Response from a Miami Herald Reporter. Any suggestions on how to respond?

[KaryninMiami]

This is the third letter I've written to him. This time I send links to the hearing, other snips and links from stories, etc I asked why the Herald thought it more important to have on the front page, a story about the sexual crimes of a local weatherman, then the fact that 57,000 reports of voter irregularites were presented to the GAO by a group of Congresspersons, etc. Also mentioned the MSM not wanting to take on the story, etc.

Would love to hear your suggestions on how I should respond. Here is what he wrote back to me:

"Not interested? Do you think that the publishers, even of newspapers that endorsed Kerry, are conspiring to prevent reporters from reporting election fraud? This newspaper dispatched reporters to investigate allegations of irregularities in Florida. We found nothing substantial. I've seen nothing out of Ohio that indicates the election was stolen. If some actual evidence show up, it will be reported. This notion of a conspiracy, that we're being prevented from the reporting, is just mindless. I'm close friends of the executive editor and managing editor of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Both were editors at the Herald. Both are very good at what they do. Both would take a story of fraud, if there was proof, and run with it. I've talked to them about the returns. I'm convinced that you don't have the goods."

[imenja]

1. point out that it is a matter of the integrity of the Democratic process

not simply whether the election was stolen. Voting systems need to be accurate and transparent if Americans are to have confidence in them, if the outcome of elections is to be seen as fully legitimate.
Making charges about the election being stolen makes it easier for the editors and reporters to dismiss you as a conspiracy theorist. What we have now are a number of questions and concerns about voting irregularities. Impress upon them that their responsibility to the American people means they need to seek out answers to those questions.
That's my suggestion.

[berniew1]

6. This is fully documented and significant: Systematic Voter Suppression

Documentation of Widespread Systematic Voter Suppression in Ohio

Stealing Votes in Columbus http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/columbus.htm
Stealing Votes in Cleveland http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/cleveland.htm

www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp?sort=date&selectstate=OH&selectproblemtype=ALL

[imenja]

15. stealing requires intent

I appreciate the link you provided. I'm not saying that it is not possible, or even probable, that Republicans didn't fix the election, but the source you provided doesn't establish clear proof of intentional fraud. It points to a number of irregular numbers that clearly need to be investigated, and the authors says he EXPECTS that Kerry will gain substantial votes when a recount is completed. This may very well be true, but journalists or others who don't already believe the election was fixed won't be persuaded by that report.
Proof of stealing would require some sort of testimony by someone involved in the process: an official who said he was instructed to change votes, etc... Perhaps the recount will provide that proof, but I myself have not seen persuasive evidence thus far. (Again, that doesn't mean I don't think it could be found).
My point is--and has been for sometime--one of strategy. Acerbic letters and phone calls making broad claims are not as persuasive as more measured questions. The tone of the Miami Herald's reporter reflects a frustration at his being accused of neglecting his duty to the public. He can more easily dismiss people who make charges of deliberate electoral theft as conspiracy theorists than more carefully framed arguments that lay out the nature of the existing evidence and the questions and concerns that it poses.

[UVASAM1]

29. good post

[nmoliver]

2. I'd reply like this:

Proof? What was the proof of Whitewater wrongdoing? What was the proof of WMD's in Iraq? What was the proof that Saddam Hussein was tied to 9/11? What was your proof that the Paula Jones case had credibility or validity? Did you keep these stories out of your newspaper until you had tried the case and proved it? What proof did you have that the election was stolen in Ukraine? The exit polls? Yeah? Did you keep that from your newspaper because you didn't see the proof?

You don't need to have proof of wrongdoing to report that thousands of people are actively questioning the legitimacy of this election, that there have been congressional hearings with testimony and witnesses and statistics and data, that there have been FOIA lawsuits to get audit logs of the computers, that Mitofsky has refused to hand over his raw data but has admitted that he changed his methodology late on November 2 to conform to the tallies.

You are not the judge and jury of the news, passing verdicts on it before it makes the front page. You are obligated to report the sides of the story, the controversies, so that your readers know that these differences of opinion are ripping at the fabric of our society.

What you are confessing here is that you are setting yourself up as censors, suppressing information about vital controversies going on in our society because you already have your opinion about it.

My friends, that is not your job!

[Paligal]

7. FANTASTIC!!!!!! Everyone should send this response letter to media

Keep this kicked!

[Chili]

8. excellent reply

...yeah, say that too, LOL!

[Patsy Stone]

10. That was phenomenal! Go, YOU! n/t

[dmac]

19. Whoa! You are GOOD!

Have you applied at any major media outlets lately?

[joeunderdog]

25. The Story is that they refuse to produce verifiable data.

We would all just go away if the system was designed to head off these conspiracies. Make a machine that validates votes. Why on earth wouldn't they want to do this? Democrats understandably point to conflicts of interest by Republican machine-makers and react with reasonable suspicion. They invite challenges by designing a system that leaves everyone wondering how they know whether all votes have been counted.


"Voters Demand Proof"
The absence of this is a controversy worth covering.

[bardgal]

26. GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!

nmoliver!!!!! FUCK YES!!!!!! THAT ROCKS!!!!

[pointsoflight]

35. Nice, very nice. n/t

[KerryReallyWon]

37. Excellent!! Yes, it needs to go to the media.

I for one, will do it. I have a good list.

[Scout1071]

40. Most Excellent

Post mmoliver. Welcome to the boards from another newbie!

[Wiley50]

3. KOOL-AID MAKES YOU BLIND! n/t

[Celebration]

4. my favorite

I suppose he is familiar with the Warren County lockdown. No fraud proven there yet. Of course it is fraud, IMHO, to have fewer voting machines in poor areas, but don't expect that to catch his attention. They are in the business of selling newspapers, so the fraud has to have a little more drama.

This could be dramatic-- getting the cards mixed up in precincts that voted in the same location. And this COULD be proven if we could get the undervotes BY PRECINCT.

See this thread, and point your newfound friend to it--

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x106743

[Chili]

5. then why are they COMPLETELY IGNORING the...

..very obvious and easily provable VOTER SUPPRESSION in Ohio? This is ludicrous! NO EVIDENCE? Voter suppression was the key!

I'm so mad now I could spit.

Send them this link and tell them to get off their fat asses and REPORT ABOUT THE SUPPRESSION! CHRIST!

http://shadowbox.i8.com/Suppression/ohio/ohiomachines.htm

Not railing at you, I'm just sick to death of hearing that excuse! If WE can find this out from our chairs in our offices and homes without a single source or any power of investigation nor funds to do anything, THEY CAN.

Plain Dealer my ass! That's my paper and they endorsed Bush and have been right-wing for decades.

[marions ghost]

23. Yes, this is an EXCELLENT link to send to newspapers...

I think the link suggested above by chili is THE one to send to editors and reporters. Of course there are others, but if you can only send one link, send this one--it's very good for a quick overview and easy to navigate. Has a lot of good info.

http://shadowbox.i8.com/Suppression/ohio/ohiomachines.h...

[Patsy Stone]

9. Cause Bill Kamal

is not just a local weatherman. He's on THE PLEX! My goodness, have you SEEN Rick Sanchez on CNN? I turned the TV on the other morning and there he was, chatting with Soledad and Jack Cafferty. Oh.My.God.

Miss Kamal's scandal is big, but I know you knew that. :)

Ask him about the kids at UM who were in line until past midnight.
Ask him about the fact that Kerry was up in Miami in the polls 62% - 30 something, and the final out come was much, much closer.
Ask him for the damned exit poll raw data. Didn't Knight-Ridder subscribe?
Ask him if he's sure his vote counted. If he says yes, ask him how he knows. If he doesn't know, ask him why doesn't he know, shouldn't one know? Ask him if he thinks that's wrong.
Ask him if there's nothing wrong in Ohio, why there are so many people filing lawsuits? Ask him if Kenneth Blackwell should have ducked that Congressional Forum. Ask him if voting is an important, nay, integral part of our democracy and shouldn't it be protected at all costs?

Sorry, ranting...

[KaryninMiami]

17. Rant away! Sanchez on CNN= surprised me too!!.

Pretty funny. On October I wrote screaming that the day they bombed the green zone in Iraq and Bush admitted there were no WMD's (it was a Friday) the big cover story in the Herald was the Diana Exhibit in Broward County. I was so mad I almost drove over there personally to scream. Today we have Bill Kamal's dick story on the front cover and millions of people who didn't have their votes count as they had intended and evidence of fraud. What a world.

Where are you Patsy? I assume you're somewhere in Miami, right?

[Patsy Stone]

20. Yes'm

Miami Beach. The Happiest Island in the World. Do I...know you? :)

[Patsy Stone]

22. Also...

Don't GET me started on Sanchez...I love that man. He is the world's worst newscaster. Fuck up, Move up. The guy he hit is still dead, you know... Rick, squatting over that map, will always remain one of the funniest things ever. Please, I could go on and on...

[understandinglife]

11. That reporter is frightened. And, you've already got plenty...

...from what others have already written in comments to go back to the reporter with a solid response. And, you might want to include a link to this thread -- if he/she reads it, she/he will confront the fact that we know the response you received is bullshit.

Peace.

"When Did Bush Know?"

[BlueDog2u]

30. include a link to this thread

Yes, please do this. Allow the reporter a chance to see how blinkered he is. Any one of the above or -- presumably-- below responses demonstrate the timid shallowness of his defensive response. It is not for us to provide definitive proof. That is like saying that a trial can't begin before the prosecutor has collected all the evidence and presented it so that we know what the outcome is. The newsworthyness of the issue lies in the very fact that a substantial portion of the electorate is NOT DRINKING THE COOLAID which this reporter is high from. Responsible journalism will report on that because it is a sociological FACT of significance. Newspapers that don't report on it are hiding the TRUTH from their readership because they themselves are so strongly vested in a certain outcome. Shame on them for putting their personal bias above their professional responsibilities as members of the fourth estate! Shame.

[johan helge]

12. Two points:

- He says they will "take a story of fraud, if there was proof, and run with it". Of course! But they can also report other things than PROOFS of FRAUD. They should report about IRREGULARITIES, like e.g. too few voting machines in Democratic precincts. They should report about INDICATIONS of fraud, e.g. the statistical analysis of e-voting in Florida done by the team at Berkeley. Then they could make it clear to the readers what a madness e-voting without a paper trail really is (no descent democracy would even think of implementing such a thing). And they could mention that the people making the e-voting machines are (extremist) Republicans.

- As far as I remember, earlier the Miami Herald did a little recounting, and wrote that this did not indicate anything wrong. But someone here at DU showed that the numbers in the Herald indicated that Kerry could have won Florida! Sorry, I don't have the link.

[marions ghost]

39. Good Points made by johan and...

also what you could do is call him on his claim that the Herald "dispatched reporters to investigate allegations...and they
found nothing substantial." What I heard is that they sent reporters to three Republican counties up in the Panhandle next to Tallahassee where the voting seemed to go exactly as expected. This is obviously NOT where you would expect to find problems. So I would check up on the facts about that little trip and then ask him what OTHER counties they evaluated? If you find anything more on that, post it here because we who follow media would be interested.

I do think that writing these kinds of letters is important, and it is good to have a factual rebuttal to a stonewall reply such as this. Don't feel too frustrated--at least you saw his true colors. You are getting your message out there. Yes, the attitudes of many in mainstream media are shocking. Still we have to chip away. If they don't hear from our side, they'll never get it. Meanwhile, look for new voices.

oh yeah, "liberal media"...:thumbsdown:

[roseBudd]

13. I would tell him that even in punch card counties the tabulation is

done by computer and that the evidence, the punch cars ballots themselves have not been examined.

I would also point out that what Warren County did was illegal and compromised the tabulation. That what Warren County did has not been investigated because the tabulation equipment AND the punch card ballots have not been impounded and examined.

Reporters making phone calls and asking a few questions does not constitute investigation.

[KaryninMiami]

14. Thanks you guys. Sometimes it's so damn frustrating- you've helped a lot

This is like an emotional rollar coaster. It's so clear to me that what we are doing here is the right thing, coming from a place of integrity and justice. So, after writing a heartfelt letter, asking that this issue be taken seriously, a response like this is like a slap in the face and frankly, it stung for a minute. Guess I was being naive to think he'd write back and say "Gosh, you're right- this IS a big story! We'll get on it right away". Sllly me, thinking this was ever going to be easy...

Thanks to all of you. I'll take a deep breath, pour a glass of wine, read back all of your wonderful wise suggestions and write back to him when I am damn ready! :)

[Chili]

16. also...

...not to be crass (okay, I'll be crass), but do they think that Conyers and the HJC pulled the questions to Blackwell out of their butts? The mere fact that he's ignored the letters is news in and of itself! And the arrest of the former congressman - that's news!

What's wrong with these people???????????????

[terry4kerry]

18. this is what bothers me

This is what bothers me..... Why aren't the journalists doing the investigative work that is necessary? I don't want to accuse anyone of being lazy, but the information is there is just takes some work to expand on it. Are they waiting for the AP to hand them the story?

[life_long_dem]

32. Any news reporter that doesn't cover this is a bush supporter. IMHO.

Why would they want to expose their evil master?

P.S. Welcome to DU.

[BlueDog2u]

33. I don't want to accuse anyone of being lazy

The culture we live in is now one that encourages the most pathetic moral and intellecual inertia. The term "conspiracy" has become a kind of drug which is consumed even by reporters whose professional responsibility lies in the shunning of such rosy spectacles. They act like school children whose sensibilities have been dulled through too much repeating of the mantra "show us the proof" -- when anyone who is an adult understands that many real things lack final proof, and that many things constitute the desideratum of investigation which are not final proof. For instance, the facts indicate a widespread and coordinated effort to suppress the poor and African American Vote. Can a conspiracy to effect this end be proven today in a court of law? I'm not sure it can. Is there probable cause to make arrests? HELL YES.

In the end, people like this reporter are just being paid to be lazy. No risk, no danger, the perpetuation of their own, and their employeers, existing stereotypes. It seems like a win-win situation until you pause to examine the needs of democracy, which demands, and thrives on, vigorous debate in THE ABSENCE OF FINAL PROOF. The standard of discourse embraced by this reporter is more appropriate to totalitarianism that Democracy. Is that where he and his cronies want to take us?

[Roger_Otip]

21. here are some links to florida related articles

http://www.legjoints.com/AmericanElectionFraud/Florida/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/demopedia/index.php/Election_Fraud/Florida

human interest type things relating to the experiences of people in florida probably have more chance of success than persuading them to come out and say the election was stolen. what bev harris and black box voting have been doing plus the allegations against tom feeney ought to be news worthy, plus articles like this one:

http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2004/11/17/news/news15.txt

if they're reporting what people have said and experienced they're not putting themselves on the line so much, so i think the thing to do is find some people in florida to speak out - voters, poll workers etc. - do some of the investigation for them. (easier said than done, i know)

[UVASAM1]

24. its tough

you have to find a way to present the evidence in a way that makes your case independently.

i kind of disagree with some of the above sentiments. its going to be waaay too easy for any editor to dismiss a reply with Saddam/WMD/Paula Jones as a bitter partisan who's upset * won. I believe you have to present it in a non-partisan way. We need better evidence from non-partisan sources before they're going to publish anything substantial. Now where that comes from, I'm unsure.

We could start be having more mainstream named Dems to get involved, preferably Senators. Conyers and Jackson dont have credibility on the national stage.

[The Judged]

27. Proof before investigation can begin! The new Journalistic standard!

The end only justifies the means if you are a Republican Revolutionary, otherwise, you need proof in order to refute anything, and the evidence you'll need to prove any claim you have is classified, despite being in the public domain, until you can prove that it proves that your proof is provable and has been irrefutably proven beyond a reasonable or even insurmountable and unreasonable doubt. Got that?

[BlueDog2u]

34. Exactly my point

Only you said it better.

[lonestarnot]

28. Not "not interested" Not smart or went to

Debbie Downer School of Journalism. He must have also attended some repulsive course on, "How to Marginalize Majority of American Population." "Mindless," "Notion of a conspiracy" "close friends" and the "Herald" sound like someone that I could convince that enlisting to go to Iraq would be a great thing for him to do if given 15 minutes. Or maybe he could get a job as a manicure naildryer because it sounds as a reporter...he blows. Sorry I know this is not quite what you're looking for as you were looking for a response to him, but don't waste your time. Your time would be better spent organizing a giant protest at you state capital on Monday. (12/13/04)

[ClintCooper2003]

31. Show him the exit poll data. The Colorado data alone proves it...

[BlueDog2u]

36. Send him here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x124621

The thread documents blatant violations of Ohio election laws. That is proof of a crime. Does he care that our elected officials can with apparent impunity violate the laws of their state in pursuit of the "new morality"?

[stillcool]

38. Blowback from Rather-gate?

I think the media in general are scared of the backlash from messing with the rethugs. I heard Al Franken saying today something about publishers being fined a cool million for printing anything that would be an aid to the enemy. Thanks to our Homeland Security BS.
And with all our enemys....kind of limits the subject matter.

[trudyco]

41. So that's how they will suppress the media

It's a little unfair to call reporters lazy. Given that every media outlet wants to show healthy profits they may very well be understaffed and thus overworked/underpaid. Some are lazy and they all rely on the AP too much which is, as we know, headed up by right wing conservatives.

I'm impressed the reporter wrote back. Of course there are irregularities that can be reported without too much effort without shouting "Fraud". The Voteprotect.org site has a lot of interesting stuff. You start looking at that site and wonder if ANY of the machines worked. They obviously didn't go through enough testing. The 15 pages Conyers sent to Blackwell has lots of stuff. The break in to the Democratic party days before the election in one county in Ohio, the Republican who brazenly walked in and took the poll book at 4 PM in another county, the election workers who have been forced to resign or take a suspension (for messing up one vote? Huh?) in Lucas county, the Homeland Security lockdown.

While we don't have the big fraud nailed yet, though the statistics are telling, I thought there were instances of witnesses to local fraud that may point to a larger systematic fraud. The way the FBI has avoided investigating allegations of people who actually witnessed fraud is interesting.

I hope the reporter finds a way to report this. One in 5 people who voted don't think the system worked. The rest don't know all the issues with the machines. Yet. When this comes out we are going to remember who reported it and who didn't. We'll be cleaning up shop. There's a lot of us, a lot more than 2000, and we're furious.

trudyco