MSNBC Producer/Matthews/Scarborough Getting Paid to Influence Voting

[KoKo]

by Targeting Christian Conservatives and NeoCon Sympathizers.

http://openlettertochrismatthews.blogspot.com/2006/02/msnbc-offering-conservative-voter.html
--------------------------------

MSNBC OFFERING CONSERVATIVE VOTER OUTREACH FOR A PRICE!

Well, isn't this interesting.

A top MSNBC producer, who worked on Hardball with Chris Matthews, and now works for MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, is off giving paid-only lectures about how to influence conservative voters. Gee, can you get more partisan than that? We're not just talking influencing conservatives, we're talking influencing VOTERS. That means elections. That means MSNBC staff is actively working to influence elections to help Republicans.

No right-wing bias there.

MSNBC senior producer Mike Tirone is speaking on a $279 per listener conference call on Feburary 16. The title of the call is "How to Reach Masses of Conservative Voters with Your Cause, Policy or Political Message." Kind of transparent on its face what that call's about.

But there's more on the Web site of the group hosting the call.

Millions of conservative voters — and the media that serve them — wield enormous influence in America’s public debate. Learn how you can reach this powerful political block with your agenda by listening and talking to editors at top moderate-to-conservative media. These influential decision-makers will explain which kinds of stories you need to tell to grab their attention and how you can develop long-term relationships with them.

And things get particularly interesting in the next paragraph on the site:

Conservatism — from the Christian right and traditional business interests to the ascendant “neo-con” political movement — has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in American life. Likewise, the media that serve this growing segment can deliver your perspective with awesome credibility and power to millions of passionate voters. To gain incomparable insight into the mindset of the conservative voter — as well as find out how to pitch their favorite media — plan to attend this exclusive panel discussion. These editors will tell you how to be more successful in breaking into their media, as well as how to more effectively communicate with their audience.

Really, MSNBC serves "the Christian right" and "traditional business interests"? I thought MSNBC was a network serving all Americans. I didn't realize it had shows, and producers, exclusively serving the religious right and Republican corporate interests.

Fascinating.


So now we have senior MSNBC employees training conservative activists in how to use MSNBC to reach conservative voters. Nice. Though, I'm curious how that squares with Federal Election law. Hmmm...


MORE at ........

http://openlettertochrismatthews.blogspot.com/2006/02/msnbc-offering-conservative-voter.html

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. bastards!

eom

[msongs]

2. election law is irrelevant without an opposition party that opposes nt

[mom cat]

23. Bingo!

[KoKo]

3. This is pretty serious and scary to me. I'm going to fax my Reps

about this.

[deesy58]

7. Don't Waste Your Time

They can't (won't) do anything!

[Steve A Play]

10. BULLSHIT! Send those letters, faxes, and e-mails!

Let them know about this, and make them aware that we know about it.

File complaints with the FCC.

Send this to every advertiser that supports MSNBC and tell them you wont buy their products if they continue to support blatant propaganda!

FIGHT BACK!

Steven P. :kick:

[tkmorris]

15. That's right, just lay back and enjoy it

Whatever works for you pal.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

33. So you join DU just to tell everyone it's hopeless and not to waste our

time?

FYI, we have had success in several media arenas, in the past few, by contacting the media outlets, their advertisers and our representatives.

Thanks for the advice. MKJ

[deesy58]

38. Whining

Yeah ... like whining has done a lot of good for Progressives over the past five years. I'll just bet that the media outlets and your representatives are going to jump through hoops to chastice MSNBC. Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy, too?

Get out there and get active in developing and suppporting progressive candidates for political office! Whining isn't going to accomplish anything!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

49. Excuse me...I didn't whine.

And, gosh, what great advice...gee, I would have never thought of "getting out there" until you posted this. :sarcasm:

Now that I've dispensed with what appears to be your favorite way of addressing people, I, and huge number of people here at DU, have been doing that very thing for years. Maybe you should take a gander at the DU Activist Group, to reassure yourself that we are doing something in addition to posting here.

And, writing, calling and emailing MSM outlets who blatantly mis-characterize Dems' positions, and openly support the RW agenda, as well as letting our representatives know, is also a form of "getting out there".

The citizens of this country need to make their voices heard in all venues. And, it sounds like a diluted version of a RW talking point to accuse Dems of "whining" (a cousin to "angry") when they express genuine outrage and let that outrage be known to those who perpetrate it.

I will be happy to PM you with the various organizations and political campaigns I've participated in and in which I continue to participate. I'm curious what you yourself have done. MKJ

on edit:welcome to DU.

[sarcasmo]

50. Faxes and Emails are whining? ,

[guruoo]

54. Now this makes sense

So, you're saying less talk, more walk.
Sounds good to me.

'Get out there and get active in developing and suppporting progressive
candidates for political office! Whining isn't going to accomplish anything!'

[TankLV]

65. I was all set to disagree with you and you had to go and use logic.

Damn.

I am forced to agree with you, totally, now that I see where you are comming from.

[NCarolinawoman]

4. Absolutely disgusting, but it all makes sense now.

It's like putting all the puzzle pieces together.

[KoKo]

5. This really turned my stomach. Something needs to be done about

this further than contacting our Congress Critters. It's got to be in violation of something to be this partisan in using our airwaves? :shrug:

Over at the site it does say that it might be a violation not only of FCC rules but "Sherman Anti-Trust Laws," but I don't know about how that would work with the "Anti-Trust" law.

[deesy58]

6. MSNBC Air Time

Has anybody ever tried to calculate the percentage of air time MSNBC devotes to conservative talk? Chris Matthews (Hardball) has at least two hours per day, and Joe Scarborough (Scarborough Country)also has at least two hours. Both are very conservative. That's at least four hours per day out of about a five day news broadcasting week for MSNBC. I call them "Fox News Lite," because they're not quite as blatant as FNC. :)

deesy

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Don't forget Tucker Carlson

and welcome to DU :hi:

[deesy58]

39. Thanks!

[grasswire]

11. don't forget Rita Cosby

whatever the hell she is.

[Patiod]

16. Arrrghh!!!

MSNBC is on a lot at the gym, and sometimes it's either that or one of the three basketball games on the other TVs.

What the hell is her problem? I've almost fallen off the elipitical machine a few times in amazement over the sheer stupidity of the things she says "hey Mr. (defense lawyer), how can you defend a murderer?"

Who gave her a TV show and why?

[deesy58]

41. Faux News

Remember where she was before MSNBC hired her. She was a major personality at FNC. MSNBC certainly appears to be trying to emulate Fox.

[calimary]

28. I try REGULARLY to forget rita cosby.

The Tabloid Tart. GOD! Her voice!!! Makes me ILL! However, I can do a pretty spot-on impersonation of it - makes my husband laugh every time.

Just HORRIBLE. Utterly UNLISTENABLE. And what she says with that horrendous voice is equally unlistenable.

[okieinpain]

60. uhmmm, rita is my sex goddess, rita, rita, rita.......

[howmad1]

62. Ya see,.......

....those rumors about casting couches are true. Rita must give a helluva (fill in the blank)to get that gig. :evilgrin:

[okieinpain]

66. it's funny I've never seen a full body shot of her, all the pictures on

the net are head shots.

[Doctor_J]

42. And Norah, who calls Repubs "us"

and the guests are at least 5/1 Repuke/Dem.

[mrgorth]

9. .

:puke:

[WCGreen]

12. Just so you know.....

Only about 410k tops watch shows on MSGOP.....

That's about the population of Dayton Ohio...

Dayton Ohio...

Remember that...

They are so tiny they are trying to get eyeballs away from Faux... Which, BTW, does better but to put things in perspective, 2.2 million will tune into Bill O'Reilly on any given night....

About twice as many people watch Cable Wrestling.....

Edit to add cable before wrestling

[donkeyotay]

22. Lousy audience shares are proof that they subsidize an unpopular political

viewpoint. Their shareholders should sue them because they are not, like good corporations, seeking to maximize profit, but are instead running unprofitable shows as propaganda. It's an in-kind political contribution. Bastards.

Conservatism — from the Christian right and traditional business interests to the ascendant “neo-con” political movement — has emerged as one of the most powerful forces in American life. Likewise, the media that serve this growing segment can deliver your perspective with awesome credibility and power to millions of passionate voters.

They brought us the war and this administration. They brought us the neocons. Bastards.

[radio4progressives]

13. k&r Excellent post..

:kick:

[Catrina]

14. Better record the name of the producer. They've removed his name

from the site, according to the 'openlettertoChrisMathews' posters ~

I wonder if this is in violation of the FEC rules. If not, it should be. But I gave up on the 'press' several weeks ago, finally. Now I see that that was a good decision.

Half their 400,000 viewers are not Conservatives. If all of them simply cancelled them for a while, hat more than anything, would get their attention imo. They are beyond redemption. We need a whole new media.

I'll pass this along to everyone I know ~ and the next cancellation in this house, is Verizon ~

[KoKo]

17. Yep...they scrubbed that one fast.......

Thanks for passing it along.. Now that we know what's going on..in some ways it makes deciding to watch or not watch them easier.

[indigo32]

48. I noticed that too

the bastards
theres a screen capture on 'openlettertoChrisMathews' though.

[JudyM]

18. Good post. K&R

[caligirl]

19. Anchor who just left CNN said this loud and clear after he left.

[KoKo]

25. Which CNN anchor....I'm sorry, I missed it. Think there's alot of

defections for those in the Media who just "MIGHT" have SOME Principles LEFT!

But, I don't know which one you are talking about. Have a link?

[caligirl]

34. At the time I couldn't think of his name, but tonight I think its Aaron

Brown.

[depakid]

37. Aaron Brown

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3067

[KnaveRupe]

20. Someone kick this story over to Olbermann!

Let's see what Keith will do with it.

[KoKo]

21. That would put him in a tough spot job wise...since MSNBC is his

employer...

[KnaveRupe]

35. I know.

Hence the suggestion. It would be interesting (to me, at least) to see whether:

a) Keith has the journalistic chops to put the story on the air, and

b) whether MSNBC would fire or otherwise discpline him for reporting a legitimate, well-sourced story that reflects poorly upon their network.

I think of Keith as the ombudsman for cable news. If a major newspaper were caught out in this kind of BS, the ombudsman would address it (unless, of course, it was the so-called ombudsman for the WaPo.) Cable news, however, has absolutely NO such accountability to the public for their behavior, or their reporting, or their fact-checking, or whatever.

Keith (or some other MSNBC reporter - BWAHAHAA!) tackling this story in a hard-hitting manner is about the only thing that could lend some semblance of credence to MSNBC, and, by extrapolation, to cable news in general. Otherwise, it's all just varying degrees of Fox "News" to me.

[KoKo]

24. I gave CNN a "view" tonight...I'm not watching MSNBC....but imagine they

are both the same. Still...I need my MSM fix once in awhile..

[blue cat]

26. Call NBC news and leave a comment

as the least effort, and let them know that we know.

I just did.

212-664-4444

You know the freepers would do at least this much.

[sarcasmo]

51. Olbermann is the only MSM worth watching, IMHO.

[kwolf68]

27. Anything

related to NBC is dead to me...War is good for their bottom line, their shareholders...NBC and the rest of the media should be charged for crimes against humanity for helping the Bush cabal get the American people duped into going to war. We are still free though...We have our voices out there....we must press on...don't give up or we may all get to meet each other inside a "Re-Education Camp" one day.

[Uncle Joe]

45. Maybe we should start referring to them as G.E. MSNBC

as they are nothing but a public relations front for their corporate master and their cronies. NBC is misleading advertising, their is nothing national about them, it's just fundamentalists and corporations which they represent.

[Senator]

46. I'll stick with GD Msnbc thanx (eom)

[Uncle Joe]

47. Well that will certainly work as well, very succinct and to the point n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

29. Kkkarl's Kids!

[autorank]

30. KOKO01...this is it!

Just amazing. I want to make sure I read this right...this is a CURRENT MSNBC employee?

Just amazing. I hope they lose their license.

[FrenchieCat]

31. Shit....all the cable channels and the network get paid to

influence our votes. It's called propaganda...and I see on the news each and every night!

[Doctor_J]

44. I don't

Now that you know it's approved by Rove, it should be easy to turn off.

[Common Sense Party]

57. This is hardly unheard of. Our side does it, too:

http://www.truespinconference.com/program.html

It's all about getting one's message heard. And journalists, these days, are just attention whores--they'll sell their time and attention to whoever pays them enough.

[montana500]

32. wow!~

Those dirty rotten bastards!

[depakid]

36. They might as well admit it and make some money

Anyone who pays attention knows that the entire US media has become little more than a propaganda organ for the Republican party (with considerable help from Bill Clinton).

Those who don't pay attention are too stupid to care anyway.

Hence the term sheeple.

[Doctor_J]

40. Yup, government-approved mass media

anyone surprised by this needs to wake up and smell the bullshit.

[donkeyotay]

43. Heckuva job FCC and FEC nt

[LikeU2]

52. Scarborough is Repub, but Matthews is a Democrat. MSNBC is

much more "fair and balanced" than the network that hails itself as being so.

[LincolnMcGrath]

53. Kick

[Wordie]

55. DU Research Forum to the rescue...

Here are some relevant email addresses, found at the DU Research Forum, in the National Media List section:

MSNBC, Richard Kaplan (President), [e-mail]
MSNBC, Scarborough Country, [e-mail]
MSNBC, Viewer Services, [e-mail]
MSNBC, Dennis Sullivan (Executive Editor - Campaign Coverage), [e-mail]
MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews, [e-mail]

To check out the National Media List:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x1903

[radio4progressives]

56. Suggestion: DU should have a Folder on the Home page

just for this information - the Research Forum takes too long to figure out how to use and search through - so if DU created a Folder just for these (and other media contact) links less frequent posters could see it at first glance to utilize in calls to action like this one.

and thanks for posting those here by the way.. :applause:

[Wordie]

61. The media links are posted on the entry page to the Research Forum.

It's down toward the bottom of the page, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=358

There are also links to local and state media, organized by state. And luckily, we don't need to know how to to do the editing (which is the tricky, confusing part) in the Research Forum in order to pretty easily access the info there. We can leave the editing to others!

[HeeBGBz]

58. Makes me wanna puke

Nothing like a fair and balanced media.

:sarcasm:

[okieinpain]

59. what i'm trying to figure out is who is the stupid group. repugs

because they will follow the party line. Or dems because sellers don't have to worry about us because we will still buy their products anyway. hmmmm

I mean there were 50 million dem voters in the last election.

[banana republican]

63. WTF: Kick to late to Recommend... n/t

[Eric J in MN]

64. I don't think this is illegal...

...and no more unethical than other times people who work in the news seek outside income.

Ideally, people who work in the news wouldn't seek any outside income, but I don't regard this as more-or-less corrupting than corporate speaking fees.

[Ice4Clark]

67. I think someone should pay the 279 and record this so we

know what these bottom feeders have in mind for 06. Not that we don't already know, but I would love to hear what they have to say..........

from the PR website:




Every public relations or public affairs practitioner who is charged with promoting a cause, a political point of view or a politician will want an intimate knowledge of these powerful media — how they view the world, how they view their constituents and how they want to work with communications professionals. This candid conversation with the savviest journalists on the beat will help you leverage these media outlets to add scores of placements over the coming months.

This “virtual” conference is guaranteed to be packed with usable, up-to-the-minute insights into how these conservative media work, and especially inside tactics on how to pitch them and which specific issues they are looking to cover right now and in the weeks and months ahead.