ABC News Decision Angers Kucinich, Braun

[dpbrown]

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - ABC News says it will stop having producers travel full time with the presidential campaigns of Carol Moseley Braun, Dennis Kucinich (news - web sites) and Al Sharpton.

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"I don't think ABC should be the first primary," Kucinich said while campaigning Thursday at New England College. "The first primary should not be on a television network."

Braun, following a forum at Concord High School in New Hampshire, said she was sorry to hear ABC News' producer was leaving.

"If they don't want to help me get my message out, then I'll have to find alternative ways to do it," she said. "I think it is a terrible commentary, however, on the state of the media, frankly, if their idea of a democracy is only relating to those candidates who have the most money."

Kucinich criticized Koppel during Tuesday's debate for beginning with a question about Al Gore (news - web sites)'s endorsement of Howard Dean (news - web sites). Later, he was angered when Koppel asked whether he, Braun or Sharpton are "in this as sort of a vanity candidacy."

Kucinich replied that he "may be inconvenient for some of those in the media but, you know, I'm sorry about that."

On Thursday, he noted ABC's coverage decision and his criticisms during the debate, saying "it appears ABC may have taken it personally."

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ABC News Decision Angers Kucinich, Braun

[IndianaGreen]

1. The public owns the airways!

The networks have an obligation to provide a public service, and news programs used to be part of that public service.

As Jello Biafra says, don't criticize the media, become the media!

[dpbrown]

2. Damn right we do!

We should demand that they cover the news, not make it up as they go along.

[loudnclear]

27. Every Dem should be outrages by this...even Dean supporters.

It's a matter of democratic principle. We are about to do to each other what the Supreme Court did to us in 2000.

[dreamvision]

3. Your so right

They do have that obligation, and are supposed provide the "public" with unbiased news and reporting. Yet, they usually do not, and the outcome is political favoritism as we have seen by Ted Koppel and ABC network. These three candidates whether one votes for them or not is up to the people, and these candidates are down right nice people. I think this whole blows. I think Ted's feeling got hurt and he went kiss a@@ to his boss. Peace

[eridani]

5. So tell them how you feel, already!

Email [e-mail] or call [phone](people have reported being hung up on here) or fax [phone].

ABC News
77 W. 66 St.,
New York, NY 10023

Or call ABC News at 212-456-7777, where you’ll be able to leave a message and ask for a written reply.

West Coast number 818-460-7477 (from KOMO)

http://www.abcnews.go.com/service/Help/abcmail_news.html (web comment)

Don't forget local ABC affiliates

ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin at [phone] or Mark
[e-mail] or fax [phone]

ABC News President David Westin at [phone] or fax [phone]

ABC President Alex Wallau at [phone] or [e-mail] or fax [phone].

[e-mail]

[dreamvision]

7. you bet i have

i sent a letter to all those contracts and more. PEACE

It's about fairness to the American people to decide who their candiates choices are, not the media deciding. Thanks.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Thanks for all the names & addresses. I have written to

Nightline and will write to these others. I also intend to write the other candidates -- the ones who still have ABC coverage -- and ask them to tell ABC News that if they can't cover Kucinich, Braun, and Sharpton, their reporters are not welcome on their campaigns, either. It would be wonderful if they would all ban ABC from their campaigns until ABC apologizes and agrees to cover ALL campaigns.

[Snazzy]

11. Sent n/t

[Snazzy]

12. [e-mail] bounced n/t

[Iverson]

20. right on, daddy-o

The airwaves are a public resource, and this idea was set into law by the conservative Hoover administration. This basic principle has been undermined since Reagan. I guess Herbert Hoover is too much of a communist for the Republicans of today.

[0007]

4. Shame shame shame on ABC!!

ABC has lost it much like the administration that's leading this country into the graveyard.

[caledesi]

6. Although I am a Dean supporter, I am pissed about this.

I used to like Ted Koppel...thought Nightline was the best. Hard-hitting questions, provocative questions etc.

After that fiasco of a debate, TK has really dropped in my respect for him, because you KNOW that HE is the one who "pulled the plug" on Kucinich, Braun and Sharpton.

Bye bye TK. We hardly knew ya.

[nuxvomica]

8. I never liked Koppel

He made his fortune bludgeoning the Carter Administration by counting down the number of days the Iranian hostages were being held. He's no journalist, just a tiresome egomaniac. All I learned from that debate was why folks support Dennis Kucinich so passionately.

[w4rma]

9. Less corporations need to control the media.

Then other outlets might fill in the gaps.

That is the root of the problem, IMHO. If these media giants didn't control so much viewer share, then this likely wouldn't be a problem. We could just shrug and say, "fine", their buisness, their decision, maybe their loss. But, because they are so big, the decision of one corporation, whom Americans really have no power over, is an extremely big deal.

[whirlygigspin]

13. ABC's bad move

Ted Koppel get a haircut

[John-Paul]

14. Were they lavished with attention to begin with?

These news organizations cater to whatever piques the interest of the public. If ABC News can't make money off whatever "news" Kucinich, Braun or Sharpton generate, its a fairly reasonable expectation that ABC will stop paying attention to them--regardless of whether or not they have bona fide producers traveling with them. This move strikes me as bad PR, little more.

[Nile]

15. This is bad in one way but good on another.

The good part is that they can focus on and allocate more resorces on the front runners. They can give them more air time to build them up for the real race come November.

[0rganism]

16. What if the Networks make that same decision next September?

"Since Bush is clearly the frontrunner, we'll stop regular coverage of the other candidates."

Would that bother you?

The candidates with more coverage regularly fare better in the polls due to name recognition (if nothing else), and when the coverage is altered to give more time to frontrunners, it's all the harder for dark horses to catch up.

[Gin]

17. That has happened every day...and will continue...we need to get the

base out to vote in massive numbers...and throw the bums out of the white house.

[Nile]

18. That is not what I ment.

We are clearly discussing Democrat primary candidates not opposing party candidates.

[Justice]

21. It is DemcratIC primary

Your use of the RW word Democrat is revealing.

[Nile]

22. As a Democrat please explain...

how Democrat is a RW word. :shrug:

[0rganism]

33. Democrat is a noun, Democratic is the adjective form

e.g., "Nile is a Democrat. He votes in the Democratic primary."

And just because I took your reasoning one step further, doesn't mean it's a step that shouldn't be considered. Who are the media elites to decide which candidates merit coverage? When did we elect them?

[Le Taz Hot]

19. There is nothing good about this

We have 9 Democratic candidates running in the primaries. Who is the media to decide who's message we should and should not hear? As a Dean supporter *I* resent the media not giving equal time to ALL candidates. This race is for the voters to decide and there are still many many people out there who have not decided on a candidate, or who may change their support based on something one of the "eliminated 3" has to say. We don't have news anymore, we have infotainment, which is bad enough. But when the media starts determining which presidential candidate should and should not get coverage, that subverts the very essence of a democracy.

Edit: Speeling

[info being]

29. How do you know they are the front-runners?

Corporate-sponsored polls? I see.

[Tansy_Gold]

23. And just where, may I ask after giving them adequate time . . . .

. . . . to respond, are the Democratic Party leaders on this issue?

Oh, sorry, my bad. The Democratic Party HAS no leaders. Only spineless worms (no offense to worms) who spout inanities like "We'll have a platform when we have a candidate." :mad:


Tansy Gold, :puke:ing her political brains out over this one

[newyorican]

24. Check out DemocracyNow! for long interviews

of Dennis K., Carol M.B. and someone from ABC news.

www.democracynow.org

[Fleshdancer]

25. ABC's reaction:

I haven't read all the posts in this thread (lazy Friday morning for Gloria) but ABC wrote a highly defensive explanation in their daily political read, The Note:


http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html


The last thing any serious journalist wants is to become part of the story — we want to objectively cover the news, not be a character in the drama.

In the last few days, many of you who are supportive of the candidacy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich have been given some false and highly misleading information about ABC News.

This is an important topic and ABC News takes it very seriously.

Before we let you know what facts some of you are missing, let us tell you a bit about our view of some key aspects of the Kucinich candidacy.

**********

It's pretty lengthy, but it's not enough for me. This angers me because I'm addicted to The Note, but because of this, I can not in good conscience subscribe to their publication. I hope Kucinich supporters keep raising hell about this, and if there's anything I can do, please let me know.

[madddog]

26. I'm gonna get flamed for this, but...

people who think the media have any responsibility to "us" is naive...they fulfill the FCC mandate of "public service" by putting MADD PSAs on at 3:00am...that's all they "owe" us.

They're in the business of making money...the "news" is a tool by which to do that; they could make money selling soap if it suited them, but they sell us "news" instead.

If they have limited resources, it makes sense from a business pov that they cut down on the "also rans". While this may gore a particular candidate'x ox, it makes business sense. If you buy my premise that ABC, Fox, etc, are business entities first and foremost, you can't really argue with their actions. I'm not arguing whether or not it's right, or that it's good for the country.
Of course, if it didn't put money in their pockets, the campaign season wouldn't be 18 friggin' months long...TV gets the bulk those campaing advertising $$ in the long run, so it's certainly in their best interests do drag it out for as long as possible.

As for the "vanity candidates" remark...I'm REALLY gonna get flamed for this one, but I agree...and I'd put Gephardt and Edwards in the vanity camp as well...you'd think Gephardt would at least have learned his lesson by now. Most polls I've seen put Gephardt at around 7%, and Edwards and company at around 3%. (late september Zogby for one, can't imagine it's changed much for those folks)...and unless he's made a jump lately, I don't even think Kucinich is leading in OHIO! (Nov. 10 Ohio Poll/u. of cinn).

Now, I would imagine that with only Clark, Dean, Kerry, and Leiberman in the race, the decision wouldn't have been made so early to pull the full time news producers from their campaigns. By the same token, though, I'd expect to see it in another couple of months, if one or more of those guys is down in single digits while the others aren't.

I don't necessarily see this as the media "deciding" for us who the candidates are; it just looks like they're reflecting the reality of a situation that already exists.

Flame on...

[loudnclear]

28. If Dean would only come out against this very firmly it would be wonderful

He wouldn't lose anything and would be responsible for healing and bringing the party together. A few well thoughouot statement would make him a hero in all our eyes.

[Fleshdancer]

30. good point

That would be a wonderful thing for Dean to do.

[Beam Me Up]

31. If he DOES NOT, I can not support Dean's candidacy

All the Democratic candidates need to take a strong stand AGAINST media manipulation--not only of politics but of public perception of what is REAL. Kucinich is dead on: pundits manipulate our PERCEPTIONS by focusing our collective ATTENTION where THEY want it to go. If no collective attention goes to the issues that are significant, or the candidates who are asking significant questions or proposing 'outside the box' ideas for dealing with the many issues that confront us as a society, then it is AS IF those issues, those candidates and their ideas DO NOT EXIST.

Assassination by Media Inattention.

See: http://www.bigleftoutside.com/

BMU

ON EDIT: The above link is a blog so you will have to scroll down to Dec 10 and 11.

BMU

[dpbrown]

32. That would be a tremendously unifying gesture

I wonder if any of his campaign people are monitoring DU?


Hello? Dean people? You should have your candidate condemn this action to "cull the herd" when done by the media.

[demdave]

34. This is not media manipulation, simple economics and common sense.

None of these three have ever reached 5%. To reuse a phrase, their's are essentially vanity campaigns. Just so you know, I think the debates will lose interest without Sharpton's quick wit and sharp tongue. He really was the high point of every debate. Kucinich will also be missed for his unique opinions and plans for the presidency. He is the only voice of a given segment and I applaud him for that. Braun, sorry to say, never really offered anything other than the "I am a woman" option. She really didn't establish an identifiable platform. Simple fact, there comes a time when the obvious cannot be ignored. They did not make the cut. If you want to argue otherwise, you are only kidding yourself.

As for the media choosing a candidate for us, what about the other dozens of candidates we never hear about. You can find them all here...
http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm

Is the media supposed to follow EVERYONE who decides to run??? NO. The front runners run and the rest slowly fade away. Good or bad, that is the fact.