The Buzz Blog

Normally, we put our reader comments in the mailbag (or the ones we can fit, since we receive more than 1000 e-mails a day).  But we thought that it would be timely to post a few selected e-mails indicating how our readers feel about the media coverage of the Democratic Convention.

Warning, we got some angry readers.  It could get nasty:

Dear Buzzflash, 

I am disgusted with the TV networks lousy coverage of the Democratic Convention.  Many people do not have cable, they rely on the networks for their news.   (What a joke!) 

After all the disappointing news coverage inthe last few years, finally the Democrats would be heard.  Many fine speeches were cut.  On the morning news the networks chose to show you what they decided after they edited everything down to nothing.  Katie Curic's BIG deal was a baseball field!

At a time of war EVERY American NEEDS to understand all the issues before they vote. Our networks thought that we should be watching old TV reruns.    It was said that there were more reporters at the Convention than delegates.  Watching the network news, you would NEVER believe it!  I just wonder how the networks will be covering the Republican Convention! I think we have lost another civil right - freedom of the press.

Disgusted
Connie Dirig

****

Dear Buzz,

So I flip on the TV this morning and start making my way through all the news shows. First stop I see E.D. Hill interviewing the Beltway Boys. So I stop because I see they are talking about Teresa Heinz. Oh, she's "self-indulgent", one says. The other concurs. I know, I know, why am I watching Fox anyways.

Next on the dial is MSNBC. There's Don Imus and his group of cronies showing footage of Elizabeth and John Edwards last night. But wait, they're not actually talking about anything important, they are making fat jokes about Elizabeth. "She eats to medicate," they say. Howls of laughter as usual. Where do they come up with such hilarity?

So I have been awake for 10 minutes and already I have heard the nominees' wives called fat and self-indulgent!

Let's try CNN. Oh wait there's Bob Novak, no thanks.

On to Katie and Matt. There's Katie interviewing Rudy Giuliani and he's calling John Kerry "the most liberal Democrat in the Senate" (only the thousandth time I've heard that one, and it's not even true), "flip-flopper," the usual, and there's Katie smiling and bothering not to probe further. She smiles and lets him go.

Bush doesn't even have to advertise or even bother with his GOP rapid response team. He's got Imus making the physical appearance jokes. He has Fox's cronies working around the clock to bash the candidates and anyone else that is associated with them. Oh, and Katie to ask the tough questions to the Dems and respectfully lets the Republicans make their points.

So I fire up the computer and there's Buzz, a friendly name. Ahhh, that's better.

Thanks, yall. You made my morning better. Tomorrow morning I'll come to the comp first and forget the TV all together.

Liselle Laraby

****

Again last night attempted to listen some of the Convention commentary on CNN, flipping back and forth from CSPAN to CNN. Finally gave it up because the only commentary CNN was providing during the Democratic National Convention was right wing hacks slinging their right wing mud at everything the Dems were doing and saying.

I don't know about the rest of the world but I am fed up with CNN and the bias of their anchors and their pseudo news reports! They might as well incorporate with FOX NEWS because the caliber of their reporting is the same.

Barbara (as in "The Daily Buzz")

****

Hi Guys,

I think what we need to do about the media, is start calling them the right wing media. No more "liberal media" start calling them what they really are.

I tried to watch the convention on PBS, but sadly they have to come in with comments after each speech, (as if we do not know what has been said), and tear the speech apart.

I am sorry that I missed Obama's speech, I hear it was sensational. I had to work the election in my precinct on that day. Hopefully I will find a transcript of it somewhere.

And isn't John Edwards refreshing after these boring illiterates in residence now. Boy could we use someone that can talk without a script and answer real questions, (which I am sure the right wing media will throw at them).

Shows we have brains! I also enjoyed the Howard Dean interview, he gave them the what for too.

Go Progressives, (we need to get a new word for liberal) and this could be it.

After all the right wing nuts keep changing the meaning of our words all the time, and then keep repeating them over and over and over. We can do the same thing.

Thanks for all the hard work Buzzflash. Could not make it without you guys.

Kay
Oklahoma

****

the media uses the republican talking points to promote their own agenda. they know very well why kerry voted against the 87 billion, they just like to pretend kerry flip flopped. it's like the al gore inventing the Internet, the media knew he never said it but they followed the repug talking points. cnn is getting worse and worse. they act like the want to be fox news. so all we have left is msnbc. we need another news network.

diane a
miami

 
****

And if you haven't read the reader contribution by Becky Burgwin, here are some excerpts:

"I Have Two Words for the American Media: SHOVE IT!"
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/07/con04318.html

Pat Buchanan came right out and said it. When asked how Teresa Heinz-Kerry’s retort to an editor of the Tribune Review compares to our VP telling Patrick Leahy, "Go F**K yourself," on the senate floor...Buchanan actually had the gall to say, "Well, an argument between two guys is understandable. But this woman needs to be watched. You know she has this huge fortune and she’s uppity and Americans need to keep an eye on her. She’ll come off in stark contrast to Laura Bush." Boy, that may be the smartest thing he’s ever said. She’ll come off as a stark contrast to Laura Bush. She’ll come off in stark contrast to Laura Bush alright. A talking parrot would come off in stark contrast to Laura Bush. My cat, Dewey, would come off in stark contrast to Laura Bush. A Stepford wife would come off in stark contrast to Laura Bush...well, you get the idea.

And if I have to listen to Chris Matthews ask one more person what they think of Teresa Kerry’s comment, I am going to throw something at the television. I think I’m finally convinced once and for all that he is a hack and really doesn’t have much to add to the political landscape right now. She was talking to a reporter from the Tribune Review, Chris. You know, The Tribune Review...owned by Richard Mellon Scaife. Earlier, you asked the women senators, "If Bill Clinton was such a good president, why was he impeached?" I have three words for you...RICHARD-MELLON-SCAIFE. Richard Mellon Scaife is a very dangerous man and he bankrolled the vast right wing conspiracy against Bill Clinton. Teresa has been misquoted and harassed by this newspaper for over 20 years. What she said was funny and insulting and not foul or dirty. She, unlike our current VP, has class.

If MSNBC can’t be trusted not to flog something like this to death when we’re on the eve of the most important election in the country’s history, then we’re in a lot of trouble. The American media seems to have evolved into a useless institution that is completely incapable of separating the wheat from the chaff. This is very scary.

Teresa has used her money and her brains and her heart consistently for good, for the environment, for those less fortunate and to keep the image of America as a giving, honest and altruistic country alive. DO NOT LET THE MEDIA TEAR HER APART. Don’t listen when they say "Beware. She’s a powerful, outspoken women with money." Tell everyone within earshot that this is 2004 and that powerful, outspoken women are not called bitches anymore. They’re called Governor, Chief Executive Officer, Senator, Supreme Court Justice and, yes, kick ass fighters. Pop culture is full of tough women. Hermione in Harry Potter...the smartest, the toughest and the bravest. Buffy...one tough cookie and the leader of this trend, our hero, Sigourney Weaver.

****

Dear Buzz,

Becky Burgwin's guest contribution, "I Have Two Words for the American Media: SHOVE IT!" is dead accurate. I am absolutely sick of all the mainstream media. I do not trust them one iota and I hold them in utter contempt.

The moral development of these media personalities has not progressed beyond grade seven, apparently. The attacks on Teresa Heinz Kerry would be laughable for their idiocy, but these resentful and unimaginative people seem to have to mob someone every other week. And they say women are mean! (Note that most of these attacks are led by very unattractive, threatened men--I include Ann Coulter in that group--often physically unattractive, but always attitudinally and characterologically unattractive.)

Here is a definition from the website of Mobbing USA. Mobbing is: 
 
EMOTIONAL ABUSE in the workplace.

"Ganging up" by co-workers, subordinates or superiors to force someone out of the workplace through rumor, innuendo, intimidation, humiliation, discrediting, and isolation.

Malicious, nonsexual, nonracial, general harassment.

Mobbing is central to the power-assertive tactics of Republicans. They cannot make a substantive critique of ideas because they are intellectually and morally limited, so they turn to a kind of gang-like intellectual and emotional bullying.

I began to figure out, when journalism melted down for once and for all after September 11th and we arrived at the neo-fascist synthesis of recent history that led us to invade Iraq for no good reason, that Democrats and liberals were acting like abused spouses. They acted chronically humiliated and psychologically beaten. They had internalized the endless shaming and taunting.

They seemed to spend all their time anticipating and ducking the next attack (when they weren't participating in attacking themselves). Of course, this behavior is the result of thirty years of psychological bludgeoning. Is it any wonder many of us are so angry?

I think it's possible that by the next election cycle the TV media will decrease in prominence and importance, while the Internet and independent media rise in importance. A lot of these people will lose their jobs. In the meantime, we must organize against them. They have failed in their public responsibility and as far as I am concern they have no right to use our airwaves.

A Buzzflash Reader

 
****

And then there is our reader contribution by Ruth Lopez, here are some excerpts:

"Note to Tom Brokaw: Why I get my hard news from Jon Stewart"
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/07/con04315.html

Sunday morning, wanting to see some of the run-up to the Democratic convention, I turned on CNN. There was Judy Woodruff, talking to a Kerry spokesperson. In thanking him for the interview, for her closing line, she said, "Spoken like a true, loyal Kerry man." Did I hear that right, I thought? Because it sounded to me like a backhanded way to imply that he said what he said just because he works for Kerry? A sly way to discredit the speaker; slip in the line, close the segment.

Then, because the Republicans have a "rapid response war room" at the Dems' convention, Ms. Woodruff interviewed one of the ex-Enron lobbyists that now have jobs shilling for Cheney/Bush. I waited to see how she would close the interview with him. First, I had to listen to the same old tired list of Republican "talking point" lies: Kerry voted to raise taxes 350 times (lie), Kerry is a flip flopper (lie), Kerry is the most liberal senator (lie, but I wouldn't care if he was). On and on, and not once did Ms. Woodruff challenge or question the statements made. When he was done, she thanked him sweetly for his time, as if it had been a burden for him to have had to do all that heavy lifting for lil ol' her. Yuck. I turned to MSNBC. No better. They were all so excited to have a "rabid response team" throwing them treats that they were practically salivating on their mics.

Later in the day, while watching CSPAN, there was Ms. Woodruff again, along with a panel of other esteemed TV news professionals: Brokaw, Jennings, Rather. They were discussing the sad state of news reporting during the lead up to war. Yes, they admitted that they all reported the war build-up wrong. They didn't ask hard enough questions. They were cowed by an aggressive and hostile administration. They were afraid to buck the hyper patriotism in the lead-up to the war.

Then, I almost choked on my pretzel, Brokaw bemoaned the fact that so many young people think that The Daily Show is an acceptable way to get real news.

Note to Brokaw, Jennings, et al. You didn't just misreport the insane drive to start an unnecessary, pre-emptive war, you were part of the hyper patriotic, jingoistic drumbeat. And it isn't just that you didn't do enough to question it, it's that you didn't do anything. And you still aren't. Your pathetic CSPAN mea culpa, seen by less than 1% of the country, is even less impressive when you go right back to your studio and keep carrying water for the Bush Administration, ala Ms. Woodruff.

****

Buzz,

I just wanted to throw my 2-cents in about the cable news coverage of the Democratic Convention. 

Last night, Al Sharpton gave one of the most passionate and rousing speeches in the entire convention.  After the speech, Wolf, Judy, and the gang at CNN spent 5 minutes talking about how the length of his speech would be a disaster because it may push John Edwards out of prime time.  Then they spent another 10 minutes talking about the damage he did to John Kerry by "attacking" Bush.

After getting disgusted with their drivel, I turned to MSNBC.  There, Chris "the whore" Matthews said over and over again to anyone on his "panel" who would listen that the Democrats were in trouble for giving Sharpton a podium to speak when he got his reputation falsely accusing police in New York City years ago.  He then interviewed Steve Buscemi and asked him over and over again about how the NYC Police and Fire fighters should be disgusted at the Democratic Party for allowing Sharpton to speak.  I don't remember Matthews having these concerns about Sharpton when he had him on his show during the primaries, but last night it was of utmost importance.

All I can say is thank God for PBS and C-Span.  The cable networks are doing their best to put a negative spin on everything and everyone concerning this convention.  I wonder if they will suddenly find their "objectivity" just in time for the Republican Convention in September.

Keith Riddle

****

Well, BuzzFlash has got some angry readers who are damned mad that multi-millionaire news anchors (or "news readers" as they say in Britain) are really just extensions of the White House and the RNC when it comes to political coverage.  I mean what does Tom Brokaw or Petter Jennings or Dan Rather ever really say that INFORMS us of anything?  If this is journalism, then selling drugs on a street corner is a legitimate retail business.

They are just a bunch of one-time journalists who now live on their laurels and their posh lifestyles, so out of touch with the average American that you could puke.  There is an elite East Coast journalistic bias.  The right wing is right. But it is a bias toward the Republicans and the right wing.  Calling the media liberal is probably the biggest Republican, right wing lie of all time. The media is in their pocket, bought and paid for.

And the mainstream media knows the corporately acceptable frame in which they can operate -- and that frame is quite simple: beat up on the Democrats with Republican message points and kowtow to Republican spokespersons.

Their have been two recent coups in America: the election of 2000 and the corporate consolidation of the media into an arm of the Republican Party.