"This must never happen again". So, how do we stop it?

[ProfessorPlum]

Every election that comes up, the media make a mockery out of Democratic candidates. They run story after story after story giving the Swift Boaters a platform to repeat their lies, and rarely if ever point out that nothing they are saying is true. They completely ignore Republican problems, like W's complete tanking on his ANG duties. They actually create and spread lies about our candidates themselves, as they did with Gore. They take someone like Dean, who really scared them, and use an edited _scream_ to mock him. They can work with anything. If there isn't any real problem with a candidate, they'll just make one up.

Now they are getting their fangs out for 2008. They are winding up the machine to mock Gore again. Chris Matthews and Tim Russert are drooling over the Clenis in case Hillary announces. Any candidate will be mocked, lied about, and treated completely unfairly. We've seen it happen over and over again.

And everyone says, "Well, now we're on to them, so they will have to stop doing this." But what is the mechanism for stopping them? Writing emails? Writing letters? The media figures who enjoy toadying themselves to the GOP bully squad won't give up their sneering and jeering. We won't be able to get Matthews or Russert fired, and we won't be able to make them change their ways. Andrea Mitchell and Judy Woodruff won't stop lying about our candidates just because it makes us angry.

So HOW do we stop them? Boycotts seem to be hard to organize, hard to follow, and frankly, they seem to be aimed at the wrong people. I really hate the way Chris Matthews acts, so I'm not going to buy a Ford in the next 3 years (not that I was going to do so anyway). What does that prove?

How do we stop them? They seem completely free from retribution. Their bosses love what they are doing. How do we make GOP pandering a liability?

Or, alternately, how can we actually get some truth-tellers on the air? Someone who can critically take apart both the media lies and the GOP lies? And be heard?

It's frustrating to me . . . I don't see a clear way forward to "make them stop". Just because we clearly know about what they are doing doesn't mean they'll ever stop. Just look at Deborah Howell and the Abramoff crap she was peddling in the WP. That crapstorm she set off barely forced her to issue a weak, belated, and still incorrect retraction, and in that case she was clearly, factually, wrong. How do we stop newspeople from "sneering" and making a mockery out of the only people who can stop this madness?

[Saturday]

1. I don't have an answer....

and IMO once an accusation is made having to defend yourself is almost impossible. Once the words are spoken it's hard to change. Democrats are always on the defensive. Every day on his show lately Matthews is dissing Hillary in one way or another. It's maddening.

[stellanoir]

2. I don't know how to stop it.

These folks are handsomely paid by their corporate masters to masquerade as investigative truth tellers and seekers when they are far from that.

I just know that Gore nailed it on "Fresh Air" yesterday. He quoted some German who I had never heard of before and described it as "the degradation of the public sphere."

At least after what he's endure he's totally hip to it. I would hope others in the public eye are as well. Maybe we can't stop it but perhaps they'll improve in terms of their clearly stated emphatic rebukes. If they could only get equal air time. It might help.

And older REAL journalist, I forget who, blamed the 24/7 news cycle. He said back in the day, a story was researched for weeks before it made the morning papers or the evening news. Now a rumor is launched and he used the metaphor of it being the locomotive of a train. When the truth came around it was in the caboose and no one was watching any longer. I thought that was sadly quite apt.

(edited to add the last paragraph)

[abluelady]

3. "Equal Air Time"

has a lot to do with it. We also need 5 word sound bites like what Gore said. Personally, I think every time a Dem speaks, he should start with "the gop lied, fill in the blank. If "they" hear it often enough, maybe it will sink it and then we can start on the real issues.

[kevinbgoode]

4. This might sound like a silly idea. . .

but I've been wondering for a long time if it isn't time to start organizing pickets/protests against the worst offenders. Why can't we organize a thousand people to stand outside Faux News studios with protest signs about their lack of objectivity? Why can't we protest a local television station or newspaper for their rightwing bias?

It seems to me that if part of the issue is that these outlets refuse to let any other points of view be aired or published, then we have to take these views directly to the public in some form. . .after all, back in the 1960's, this was one reason underground (or alternative) newspapers were formed in many cities across the country. While that might seem cost-prohibitive now, I've often thought about why some enterprising people can't create easy web access to provide an alternative online newspaper to compete with the wingnut locals that exist in so many small towns in America. If a host were inexpensive, a few posters distributed around a location could direct people to a web site, and if it is cleverly written and accurate can actually challenge or knock some sense into the "mainstream" outlet.

We know that Republicans are all about promoting self-corruption - it's in their basic nature. But in places where they have a death grip on information, there is little reason why we can't directly confront them - I think we might be surprised at how many people in a given community, for example, make fun of their local newspaper and recognize the editorial slant. When a community newspaper (or broadcast station) chooses only to represent the viewpoints of one specifically defined "class" of people, then it is the responsibility of those unrepresented groups to make their case LOUDLY.

Another thing we should think about is exploring the corporate policies of companies which own newspapers and broadcast stations. My own local newspaper has such a stealth wingnut slant that it is laughable - on the editorial page they constantly bleat "conservative" views that are actually gleaned from Far Right web sites and information centers - and then they neglect to mention any direct reference to those sources. About a year or so ago I went to their corporate web site and noticed a list of goals for the news organization, which included protecting and covering those in oppressed groups. I immediately filed a complaint about their extremely biased coverage of the mostly-closeted gay community.

[ProfessorPlum]

7. I like the idea of putting direct pressure on one particular offender

Like Chris Matthews - he seems particulary weak and easy to intimidate. And I think it's important to go after someone who is seen as a down the middle journalist, not Fox, which nobody pretends is fair.

Some of the highly paid journalists at the NYT and the W. Post need to hear more from people, too.

[joneschick]

5. We educate ourselves

here and elsewhere, and we keep talking for starters. Every chance we get. We write letters to our local media. Like you said "never again" helluva mantra

http://www.cafepress.com/neveragaininc

[GOTV]

6. This will not change until...

... bashing liberals and democrats fails to resonate with large portions of the TV viewing public.

People already believe liberals and democrats are bad and the large cable news organizations are in the business of telling people what they want to hear. You don't make money alienating your audience.

You cannot stop them, the media, from doing what makes them money.

The only way I can think of to change the media is to start to change those that view the media by not allowing anti-liberal comments made in your earshot to stand unchallenged. This would of course have to be a personal one-on-one campaign and it would have to be undertaken by tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands to be successful. Unfortunately most of the liberals I know shy away from the this kind of public challenge as do I too often.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. kick

I really want to know what people think we can do against an obviously bought-and-paid-for media.

[blm]

9. I just don't know what else Dems can do but tell Dem investor groups to

focus on making media buys. The broadcast and print media gets put up for sale and you only hear about RW activists buying them.

We need Dem investor groups just to bring back serious, OBJECTIVE media - I don't even WANT a left-skewed network - I want real news. That's it.

[ProfessorPlum]

10. Exactly right

The left wants the media to do their damn job. The right wants the media to stop doing their job. That's the difference.

[cyberpj]

11. That reminds me - what ever happened to our pal Soros? nt

[cyberpj]

13. And didn't anyone else believe Bill Gates or Jobs would be on our side? nt

[AX10]

12. Wealthy Democrats need to invest in their own echo chamber.

[skeeters2525]

14. Deal With Reality

Want to stop it? There is only one way. And it means you have to turn off the TV. And I mean now.

You know this will happen. Just how many time do you need to be hit over the head.

The Internet, and places like DU, are saviors. But please don't sit here for the next year and whine. Boo Hoo, the media is sliming us again.

IT WILL HAPPEN, YOU KNOW IT, I KNOW IT, AND THE PENTAGON OWNED MEDIA KNOWS IT.

So get out there and join every group you can. Go door to door talking to Democrats. Drag Democrats, and Independents, and Greens, and Commie's, whoever to the voting booth.

The Internet is a tool. Use it to educate. We, well not me, I was there, but as kid. Ended a war in Vietnam. It can be done. Some see things as they are and ask, why. See what can be and say, why not.

[ProfessorPlum]

16. Yep do that.

I never watch any of these shows, except on the internet as clips (a la Media Matters). And I don't have time for most other TV either.

I read and read and read and I write and write and write my own blog and newsletter to about two dozen like minded friends.

I go door to door for Democratic candidates and drive people to polling places on election day.

And the Crotch Watch continues . . .

[welshTerrier2]

15. you wimps!!! we absolutely CAN and WILL stop it ...

sheesh ... the media are against us ...

how can we ever make progress if they have Russert and Tweety on their team ??? it's all so hopeless ... jeez, louise ...

let me start with a little Dylan (Bob that is):

Come writers and critics (that's us)
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling
Who that it's naming

For the loser now
Will be later to win
And the times
They are a-changin

No empire prevails
No power is absolute

Got that??

We may pay some serious dues and do some serious suffering for the abusive of power we've enabled and endured ... it might get very, very ugly here in the good old US of A ... but make no mistake about it, the evil ones will be crushed and then they will be punished ...

They have survived all this time because we, our families, our neighbors, our elected reps and others have failed to stand in opposition ... this is still the case to a great degree ...

Our government has decades ago been strangled by special interests ... they profess patriotism; they profess equality; they profess liberty; they profess material wealth; they profess morality and faith in God; they profess all things good ...

First, we must learn that nothing they say, nothing, is true ... it is all for money and greed and power ... all of it ... they don't care about any of the virtues they profess ... not a one ... what they know, and exploit, is that we do care about "all that stuff" ... so while we are being do-gooders, they are walking off with all the goods ... so, job one is educating ourselves and documenting our case ... DU-like, web-based activity makes a major contribution to building this base of knowledge and helping solidify our communal knowledge ...

Second, it is imperative that we awaken the other troops from their slumber ... sadly, these troops include not only the masses but our elected representatives as well ... if our leaders only call bush incompetent, they hurt our cause ... the battle will not be joined until they call him an imperialist ... we cannot allow the public statements to suggest bush's motives are the same as our motives ... he is a puppet for the power-elite and an imperialist ... his motives are pure greed - period ... does anyone really believe bush is anguished because some Shiite in Iraq didn't have the right to cast a ballot? or do you think he's more interested in how to sell permanent bases to Americans and Iraqis to use our troops to guard his friends' oil fields?

We cannot win, not a sustainable win, until our representatives address the truth about what we're fighting against ... if they won't identify the real enemy and put a name to their treachery, voter education is dead in its tracks and progress becomes impossible ...

But once the battle is truly joined, once our leaders stop worrying about being called lefties or extremists or anti-American or any of the other labels that will surely be forthcoming, Americans will hear them out ... and the case to demonstrate this rampant corruption and greed is easily made ... i don't see a biased media as problem one; i see an unwilling opposition party as problem one ... when they're ready to rumble, then we can worry some about message dissemination ...

So, the mission, to crush the evil ones into dust is 1. educating ourselves 2. getting our public representatives onboard and 3. disseminating our message ...

The right-wing will collapse under its own greed ... there's just so long they can blame it on the Democrats and fool people with their pretty words ... the truth will out; their days are already numbered ...

What i fear, though, is that their losses will be short-lived because we have not done our homework and built the necessary foundations for change ... too many here are content just to win an election ... unfortunately, that's way too short-sighted ... yeah, i want to win an election too ... we need a much bigger, much more longterm plan than that ... i don't think too many understand that yet ...