Why we are lemmings...
It doesn't take an Einstein to understand that the greatest threat to getting Obama elected is not McCain but the Main Stream Media. It wasn't necessarily the Swift Boat ads themselves, but the media circus that caused Kerry so much difficulty.
But we sit back and would rather argue about the merits of FISA or feminism, or any other arcane bit of public policy than be united to obtain the goal from which we can help make policy rather than debate it.
There need be no greater instance of this now than the Washington Post. The Post has overtaken Fox News as the mouthpiece of the McCain campaign. One need only read such trash as Obama's Victory Tour by Dana Milbank linked here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902068.html?nav=hcmodule
One of the indisputable means the Republicans were able to steal the 2000 and 2004 elections is because they were united in their forceful methodology of defining the narrative and the public debate. We must likewise do so or we risk watching McCain take the oath of office in January.
Yet, while there are paths for our leadership to take to modulate the public story, there are things we the people can do to help. I have friends who VEHEMENTLY curse Fox News for their biased coverage and then sit down to watch American Idol. I tell them they're nuts and I think they're finally getting the point. How can you SUPPORT THE ENEMY???
There are also ways of helping to stem the tide of bad press in the media. EVERY newspaper from the Seattle Intelligencer to the Miami Herald, and the Boston Globe to the LA Times...are ALL hurting badly for advertising revenue. It might certainly be worth a try to complain to their advertisers about the tone those newspapers are taking and threaten them with a boycott of their services so long as they support the enemy. I can think of no better method of seeing a change in their tune.
You can pray all you want to the Gods of Journalism for fair and balanced coverage, but until we decide to collective DO something, well...we'are just like a bunch of lemmings, and we know what happens to them.
Well, that, AND the fact that DIEBOLD promised them the election! In Ohio and Florida the voting machines were rigged to flip the votes in close elections to the Republican candidates. That is why the only exit polling that was inaccurate (ie Kerry won, when he lost the vote count) was in close places in Ohio and Florida. Couple that with disenfrachising black voters especially in Florida and of course the Supremes for the 2000 election, and you have a "can't lose" election.
Why aren't we hearing anything about pre-emptive attention to accuracy in light of all that? Don't know.
July 30, 2008 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I found this to be a VERY effective method in the past. I wouldn't overplay it, but when the issue is important and high profile, the method gets the attention of those at the high ranks of the newspaper offices. I'd use it when something is being printed repeatedly that is egregiously misleading. Copy the offending text into an email to the author and editor, tell them clearly why it is wrong and what they should do to fix it. Note that they have repeatedly published the misinformation and have neglected to correct their mistake. And note that you are sending a copy of your complaint to the following companies who advertise in their newspapers to inform them of your dissatisfaction with the coverage that the newspaper is providing and their lack of respect for the importance of accurately informing the pubic on critical issues of the day.
When I have taken part in an organized consumer response effort of this sort in the past on specific issues, we have gotten immediate results.
July 30, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink