'Dean Scream' clip was media fraud

[kskiska]

By Edward Wasserman

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

(snip)

On the other end of the scale is an instance of clear-cut media wrongdoing that involved unquestionably fraudulent evidence and had dramatic consequences. This one, however, has gone largely unremarked. It is the famous incident involving Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean that is known as The Dean Scream.

(snip)

In fact the Dean Scream was a fraud, probably the clearest instance of media assassination in recent U.S. political history.

Last year, a young cable news producer attended one of our twice-yearly Ethics Institutes at Washington and Lee University, in which students and journalists gather to discuss newsroom wrongdoing. He brought two clips.

The first was the familiar pool footage of Dean in Iowa. The candidate filled the screen, no supporters were visible. Crowd noise was silenced by the microphone he held, which deadened ambient sounds. You saw only him and heard only his inexplicable screaming.

The second clip was the same speech taped by a supporter on the floor of the hall. The difference was stunning. The place was packed. The noise was deafening. Dean was on the podium, but you couldn't hear him. The roar from his supporters was drowning him out.

Dean was no longer scary, unhinged, volcanic, over the top. He was like the coach of a would-be championship NCAA football team at a pre-game rally, trying to be heard over a gym full of determined, wildly enthusiastic fans. I saw energy, not lunacy.

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http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/opinion/10964305.htm

[SteppingRazor]

1. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

That broadcast media would manipulate imagery! Why, who would imagine that they would ever do such a thing?

:eyes:

Somewhere, that statue of Saddam is also rolling its eyes.

[FloridaPat]

2. I actually listened to the speech they had on TV. It was a great speech.

It belong in the Greatest Speeches of All Time book. But the fact that Dean showed emotion was too much for the media. Presidential people are stones. Cold as ice. They were after Dean to stop him from running and were going to do anything to stop him.

[wishlist]

3. We don't see Bush's shocking gaffes replayed over and over either

A couple of network news segments showed coverage of what was really going on during the Dean scream to clear up the myth, but like with the debunking of the Swiftliars, it was too little, too late and did not keep the media from replaying it later over and over.

[peacetalksforall]

4. This is a prime example of stuff getting lost. This was reported right

after the event and there was some discussion here on DU. But it got lost. Why did the heirarchy of the Democratic Party let the right wing corporate propaganda networks own this for their character assassination? The Democratic Party handed this to them. Why didn't more peole speak out then? Why do we continually bow prostrate before them? We are facilitators of the lies.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Because the DLC wanted Kerry to get the nomination? n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. Not just the DLC!

Club for Growth put big bucks into the Iowa primary to attack Dean at every turn.

[lonestarnot]

5. Personally I love the Dean SCREAM and I think we should use it at every

corner, let 'em know we're here and we are still watching every move! Repukes like the passive types. Give 'em a Dean SCREAM and see how it makes you feel! LOL

[4morewars]

6. The DLC gave them the tape !

The first tape, the one that was played 864 times on cnn and faux.

[marcologico]

21. There were media galore in that ballroom.

They didn't need any help from the DLC. Anyway what would they be doing with a tape?

[BlueEyedSon]

7. I have been SCREAMING this since it happened!!!

It was a media smear.

[ladjf]

8. You are correct. I have heard and repeated this story

dozens of times. No one seems to care. It's just another "ho-hum".
There are so many bad things happening that we are all totally fatigued about politics. It's like watching so much porn that no sex acts are even noticed any more. Nothing can shock us. We've just about seen it all.

Would you like a dream fantasy?

Dream about this. Somewhere, somehow, someone steps up with irrevocable proof of Bush's criminality, guilty of flagrant treason, resulting in Bush being arrested, and "frog marched" off to jail, all on video tape.

The world would rejoice.

[havocmom]

9. Powers that be were scared of Dean so they had to contrive a way

to make voters afraid of him. You can see their fingerprints; fear is what they leave in their wake. Fear is the one tool they rely on.

The wingers where I live called it right at the time: The media, under orders, made Dean look like a lunatic. I heard that all over the place where I live, and folks are generally pretty tight lipped about all things politic!

They recognized Dean got lynched and they know why too. They would have voted for him if he had been on the ballot in November. They saw that he was not 'politics as usual' and knew the real powers buried him. They hold the Dem leadership responsible. They can't quite make the leap to the GOP being the major player in the game of distort, but they see the game is afoot.

Dr Dean to Red States is a damned fine idea.

[thethinker]

10. Yes, but who was behind it . . .

I really think this came from the Democrats rather than the republicans. It was very dirty politics.

The media played that tape over and over until they took him out of the running. I would really like to know for sure who was behind this. My guess is someone very high up in the leadership of the Democratic party who doesn't like grass root movements.

[ginnyinWI]

14. so who would that be, do you think? n/t

[pelagius]

13. Claim "the scream" as a badge of honor!

I have it playing as the ringtone on my cell phone and suggest others do the same.

That being said, the "Howard Dean is nuts" meme didn't end his run, imo, as much as his decisive defeat in Iowa. There are some that speculate the DLC-type candidates pooled resources in an "anyone but Dean" effort in that state.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. I believe it was Thom Hartman who recently mentioned how much money the

Repukes invested in making sure Dean was beaten in the Iowa primaries.
Pretty interesting. The REPUKES wanted Dean out of the primaries!!
Wonder why?

[peacetalksforall]

18. Wonder why? We don't know much, but from what we do know in

hindsight - the theft of votes would not have been tolerated by Dean like it was with Kerry-Edwards. There would be more brain power from Dems and more brain power being used.

The theft of our votes. Think about it. Now nearly a whimper of a story until the little bit we got today.

Anyone who hasn't read the history and studeed the right wing connections of the corporations who manufactured the machines and screwed us through their hardware and software manipulations should do him/herself a favor and study up.

I don't think the seriousness of what was taken has settled in.

[DuaneBidoux]

16. I like Dean. I like what he stands for (it's called a Democrat). But...

Media manipulation or no there are certain things you simply can't get away with now (unless of course you are Shrub, in which case all bets are off). I was watching that when it happened live on television and my heart sank and sank and sank. I knew it would haunt him. He has to take responsibility for it. To do so shows him a great man, one who will never have trouble (unlike Shrub) of saying (as all humans should be able to) "...I made a mistake..."

I believe if he takes us back to our roots, standing for people, standing for Americans, and not apologizing for demanding the best out of everyone, including our corporate citizens, then I think we can reclaim power and save our Democracy.

[peacetalksforall]

17. I don't think you get what we are talking about...it was not excessive..it

was a technological gift from those who didn't want him. We're taling about the technology making it seem as those he was screaming with excess volume. He didn't.

We're talking about some Dems letting the character assassination happen.

[DuaneBidoux]

19. No, I got perfectly what you meant.

I believe the analysis was flawed. It wouldn't have mattered what the actual volume was, it was the way he did it. It didn't play to the camera, even if there had been NO sound. Watch the master (Clinton) and his body language. We should make this man the model for all future candidates. If they can't pass the "as good a speaker as" Clinton on camera test then we don't nominate them.

We've got to get realistic here: Hollywood has profoundly impacted politics--and we have got to play that game or not regain power. They need to be charismatic, they need to be good looking, it doesn't hurt to be articulate (although that has now been demonstrated as not an absolute necessity by our current inhabitant of the WH)and in my humble opinion they need to speak the Democratic message and quit the fuck apologizing for it. If we do these things WE will rule.

[peacetalksforall]

20. I agree with some of your comments in the second paragraph.

I didn't mind the yell because I thought it fit the fever of the moment.

Above all, our candidates have to be honest, candid, and logical.

[DuaneBidoux]

22. In order to win our candidates have to be charismatic, good looking, and

articulate. In order to be true Democrats they have to be honest, candid, and logical. I hope we can have both, but too much is now at stake to demand the second set of qualities if we don't have the first. We are losing this country, and not slowly.