should interest you to know that 20 percent of the voting population - one in five voters - believes that there was some sort of voting irregularities or outright fraud involved in the 2004 Presidential election (www.zogby.com). If you can report (again, ad nauseum) that 22 percent of the voting population - also roughly one in five voters - made their decision for president based on each man's "moral values," then you should be reporting on issues important to an almost equal number of voters.
Finally, I believe you've completely missed the story here. It's not about changing the outcome of the election and it's not about sore losers. It's about democracy and our right to have our vote counted. It's about flawed voting machines and white, suburban neighborhoods having ample booths while minority neighborhood had too few or malfunctioning equipment. It's about Ohio-based Diebold's CEO promising to deliver the state to Bush. It's about Ohio Secretary of Elections Kenneth Blackwell and his dual role as Bush/Cheney campaign chair for the state. It's about hypocrisy.
If you don't believe that this story and all its subsets are newsworthy, I implore you to take a look at Keith Olbermann's ratings for November. His "Countdown" on MSNBC grew by 128 percent over October. This probably is because he has been the only mainstream media outlet to consistently - and without opinion of the state of mind of the complainants - report on these issues. While his total numbers aren't that of the Big Three, the sheer fact that so many people tuned into see his reports on this issue should awaken the bean counters in your organizations. Perhaps that would allow them to allow your news outlets to cover this story.
If not, then I'm afraid that the American media is hopeless and of little importance. Have we gone so far to entertain the masses that we've forgotten the media's role as Fourth Estate Watchdog of the government and it's elected and appointed officials? Are we now so concerned that when citizens question officials, the media will look as though it's caving into the lunatic fringe?
So while you're all struggling for shield laws that would make it easier to do your jobs, please remember that there are citizens out there who are struggling also to do theirs - and the most basic job of citizens is to vote - and they can't.
Sincerely,
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