Why are networks ignoring the elections?
Why are networks ignoring the elections?
An editorial today in the industry publication Broadcasting & Cable sharply criticizes the television networks for foregoing primary election coverage:
[A]t a time when voters have turned out in record numbers in the first two primary states, broadcast news divisions have ceded live coverage to their cable brethren. Neither CBS nor NBC interrupted primetime schedules to air meaningful coverage of the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primaries. [...]
ABC News has been the only broadcast network to step up to the plate. And viewers are paying attention. Back-to-back primetime debates on Saturday Jan. 5 attracted big audiences. More than 7 million people watched the Republican debate, and an impressive 9.36 million tuned in to the Democrats. [...]
In the primaries yet to come, particularly with the strike crippling network television, the future of the country is one reality show with a built-in audience. Broadcast networks should serve it.
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Only the moronic Right-wing loyalists are watching network coverage in the first place, and the networks already know which way they’re going to vote. What’s the point of preaching to those outside the choir.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:32 pmTV = Totally Vacant [syn: boob tube, idiot box]
Classification: Weapon Of Mass Distraction
Television, The Drug of the Nation
January 14th, 2008 at 12:34 pmNeither CBS nor NBC interrupted primetime schedules to air meaningful coverage of the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primaries.
THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE MEANINGLESS!!!!
the so called top tier candidates are 100% JUNK!
January 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pmOur entire system is so messed up it defies description.
We should move to a completely different structure, modeled on the British, who campaign for six weeks, under tightly controlled venues, with little or no advertisement.
Take the election process out of the corporate media’s hands and back in the people’s.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:37 pmWrong, at least because; Allow the broadcasters to ignore everything. They have all ready been a part of changing the FCC by having their own tool installed to have all the laws changed. If there is no martial law declared, then there will be massive and overwhelming change that will presumably put the original laws back in play. You could buy a license for a radio station not that long ago and put up your own. That was what the law intended, for radio to be a public source of information.
Now it is a way to play commercials and the computer in charge can’t tell you about that tornado coming right at you. It has no protocol to override the advertising.
Let them destroy themselves. there is nothing worth saving that can’t be picked up by others willing to either entertain, or be the source for real and factual information for their community.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:43 pmThe media is actually manipulating the election, not ignoring it, unless you are cosidering them ignoring candidates other than the “front runner” media darlings and keeping all but the “front runners” from debates before the primaries are even over. Hell they were doing this before the primaries began.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:45 pmRoger Ailes knows their programming is about thought conditioning, not information access.
Hammer the same message, even if wrong or unsubstantiated, to all the people all the time.
Fairness and equal access don’t make money, so it’s ignored. Ever notice how much access the Right Wing Stink Tanks like AEI & Heritage get? That’s not by accident.
The media wants another Bushlicker in office…they aren’t quite finished with what they started. Consider the FCC’s latest ‘policy’ which went directly against congressional input.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pmWhy is MSNBC uninviting candidates?
Why is ABC cropping candidates out of AP photos?
Why did we not see any discussion of the MAELSTROM caused by the apparently now dead and buried impeachment resolution?
Why did Diebold districts almost universally invert the trends of non-Diebold districts in NH and why has this not been covered more in the news?
http://www.FEARandSMEAR.com
January 14th, 2008 at 12:50 pmMaybe the networks are in denial? The question might also be asked, “Why have bloggers lost sight of the subpoena resistors, etc., and focussed so heavily on the primaries?”
January 14th, 2008 at 12:55 pmEver since the television networks made the horrendous (and, IMHO, licensing-terms-violating) decision to make their news divisions be self-sustaining in terms of revenues, the nation has suffered badly. They have the other 23-1/2 hours in a day from which to make all the obscene profits they want. Why don’t they just accept the fact that keeping the public informed is not something you should do for the money, but because it’s the best way to ensure that your citizens can make the best decisions about the important matters that affect their lives.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:56 pmThe media is actually manipulating the election, not ignoring it …
they were doing this before the primaries began.
Comment by Wayne @ 12:45 pm
exactly…
January 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pmPlease read, or at least read the comments of those who have read, the following:
FOUR ARGUMENTS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF TELEVISION
amazon dot com (scroll down for comments/ratings)
wiki
January 14th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Rigged elections are just not that interesting to people, unless you are the curious type that likes to pull the curtains back to see the inner workings of Diebold and Republican operatives who electronically flip votes from the leading candidate to their more corporate choice (7,000,000 Kerry votes were flipped to Bush on election night in the November 2004 Presidential election, while more recently, several thousand Obama votes were flipped to Hillary in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary last week). Well, have fun kids, watching the Bush crime family hack, rig and steal the 2008 Presidential Election for the Republican candidate and then listen to the corporate talking heads and shit-spinners with thier absurd convoluted posterings of why the pre-election polls were wrong, why the exit polls were wrong and why the election results produced by Republican corporations using hackable insecure software were exactly right…
Cheers.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:58 pmBlow up your TV throw away your paper
January 14th, 2008 at 1:02 pmGo to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own – John Prine, American Songwriter
Blow up your TV throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own – John Prine, American Songwriter
Comment by DieNowForPeace — January 14, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught ‘em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus,
people bought ‘em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
– The Last Resort – The Eagles
January 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pmIt’s all about keeping the rabble dumbed down. What are “primaries or caucases” anyway?
January 14th, 2008 at 1:12 pmTelevision: A medium – so called because it is neither rare nor well done. ~Ernie Kovacs
January 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pmCould it be that there won’t be any elections!?
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Would that make you happy, Frank?
January 14th, 2008 at 1:20 pmCould it be that after running through 5 different sock puppets, Frank M finally found one that isn’t banned yet and would allow him to post?
January 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pmCould it be that there won’t be any elections!?
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Look at our proud fascist gloating. It amazes me that some people have no shame.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pm“Neither CBS nor NBC interrupted primetime schedules to air meaningful coverage of the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primaries.
THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE MEANINGLESS!!!!
the so called top tier candidates are 100% JUNK!
Comment by Fan of Man — January 14, 2008 @ 12:36 pm”
And ABC interruped Jeopardy TWICE to tell us they didn’t know anything.
These people are afraid. They’re very afraid.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:25 pmThe elections are nothing but theater for the stupid unwashed masses.
The candidates have already been chosen by the wealthy elite power brokers.
To be concerned with, or participate in the elections, is complete and total foolishness.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pmou give every drooling moron in the sticks an equal vote, your system is doomed.
it’s only doomed when your antiAmerican corporate rightwing party installs a drooling moron as president. America was doing quite well until 2000.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pm#20: I have always been posting under this name. I have no need to hide behind other usernames.
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Frank, wingnuts like you lie first, then cover it up. There is absolutely no reason to believe you.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pmDemocracy is overrated. When you have people who can identify, comprehend and shoulder responsibility not only for their own existence but also for entire nations, and then you give every drooling moron in the sticks an equal vote, your system is doomed.
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Maybe you should move to a country that adheres to this system then and leave our country alone, traitor.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:30 pmI have always been posting under this name. I have no need to hide behind other usernames.
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Sure Jake, whatever.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pmBecause of the writer’s strike? lol
January 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pmIt’s okay with me that the networks aren’t covering the election. I don’t want election coverage wall to wall. It is way too boring already.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pmThe ONLY plausible reason why these primaries are being secret now is due to the hacking which is becoming apparent on the Diebold OptiScan 91w machines in New Hampshire – the exit polls do not match the results of these hackable machines.
The more the public becomes aware of these glaring irregularities state by state, the greater the chance for civil war when the people realize that these sick fascists are committing treason against this democracy.
January 14th, 2008 at 1:58 pmKucinich is gaining support and traction in his demand for a hand count due to the sampling of great inconsistencies between the hand-counted paper ballots and the opti scan hacked count totals.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pm#19: Democracy is overrated. When you have people who can identify, comprehend and shoulder responsibility not only for their own existence but also for entire nations, and then you give every drooling moron in the sticks an equal vote, your system is doomed.
Comment by Frank M — January 14, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Remind us again why you don’t live in Putin’s Russia, Frank. You’d fit right in, up until the people in charge decided you didn’t.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pmDemocracy is overrated.
Comment by Frank M
Wrong. Democracy is non-existent.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:23 pmUmmm… you think it may have something to do with the fact that almost all media outlets are now owned by only a handful of corporate conglomerates, all republican backers, that benefit from having a dumbed-down electorate?
Zappa said it best:
I am gross and perverted
Im obsessed n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you cant look away
I make you think Im delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin out
From your tv set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we dont need you
Dont got for help…no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
Thats right, folks..
Dont touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin along on your livinroom floor
I am the slime from your video
January 14th, 2008 at 2:24 pmCant stop the slime, people, lookit me go
Why do you think they call it “programming”? Because it is used to program the masses, silly. In my mind, the less TV coverage is given to the bloodthirsty war criminals who fully dominate the top tier of both parties, the more likely it is that people will learn about the candidates on their own initiative, and as a result, support people who they think are best qualified on the basis of their actual positions, rather than on the basis of horse-race logic, or a beauty contest.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:45 pmComparing the debates to “reality shows” is appropriate. But why are the hosts of the reality shows so much more astute than the moderators and pundits covering the debates?
January 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pmIt’s such a hard question. Lets see. IF X amount of people want to watch coverage of the elections.
Covered by Y number of stations, the number of viewers per station = X /Y
The number of viewers when
Y=1, is X
Y=2, is X/2
Y=3, is X/3
Y=4, is X/4
Y-5, is X/5
etc.
Guess that why, X/4 and X/5 is not enough viewers.
Plus, our government psy-ops division can only micro-manage the coverage of just so many stations. Give them a break.
The NH election just showed how our elections are no better, if not worse than those in the banana republics, despite this being 8 years after the 2000 fiasco and 4 years after the 2004 equally corrupt election. Like Stalin said, it ain’t the voters that vote who matter, it’s who counts the votes.
Chavez orders the same Diebold machines, but he ordered his machines to have the optional (added charge) printer. So when they vote in Venezuela, the machine prints out the voters vote, which they drop in a ballot box. If anyone questions the machine count , say, fearing the CIA may have hacked into the machines and because the exit polls did not match the results, then they hand count the votes in the ballot box.
In the US, when the exit polls do not match the actual results, people scratch their head, well maybe the people lied about their vote, or forgot who they voted for, or maybe the exit polls are not accurate (always were before 2000). No way for us to check if the machine vote was accurate anyways. Guess thats the way our vote counters like it.
Fifty years from now events of today will be whitewashed, like our own history of WW II and earlier is. Someone might write a conspiracy book and inform the reader that the machines that were used in elections could be hacked, and they didnt even print out the votes so an independent hand count could verify the machine votes. If such a book could be even be published then, which is doubtful, then people would ridicule the book and hang the author because they all know conspiracies do not exist and no country would be so stupid to do this unless they were run by dictators who want to fix the outcome of elections. But this is Bush country, and “In Bush We Trust”, he was after all, the founding father of the Global Republic of Unions and our own North American Union, and such a great man would never allow such nonsense. To imply such a great man was a traitor or dictator is not allowed, and even attempting to think about it let alone write a book would set off alarms throughout the mind monitoring network and bring the Blackwater Thought Police to root out the throught criminals.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:02 pmBecause the Dems are ahead and they have been worshipping the GOPs for many years now.. It just won’t look right and will encourage the Dems to be voted for….
January 15th, 2008 at 1:26 pmWhat world is this post living in?
It’s friggin wall to wall coverage. I can’t escape it.
make it stop.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:20 pm