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Edited on Mon Aug-02-04 09:25 AM by PATRICK
In my job, many local newspapers pass by so I at least see the headlines(which is pretty weakly supported by the short articles from mostly wire services, mostly AP. Not surprisingly, substance not performance dominates the articles. reliance on AP guarantees the trolls space to dis the Dems, give sourpussed critiques, etc., ignore the excitement, the message, etc. This is only sad because of the abbreviated substance which to a fervent democrat's eyes does no justice whatsoever to the campaign kickoff. No, unfortunately the truncated meeting with the national public spoiled by a dissipated plethora of even shorter and more slanted TV and radio coverage is almost wholly put off to the debates, themselves ruined as much as possible.
Incidentally, the worst newspapers in our hour of glory have to be the Washington Times that totally trashed us as usual, followed by the NYT with its global edition balancing off Bush's working the crowds(an unsettling, unappealing lot) equally against a report showing Kerry/Edwards, the WP in depth fault finding as usual, and overall the choice of AP reporters depressing any good points sometimes going the extra mile for the champ chimp. A few reporters got miffed at the convention for personal reasons they could not overcome. Some were very excited and upbeat. A few newspapers juxtaposed local stories, my favorite being one about a manure problem(We're number one in Manure!), which, if ironically intended, was not taken full advantage of.
If only a candidate could reach the nation from the stump and the news media actually note the size and volatility of the crowds, the authenticity of the candidate and message, the utter horror and misery of Bush/Cheney! You only lose your voice and get labeled "weak", "invisible" by the media pantheon.
Letting the weakened newspapers(truncated, chain blended, commercialized), competing bloated entertainment outlets with Conservative moguls beholden to Bush, and Clear Channel hate propagandists, have free reign over the national right to have a political forum is a blight upon democracy. All the media in the past, with a tradition of a united audience with a fairly common 9-5 work schedule settling down with the paper and the evening news from a couple of outlets worked more like our triad of national nuclear defense. Now they are a titlliating, disenfranchising fog as much by nature as intention, with richer choices actually working against national exposure of the responsible citizen to the real world. Now it is hard to get at any of the problems, but the problems have an easier time getting at us.
Yet the papers are fair at least in their intention. NC papers tout Edwards, their native son and other states their own. Those not sourly deadened thrilled to Obama's speech. NY loved the Clintons and for the most part gives very good press. The excitement however, the sense of national bounce even lousy candidates got in the past has somehow been missing or suppressed. For a lot of that you can thank reliance on newswires. perhaps the press felt under siege either from unacknowledged collective guilt(hah) or being GOPers in enemy territory(oddly in the past it used to be that reporters showed themselves gamer even though uncomfortable in the GOP slick, conservative shows).
From what I saw and what was in the past, the message that Bush must go, the reality of the Democratic party, the enormous disparity in the issues and the reality of the terrible Bush WH versus quality Democrats has contained the bounce that logic would say would finish Bush immediately. Like someone who had never seen F9/11 and takes WH spin for data and gospel, the national media and much of their audience has not even seen the chasm that separates them from us.
The breaking point might have been reached, but the time of the collapse of the Bush numbers has not arrived suddenly. That containment has been rendered possible by lack of exposure of the public. It is not the fault of the Dems programming their Convention, whatever failings in substance and discussion resulted. We have let the national forum dissipate and disappear. The USA is MIA, but slowly, with great energy and persistence, it must be found.
This is not going to be a cakewalk if we think that that ah yes! this revelation will do Bush in! or now people must see Kerry/Edwards as the unquestionably natural and great choice! There is no easy arena no single spotlight to bring that about.
It does little good to get mad at the whole bunch, as the Right absurdly has in its contradictory terming of the tamed beast as liberal. I think working the local radio and papers and in organized fashion seeing how they report(not the useless big shot electronic gurus) is more doable than people think despite the variety and the numbers of papers. It is a better way of circumventing the conglomerates even now and at the same time getting some mirror and contact with the local communities.
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