Posted on 11/05/2002 11:30:49 AM PST by Mediaqueen
An Article I found on today's Chronwatch.com ...mentions Freeps! Looks like a good one to fax to your local media outlet to let them know they are truly pathetic. ********************
The Associated Press reports that a great majority of Californians believe the two candidates for governor have “failed to address pressing issues.” That story was printed on an interesting day. Below that story in my local Sunday paper was another AP story on the previous day’s campaign activities. As has been the case throughout the campaign, Bill Simon did address an important issue on his stop in Silicon Valley. The problem was, the Associated Press and virtually every other news outlet ignored it.
On literally dozens of occasions, Bill Simon has held a forum, made a policy speech, spoken on education at schools, or outlined a solution to a problem, and found that the substance of his remarks was not even mentioned in the daily news coverage. The reporters chose instead to push their own agenda, or, more likely, milk the latest scandal, for as long as possible. Watching these same reporters wrap up the campaign huffing and puffing about the negativity and lack of substance is more amusing than watching George Costanza spin a yarn on Seinfeld.
The majority of voters out there, both Democrat and Republican, who have not seen or read much about the candidates' stands on issues should be outraged. Not at the candidates, but at the so-called journalists whose job it is to report a story. (Although one of the candidates, Gray Davis, is to blame for hiding from reporters and relegating the one and only debate to a Monday noon timeslot.)
The theme for last Saturday’s San Jose rally was the economy, the lay-offs, and how difficult it is for businesses to survive in California. Two small business owners represented the thousands of companies that are struggling under rising workers’ comp costs, energy costs, and increased taxes and regulations. One owner has had to lay off several workers, and the other has been unable to hire new employees in his business that serves Hispanics in the Mission. Bill Simon, in turn, highlighted his plans for a capital gains tax to stimulate the economy, streamlining regulations and cutting waste in the government.
Once again, that “pressing issue” was left on the cutting room floor in every news story listed on the political news web sites. Reporters found the introduction of a new “attack” ad more important to California voters, along with the “negative” campaigning and the ubiquitous and self-fulfilling Campaign 2002 stand-by: voters don’t like either of the two candidates.
The tone of the two events also took center stage in the reporting, although attendees in San Jose saw a very different event from the one described in the papers. Even TV news viewers who saw the energy and enthusiasm at the Simon event must have been befuddled at the LA Times headline: “Candidates Trudge On as Voters Tune Out.” Pay no attention to what you saw with your own eyes, because, Mark Barabak writes, the major candidates “struggled Saturday to rouse voters.”
It’s true enough that Davis had to start his own “four more years” chant at his Saturday event. But the reporters who have been so interested in dissecting the composition of Simon crowds and finding opposition nearby seem to have turned a blind eye to the fact that Davis has to rely on union halls to build a crowd. Davis’s feeble attempts at air-punching gestures and staged precinct-walking went unnoticed. Instead, the newspapers were filled with hallucinatory descriptions of a Kenndyesque candidate: “Davis appeared upbeat and confident” the Chronicle gushed. The first sentence in the Sunday San Jose Mercury News story: “While a relaxed Governor Gray Davis tossed a football with teenagers in the East Bay on Sunday, Republican Bill Simon launched a last-ditch attack that seeks to taint the incumbent Democrat….” You gotta laugh picturing the evil Bill Simon with his finger on the button of the “Slay Gray” annihilation weapon at the very moment of the bucolic (and unscripted, I’m sure) Gray Davis football toss.
Barabak from the Los Angeles Times, who has spent the entire campaign focusing on inside campaign strategy, perceived blunders, anonymous sources, and thinly veiled contempt for the Simon campaign, had the chutzpah to write in his Saturday story: “Whoever wins…will have little in the way of a mandate, given a campaign focused more on tactics and innuendo than anything either man hopes to accomplish in office.”
I challenge readers to try to find one mainstream media story in any of the large markets that had more than a throw-away line about an issue-oriented Bill Simon event. The template goes like this: “In an attempt to divert attention from the fill-in-the-blank scandal, Republican candidate Bill Simon talked about education……” and then the rest of the story rehashed the days-old scandal. Try to find one successful Simon event story in an inner-city location that starts with a line like this one from an AP story: “Governor Gray Davis rallied enthusiastic supporters in this working-class, heavily minority town south of Los Angeles today….” Try to find one headline that said Simon was moving up in the polls. On both those occasions, the headlines, almost in unison, mantra’d: “Polls Show Hearty Dislike for Both Candidates.” Try to find one interview with the totally grassroots and creative anti-Davis supporters, and then compare that result (my guess: zero) with the dozens of photos and interviews showcasing union thugs who get checked in on clipboards and then are paraded across the front pages and 6 o’clock newscasts.
It’s no wonder the Simon camp experienced premature ejaculation of a photo they believed showed criminal wrong-doing by Davis. Although it was not in the way they had hoped, at least they made the front pages.
Contrary to the unctuous hand-wringing spouted by reporters suggesting that campaigns be more issue-oriented, my recommendation to the next Republican campaign would be just the opposite. Spend one week with a series of issue forums (so we can watch all that in-depth coverage spill onto the front pages) and then spend the rest of the campaign on can’t-miss-the-message photo ops that are difficult for reporters to twist or ignore.
Those voters angry at the lack of issues in the coverage of the 2002 campaign should mount a November revolt: no TV news, subscription cancellations, and calls to advertisers who continue to support the drivel that passes for news.
“The candidates failed to address the pressing issues…..” Give me a break!
I'll ping my list.
Memories:
California Power Crisis animations featuring Governor Gray Davis
AND......................
...to see what Davis has done... - CLICK HERE
and see how France has superseded California under Gray Davis' leadership.
calgov2002:
 calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
Also check the following and share:
If you see something that should be on the calgov2002 list, tag it , and ping all those you can think of!
Its indicative, I think, of their collective mindset during this election.
-----Original Message-----
From your 10/10 piece on the Davis illegal fundraising charge picked up by the Contra Costa Times:
"That sparked an angry demand from reporters for Simon to prove his explosive allegation."
Why do you characterize reporters as 'angry'? Are you inferring you all have an emotional stake in the election? A favorite, perhaps?
The answer is ludicrously clear.
Davis will probably win, to the delight of those in newsrooms up & down the coast. And California, like your newspaper, will continue its downward spiral.
Reporter's Response:
As a reporter for the paper that has broken and aggressively reported on the governor's questionable fundraising - from Oracle to Tosco - I hardly think you can make a case that the Mercury News had demonstrated a pro-Davis bias. We report aggressively on all fronts. In this case, Simon accused the governor of California of committing a crime without offering any evidence. That explosive, unsubstantiated charge elicited a strong reaction. Imagine if Gray Davis stood up and said he had evidence that Bill Simon beat his wife, but didn't offer any evidence. That, too, would elicit an angry reaction from reporters.
Then I said:
Davis based weeks and weeks worth of vicious & highly personal attack ads on a fraud verdict that was overturned on appeal.
I would hardly characterize CA journalism's reaction to the ruling as 'angry'.
Reporter's response:
I understand that it's hard not to see things through your personal prism, but my point stands. The Mercury News has aggressively covered both Davis and Simon. I can send you dozens of articles that have raised stories about Davis and his fundraising. Your original contention was that the media and Mercury News favor Davis. I can't speak for the rest of the media but, at the Mercury News, it's simply not true. As for your isolated example (for which I can counter with Oracle, Tosco, Kanakaris wireless, Darius Anderson, Accenture, MTBE, etc. etc. etc.), the attack was based on an actual jury verdict against his investment company that questioned Simon's business acumen. By contrast, Simon's contention that Davis was a criminal was based upon flimsy photographic evidence that Simon had not even seen when he made the explosive allegation. I hardly see the comparison.
My response:
I agree with your point about it being hard not to see things through a personal prism. However I am not a reporter with the moral obligation to report the news impartially and with a sense of proportion.
With an election less than a month away, two days of screaming headlines with two more days of follow up on this COPS thing is a proportionate response only in the mind of a Davis partisan.
Until you and your colleagues fess up and correct your biased reporting the print media will continue to lose readership and influence.
Won't happen soon enough for me.
The reporter concludes:
Well, I doubt that I will change your mind with facts, since you seem to have already made up your opinion. But, in case you missed, it our LEAD story on Monday was another expose of the Davis administration's role in the Tosco dumping controversy. (A story broken by the Mercury News that the Simon campaign features prominently in one of it's major attack ads on Davis.) It had a two-column head. The "screaming headlines" you reference are not borne out by facts. On Tuesday we had a one column headline that referenced the debate allegations. Our Wednesday story was a smaller story, below-the-fold, that noted that the allegations were falling apart. On Thursday we had a prominent package when Simon recanted and his campaign admitted that they, in the words of Simon consultant Ed Rollins, "screwed up." While you may think it's not big news when the GOP nominee makes wild allegations that the governor of the largest state in the union has broken a law that would bar him from running for office, but we certainly felt that it was a serious allegation that we had to check out. When it proved not to be true, it said more about the GOP nominee than Davis.
California politics is like California baseball: it ain't over 'til it's over!
Let's get out the vote! Here's a tool...
Click here to download the California Republican Liberty Caucus' tri-fold pamphlet on the governor's race!
It's a .pdf file, so you'll need Acrobat Reader... it's free, and chances are good you already have it on your computer. Try the link and see.
Print it using the printer-icon button in the Acrobat toolbar in your browser (not File|Print in your browser's menu). It's intended for double-sided printing using single pieces of paper-- no stapling needed if you do it that way, and saves trees! ;-) Print one side, then invert the paper and feed it through a second time for the second side. Fold, and sally forth to get out the vote!
Give this to friends, walk your neighborhood, take it to stores, give a wad of 'em to your school, hand some out at your house of worship, at clubs, at stores and small businesses...
Let's retire Gray Davis!
Let's show the media and RINOs that "It's the base, stupid!"
Let's show Gray Davis that money can't buy him love ...or re-election!
Freepers and RLC activists can claim considerable credit for nominating Bill Simon, so now let's elect him!
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