ABC News responds to your criticisms of DK coverage (The Note)

[CMT]

The Note today has quite alot to say about all the e-mails which many of us on DU and elsewhere sent regarding cutting back on coverage of Kucinich, Sharpton, and Braun. They focus primarily on Kucinich because it was his supporters (and some others) who contacted them regarding this:

They say in bold black ink:
That's right and unambiguous: ABC News has spent more time on the trail with the Kucinich campaign than any other news organziation if you don't believe us ask the congressman himself at the next event you attend which reporter has covered him the most this year.


That's nice and they try to gloss over things by saying, yes, we still have a reporter who is assigned to the congressman for "major events" and stay in touch by phone and e-mail.

Still overlooking that he won't have a traveling reporter.

It makes fascinating reading.

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

I think those of us who e-mailed ABC News struck a vein.

[La_Serpiente]

1. What a load of crap

they are going to get even more e-mails due to their arrogant tone. E-mails wont do it though, but maybe a yelling through the phone would.

[loudnclear]

28. We should be directing some of venom at the other networks as well

None of them are dong a great job covering our candidates...they never do anything positive. Only try to incite hostilities among the candidates and the public toward the candidates.

[goodhue]

33. yes, certainly

But we got ABC on the ropes so don't let up now.
Contact ABC and tell them what you think.

To express concerns directly to ABC, contact the following:

ABC Audience Response line at 818-460-7477. Press 4 to leave a message.
ABC News Washington DC Bureau at 202-222-7777, fax [phone]
ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin at 212-456-4545, fax [phone], email [e-mail]
ABC News President David Westin at 212-456-6200, fax [phone]
ABC President Alex Wallau at 818-460-5500, fax [phone], email [e-mail]

You can write letters to:

ABC News
47 W 66th St
New York, NY 10023-6290

[HFishbine]

2. What Bullshit

They try to justify their actions by comparing their coverage of Kucinich to the coverage other media give to him. The intellectually honest evaluation would be to compare ABC's coverage of Kucinich to ABC's coverage of other candidates.

Here's an e-mail I sent to one of the article's authors, Mark Halperin, ABC News political director, before reading today's Note:
------------

Dear Mr. Halperin:

I'm an independent voter living in Greensboro, North Carolina, where I watch ABC news on WXLV. I encourage you to continue to cover Dennis Kucinich's campaign for president with the same vigor and attention you give to the other candidates.

I'm a Dean supporter and I think it is vitally important for America that we have a full and robust debate about the future of our country. ABC News has a vital role to play now, and it must step up responsibly. The media failed terribly in vetting the "evidence" for the reasons for war against Iraq. Ted Koppel failed in underestimating the intelligence of voters, thinking we would rather hear candidates discuss money and polls instead of issues. At some point, these failures must be stopped and atoned for.

In a few short weeks, the voters will begin to make their preferences known. Until then, surely an organization like ABC news can afford to cover all the candidates -- for the sake of your credibility; for the sake of our democracy; for the sake of America.

Sincerely,

xxxxx xxxxxxxx

[MuseRider]

3. Nice letter,

similar to mine. After reading their response today I think that your letter and mine are still approriate. They are most certainly picking and choosing who the "most likely" candidates are. Thanks Dean supporter, this goes far beyond our differences to our most cherished goal of a well informed voting public.

[Paulie]

4. What's interesting...

is how defensive. "We have a reporter with someone who is never reported on. What they are doing is using one issue (traveling reporter) to hide the fact that their EDITORIAL decisions suck! Sorry, I'm watching the screen AND the man behind the curtain!!!

[info being]

24. WELL SAID

I don't care who's travelling with whom...I want the destructive baiting questions to END. I want real coverage without all the FUCKING ATTITUDE, tone, and condescension that we saw from jackass kopple.

[goodhue]

5. not true

I think MSNBC embed has been right with Kucinich throughout. She is always there lurking with her digital cam. I've never seen an ABC person with him. At least that has been what I've seen in IA, MN and WI. But who knows, maybe the embeds are so incognito they pass undetected.

[no name no slogan]

6. Better yet...

go picket/protest outside the doors of your local ABC affiliate. I've heard talk on a couple of DK newsgroups that folk are planning on doing this. If we could get Democrats from all the various candidate factions in on this, we could definately show them WHO controls this democracy!

Or even better still, BOYCOTT ABC/DISNEY! Write letters to Disney's higher-ups, and tell them why you won't be spending any money for Disney movies, or going to Disney World, or giving any Mickey Mouse-themed gifts this year. Money is something they understand.

This is OUR DEMOCRACY, not theirs. WE determine what the issues are, NOT big media.

[goodhue]

19. yes, flash mobs are happening

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=100140

AZ DK "flashmob" protests Phoenix ABC affiliate

Following is a quick synopsis of the gathering tonight...

Twenty + Kucinich supporters gathered outside the Phoenix ABC affiliate (KNXV-TV) Thursday evening to raise community awareness of ABC's withdrawal of their embed reporter within the Kucinich campaign and their cancellation of an upcoming one-hour interview with Dennis.

Following a street vigil, 3 Kucinich supporters approached the station and rang a call-button and knocked on the doors until a guard appeared. The guard was asked to see if someone inside wouldn't step out to talk with the group.

Station Manager, John Culliton, soon came out and gave the group the opportunity to ask him for his comment on the situation. Since he had NOT watched the debate (can you believe that??) the three Kucinich supporters explained that during the debate on Tuesday evening, Dennis Kucinich had challenged Ted Koppel by telling him that American voters would rather hear about the issues than about endorsements, money and the polls! And then Dennis went on to tell him that even though his candidacy might be "inconvenient", he wasn't going to withdraw. The following day, ABC withdrew their embed reporter in the Kucinich campaign and today ABC cancelled a one-hour Kucinich interview with an affiliate station inIowa. The group meeting with Culliton, asked if he didn't think this was coincidental?

The group explained to Mr. Culliton that no candidates should be marginalized and none should be dismissed since not one vote had yet been cast! (Culliton was also reminded that Kucinich, Sharpton, and Mosley-Braun were currently polling close to where Bill Clinton was polling at this relative point in his first run for the presidency.)

Culliton agreed that this was a basic question of democracy. He assured the group that he would contact "national" ABC, but could not guarantee that he would get a quick reply. He did assure the group that he would email State Director, Kevin Spidel, on Friday and give him an update. He also agreed to meet with representatives of the group in the near future to discuss media-related issues and left open the possibility for a future local feature piece on the issue.

[dpbrown]

35. Flashmob Today! (12/12) at KSTP at 4:30 p.m.

See you there!

University Ave. and Hwy 280, big TV tower, can't miss it.

[goodhue]

36. I'll be there

Great weather for it!

[goodhue]

37. That's in MN

In case you didn't know . . .

[Kanary]

40. Thanks for the reminder about disney.

I pay no attention to companies, and forgot who runs the ABC show.

Letter being sent!

BTW, I *gotta* know who your quote is by... the middle of the road, with the armadillos...
Priceless!

Kanary

[Nederland]

7. Question for DK supporters

What is a justifiable criteria from covering a Democratic candidate? Should ABC be expected to cover every one of the 400+ candidates that are currently running? What metric do you think should be employed?

[Ficus]

8. I think that DK, CMB, and AS

are all credible candidates.

Dennis Kucinich is a US Congressman, and head of the Progressive Caucus in Congress.

Carol Mosley Braun is a former Ambassador and US Senator.

Al Sharpton is a dedicated social activist and black leader.

Look at the other candidates at http://www.politics1.com/p2004.htm

Other than Gov. Dean, Sen. Kerry, Sen. Edwards, Sen. Lieberman, Gen. Clark, Rep. Gephardt, and Pres. Bush, no one else has that credibility.

[Nederland]

9. You didn't answer the question

What metric are you using to determine if a candidate is "credible"?

[Cocoa]

10. for me, it's subjective

no metric. Anyway, Sharpton revealed the fallcay of objective measures anyway, and he did it hilariously. :-)

[Ficus]

29. what do you want

So do you mean in terms of "I think that only people who have raised at least 5 million dollars should be able to debate." No, I won't set a "credible" bar for fundraising.

Nor polling. I think polls at this time don't mean a whole lot, since no one besides junkies like us are really paying attention.

But the CREDENTIALS of our candidates (the 9 major ones) give them credibility, in addition to their party affiliation.

[goodhue]

11. Beside the point

In this case an ABC producer/reporter was assigned to cover DK. No one has suggested that this was full-time coverage, but the reporter was assigned to DK and had discussions with the campaign on Dec 9 to facilitate future coverage including set up of an interview in Iowa next week. Then the debate took place and the next day ABC pulled the reporter. It's called retaliation. Talk about metrics is CYA.

http://www.kucinich.us/pressreleases/pr_121003.php

[Nederland]

12. Not just DK

Your assertion that the decision was retaliatory does not explain why Sharpton and Braun were also dropped.

[redqueen]

13. Oh come on

Like they're dumb enough to make it that obvious.

This makes it easier to get rid of the two most dangerous candidates: DK & Al.

[goodhue]

18. um

Did you watch the debate? Koppel alleged all three were "vanity" candidates wasting resources and Kucinich stood up for the whole field to great applause. Of course they pulled coverage of Sharpton and Braun as well, since they are part and parcel of the alleged no-hopers. Edwards is more fortunate because of his big bucks, since as Ted pointed out he ain't got much poll presence either. In any event, polls are a ridiculous metric for assigning coverage as standing in the polls largely reflects name recognition which is dependent on coverage. It's a BS Catch-22 and it does not withstand serious examination.

[diamondsoul]

20. Yes it does.

Sharpton was less strident than Kucinich but still a forceful voice against the assinine behavior of the media, and CMB was civil but critical. Those three are the biggest threat to corporate media interests and they know it.

[redqueen]

14. How about interest in their positions?

Just an idea off the top of my head... haven't really thought hard about it but it seems fair.

You've seen the polls: a majority of people favor single payer healthcare, so if a candidate features that as part of their stance on the issues, you cover 'em.

Similarly with other issues you can gauge how many Americans would be interested in their message.

Anyone know the stats on how many people still think free trade is a good idea? :)

Another idea might be to cover the candidates that get the best response from the audience. Not too counter-intuitive, is it? :)

[Nederland]

16. That is actually a sensible metric

Thanks.

[info being]

23. Back that post up with some references...

and let's start a campaign to send this to widely to the media.

[diamondsoul]

15. Well ow about covering the 9 involved in ALL

the major States and the Debates? Yeesh! I don't think it's too much to ask that the 9 Democratic candidates get halfway decent coverage....F*CK NADER gets more coverage than Kucinich, Sharpton and CMB and he's NOT RUNNING so far! Gee, kinda reminds me of the leg-up Clark had before he announced. (no offense to Clark supporters intended because I like him, I just think the coverage has been lousy, and now even he's getting it.*sigh*)

[info being]

27. I can't believe you side with big media

Are you really that gullible?

[DinkyDem]

32. The criteria should be that they are running

for the nomination.

If you think there should be some percentage of support they meet in the polls, then Edwards should be taking Reverend Sharpton's place.

And that percentage would have to be pretty arbitrary with no purpose other than to target certain candidates.
If they want to target Sharpton then they'll have to take Kerry down with him. And with Sharpton's rise in the rolls and everyone else (except Dean's) downward spiral, I'd say within a month they'll have to dropp covering ALL of the candidates except for Dean.

The Big Money Media (and many here) would love that. Then they could run their Dean coronation unobstructed.

[Nederland]

38. Problem Is

there are over 400 people running for the Dem nomination. You probably didn't know that because the media decided not to cover all of those running. Since I never heard anyone complaining before, I wonder what the fuss is all about now.

[Cocoa]

17. this defensiveness isn't warranted

This response is way too arrogant. The fact is, Kucinich raised a very good point, ABC should just buck it up, they got busted.

[info being]

22. Ted's questions were bait

The candidates didn't bite the bate, they bit the fisherman. Serves him right.

[info being]

21. Here's a gem

"We don't want to play any role in deciding who the Democratic Party will nominate. But based on the totality of our reporting, we believe it is necessary to make certain the candidates who are more likely to win the nomination and therefore the White House get covered as well in a way that will help voters make their decisions."

- We don't wnat to decide who the party will nominate
- Based on OUR REPORTING, we decide to cover some candidates more than others.
- That will help voters make their decisions.

I can't seem to follow that thought pattern. Who writes this rambling shit?

[MuseRider]

25. That one had my head

spinning for a while. From news people? Makes sense these days I guess. To them at any rate.

[goodhue]

26. yes brilliant

The logic is transparently tortured. What a joke. Nothing new though, its basically the same rationilization for ignoring DK for 6 months now. DK not likely to win so coverage not helpful to voters so DK not likely to win so coverage not helpful to voters so DK not likely to win . . . please help -- I'm trapped and I can't get out.

[littlejoe]

30. I'm sure if Kucinich

starts polling better, it will change. But again, it is another of a multitude of instances where the news media is trying to shape the news.

[goodhue]

31. catch-22 again

DK is not likely to poll much better without media coverage. It is that simple. A month ago he was unfamiliar to two-thirds of likely democratic voters in NH primary. Why were they not familiar with him? Because there has been little coverage other than last paragraph kissoffs that he is a fringe longshot looking for a date. Maybe he will get some steam for this week but will hardly compare to what a newsweek cover can do for poll standings.

[dpbrown]

34. "What we did" doesn't absolve "what we're gonna do"

This is a whitewash attempt by a network that's attempting to pick the nominee for the people.

TAKE BACK THE MEDIA!

[IndianaGreen]

39. What pukes, comparing Kucinich with Ralph Nader!

Kucinich's views on foreign policy, defense spending, corporate influence, trade, the politics of meaning, and social welfare are all quite similar to those of his friend Ralph Nader.

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

Never mind that not one single vote has been cast! ABC News now engages in the sort of journalism that made William Loeb's Union Leader in Manchester, NH infamous.