Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 06:40 AM Apr 2016

"The Clinton people rewrote the news" (We saw it right here at DU in real time)

Published on
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)

An ‘Unqualified’ Success at Media Manipulation

by Robin Andersen

....After the Wisconsin loss, the Hillary Clinton campaign went into high gear, sending emails out announcing a new strategy of going negative. The next day, CNN (4/6/16) ran a piece by senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny that began, “Hillary Clinton’s campaign is taking new steps to try and disqualify Bernie Sanders in the eyes of Democratic voters.”

The story laid out Clinton’s new “three-part strategy” with regard to Sanders: “Disqualify him, defeat him and unify the party later.”


Political strategists know well that attacks can backfire, especially for candidates with high negatives such as Hillary Clinton.

Accordingly, the Clinton campaign attacked Sanders through a common political maneuver: They used surrogates.....

....snip....



........snip........

Even more curious was the Washington Post’s (4/7/16) review of Sanders’ claim in a piece titled “Sanders’ Incorrect Claim That Clinton Called Him ‘Not Qualified’ for the Presidency.” The Post gave Sanders three-out-of-four pinocchios for dishonesty, saying: “Sanders is putting words in Clinton’s mouth. She never said ‘quote unquote’ that he was not qualified to be president…. He can’t slam her for words she did not say.”

The Post gave itself no pinocchios for headlining its own article the day before, “Clinton Questions Whether Sanders Is Qualified to Be President.” It offered instead, “The art of headline writing is an imperfect art.” Not only doesn’t the Post hold Clinton responsible for her campaign’s negative attacks, it treats her use of surrogates to make negative attacks as a positive, saying “she diplomatically went out of her way to avoid saying” that Sanders was unqualified.

....snip.......

But in the aftermath of the Wisconsin win, the media frame was not about Sanders’ momentum, Clinton’s connection to the Panamanian tax haven or, as US Uncut (4/8/16) reported, three major policy wins for Bernie Sanders, but how Sanders had gone negative and was untruthful.

It occupied the news cycle for days, knocking out a barrage of bad press that was hobbling her in the run-up to the New York primary.

With a lot of help from media friends, the Clinton people rewrote the news.



http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/04/13/unqualified-success-media-manipulation
18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
4. So true.
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 07:04 AM
Apr 2016

Like right now, as I type this, there is an attempt to bury Bernie's outstanding speech at Washington Square Park yesterday with faux outrage over the "corporate whore" comment.

(A true statement about how medicare for all is being blocked because our "representatives" are bought off by banks & insurances companies, the corporate whores)

merrily

(45,251 posts)
3. Disqualify him, defeat him---*and unify the party later?*
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 06:53 AM
Apr 2016

We know how they try to defeat Bernie - smears and deceptive half truths. (Coming soon: He pays his phone bills!!!!11111!!! to Verizon!!11!!!!)

What's the plan for unifying the party though?

Bernie is not looking to make a deal with Hillary and Dems for a cabinet position and a clear path to the 2024 nomination. More to the point, if Bernie's supporters were the type to obey, they'd already be supporting Hillary. Supporting Bernie is about supporting certain principles and tenets, not about obeying Bernie rather than obeying Hillary.

No matter what Bernie says, I don't think he can change the minds of many of the 25% to 33% of his supporters who say they will not support her if she is the nominee. And, given the way he has been treated by the Hillary campaign and surrogates, by many Democrats in office and by the DNC, I don't why he would exert himself for someone whose policies he dislikes and whose money ties he abhors.









RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
5. Good points.
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 07:06 AM
Apr 2016

It would be like trying to "unite" Democrats & Republicans.

Republicans & corporate Dems are the same in the eyes of many.

Response to RiverLover (Original post)

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
9. Thanks for the K&R, VV!!
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 07:32 AM
Apr 2016

Its tough staying on top of this & keeping the important stories on top when we all have busy lives. Its not like we're paid to be here.

Response to RiverLover (Reply #9)

VulgarPoet

(2,872 posts)
12. Positively Orwellian. "He who controls the past, controls the present; he who controls the present
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 07:52 AM
Apr 2016

controls the future."

RiverLover

(7,830 posts)
13. There are other ways to control the population besides communism.
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 08:11 AM
Apr 2016

Clintonism is orwellian in power & influence, very good analogy.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
14. Allowing Hillary (Bill) to control the News Cycle shows corrupt nature of the Press.
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 08:26 AM
Apr 2016

"On Bended Knee" is how Mark Hertsgaard put it in regards to the treatment afforded Reagan.

Seeing that Hillary gets the same benefits in coverage makes me understand why she puts Wall Street ahead of Main Street.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
17. RFK's children stated their father believed President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy.
Thu Apr 14, 2016, 09:07 AM
Apr 2016

The NoTell-6 ABCNNBCBSFauxNuts ignored it. And the PBS Charlie Rose show they said it on was never broadcast.

OP: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022416498

Mass Media ignoring 'RFK Believed in Conspiracy' shows corrupt nature of America's Press



Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his sister Rory Kennedy told Charlie Rose that their father, the Attorney General of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy, believed there was a conspiracy behind the death of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. For the first time in almost 50 years, members of the slain president's family were on the record about their father's thoughts about the assassination.

The story made news, as it were, for a day or two -- it was on page 8 here in Detroit (try finding it using The Free Press or Detroit News web site search engines) -- and apart from several threads on DU, that's about it as coverage goes. The Charlie Rose interview was part of a program put together by the media and good people in Dallas to celebrate JFK's life.

What bothers me about the media coverage is the constant attack, not on the government's lousy investigation of the assassination and its attendant cover-up, but, rather, the attack on anyone who brings up the subject of conspiracy in the death of the president, even when it's children of attorney general who also was the brother of the slain president.

Check out this condescending piece of opinion from the Dallas Observer:



Not Even Charlie Rose Could Rein in RFK Jr. in Dallas Last Night. Also: Conspiracy Theories!

By Betsy Lewis Sat., Jan. 12 2013 at 11:01 AM

It got weird when he went into a historical lecture about his father's investigation into the JFK assassination. He was speaking about it as if he had been part of it, then cited a book called The Unspeakable by Jim Douglas (sic - actually "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters" by James Douglass) as being the best book on the subject, then kept referencing things from the book. He was losing the audience, so he burst out, "My father believed that the Warren Report was a shoddy piece of craftsmanship," to the delighted applause of the mostly Baby Boomer audience.

Whenever Charlie Rose would ask about the family, RFK Jr. would evade the question until he heard either delighted Boomer applause or delighted Boomer laughter. One of his responses to a family question was an unrelated story about World War II. A lady behind me who must have recently Netflixed The Iron Lady kept saying, "Here here!" for the benefit of us unfortunate people around her.
Some of the strangest RFK Jr. outbursts with the biggest applause were:

"We're becoming a national security state!" (applause, "Here here!&quot

"Corporations want profits!" (applause, "Here here!&quot

"Corporations are great things, but we'd be nuts to let them run our government!" (applause, "Here here!&quot

"Nationalism in Africa! The end of colonialism!"

At this point, I don't think anyone knew what the hell he was talking about. It was something about the Kennedy family airlifting President Obama's father out of Kenya to begin a new life in America.

RFK Jr.: "Yes."

CONTINUED...

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixmaster/2013/01/charlie_rose_live_the_kennedy.php



Me, I don't believe any of that stuff was "out there." Why writer Betsy Lewis chooses to believe what the media tell her is true I'll guess lies in allegiance to a pay check.

Likewise for the lack of coverage given the story in the national media, where the same few corporations that swore up and down there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, both in 1990 and 2002, now want no part of "conspiracy talk" during the 50th anniversary observance. So far, as far as I'm aware, the Charlie Rose program has not aired.

What's more telling is what didn't get noted in the nation's corrupt mass media at all: The fact that Attorney General and later Senator Robert F. Kennedy also was assassinated. Some think that was a coincidence, because the mass media told them so. One thing's for certain, the questions still surrounding the deaths of two liberal icons doesn't get discussed at all today in our supposedly "free press."
Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»"The Clinton people ...