Between Big Media and Brotherly Love
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, November 23, 2004 -- Banish the notion that America's communications industry nurtures technological innovation to help make media more accessible to average Americans. The reality today is that we live in an era where large corporations work hand-in-hand with lobbyists and compliant legislators to stifle any technology that returns control of our media system to the public.
The Morning After
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, November 3, 2004 (8:30am)-- The balloons have dropped at the GOP headquarters in Ohio, after Fox News Channel and then NBC declared the state for Bush. But is Ohio firmly in the Bush column? Not if you were watching the other networks.
FCC Poised to Reward Sinclair with More Stations
By Timothy Karr with Celia Wexler
NEW YORK, October 22, 2004 -- Millions of television viewers, many of them in heavily contested swing-voter states, will be able to switch their sets to "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," a Sinclair Broadcast Group program that purports to examine the influence of media on the elections.
Sinclair Fiddles While the FCC Sleeps
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, October 13, 2004 -- While Sinclair Broadcast Group is allowed to use the public airwaves for free, it shouldn't come at such a heavy cost to Americans. Sinclair executives have threatened to abuse this most vital public trust by forcing upon Americans a piece of propaganda meant to serve their narrow business interests.
CBS' Schieffer Wins Highest Marks from Bush Supporters
By Timothy Karr and Andrew Tyndall
NEW YORK, October 14, 2004 (2:00 am) -- If CBS got a black eye with Republican partisans for its "60 Minutes" coverage of George Bush's National Guard tour, it did not rub off on Dan Rather's colleague Bob Schieffer. Bush backers monitoring the third Presidential Debate on domestic policy in Tempe, Arizona last night gave Schieffer high marks according to the interactive Citizens Debate Scorecard.
The Debate Winner? Depends on Whom You Ask
By Timothy Karr and Andrew Tyndall
NEW YORK, October 9, 2004 (2:00am) -- The Town Hall format was a winner for supporters of President George Bush. They overwhelmingly preferred Friday night's series of voters' questions to the single-moderator format of the first debate in Miami, according to a survey of thousands of Media for Democracy debate watchers completed within hours of the close of the St Louis broadcast..
Bush and Kerry Supporters Give Ifill High Marks for Balance
By Timothy Karr and Andrew Tyndall
NEW YORK, October 6, 2004 (8:30am) -- MediaChannel.org and Common Cause today delivered more than 7,000 voter questions to the moderators of the three upcoming presidential debates. The question drive is a grassroots response to the Bush and Kerry campaigns, which last week released a joint "memorandum of understanding" in an attempt to take control of the debate format at the expense of a frank and contentious discussion of the issues.
Panel of 4,900 Americans Rates Debate a Win for Lehrer
By Timothy Karr and Andrew Tyndall
NEW YORK, October 1, 2004 -- The decision to devote so many questions to the War in Iraq was the biggest controversy arising from the first Presidential Debate of Campaign 2004 in Miami last night. A majority of supporters of John Kerry agreed that Iraq was given the appropriate amount of attention. A minority of George Bush's supporters called the Iraq emphasis "just right." Most of those who disagreed said Iraq was overemphasized.
Voters Pose Thousands of Questions to the Candidates
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, September 29, 2004 -- MediaChannel.org and Common Cause today delivered more than 7,000 voter questions to the moderators of the three upcoming presidential debates. The question drive is a grassroots response to the Bush and Kerry campaigns, which last week released a joint "memorandum of understanding" in an attempt to take control of the debate format at the expense of a frank and contentious discussion of the issues.
Overrun by Assassins
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, September 17, 2004 -- With less than 45 days left before Americans go to the polls, the main news outlets seem content to spread the gunsmoke of controversy -- to the degree that their attention to the latest sparring over Bush and Kerry's military service 30 years ago has obscured coverage of each candidates' stance on the issues that voters say matter most.
The Big Media Back Story
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, August 26, 2004 -- The millions of Americans who tuned into Madison Square Garden saw the pageantry of a party in full, with a primetime-friendly roster of speakers, a tightly choreographed throng of delegates and the ever present balloon cascades. What Americans didn't see is perhaps the most important story of them all, one the mainstream media are loath to report in an election year.
Big Three Networks Dim Lights On Kerry
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, July 22, 2004 -- Karr reveals the findings of a new study of network TV election coverage, which shows a dimming spotlight for Democratic candidate John Kerry. Meanwhile, the Bush campaign has made impressive strides in placing their own candidate before the cameras. Can Kerry recapture the attention of American viewers before voters go to the polls in November?
Media Reformers Look To Struggle Beyond Philadelphia
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, June 29, 2004 -- Big Media aren't going to roll over now that an appeals court has decided against rules allowing more consolidation. The struggle now, according to reformers, is for Americans at the grassroots level to demand a media system that ensures diversity, local control and better public service.
Kerry Comes Out Against Big Media . . . Sort Of
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, June 10, 2004 -- Senator John Kerry finally has ventured forth to make a statement against media consolidation. But does this mean that Kerry’s campaign will make the fight against big media a platform issue in 2004?
Plug Pulled on Rome Radio Stations Covering Bush Protests
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, June 4, 2004 --The outage -- described as "strange maintenance work" by Enel, Italy's 60 percent state-owned utility -- forced Radio Città Aperta and Radio Onda Rossa off the air as they were preparing to broadcast extensive coverage of street protests against President Bush's visit.
Sinclair's Own 'Political Agenda' Plays Part in Nightline Snub
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, April 29, 2004 -- Sinclair Broadcast Group ordered its ABC affiliates to pre-empt Friday's Nightline broadcast, saying that by reading the names of US dead in Iraq, ABC is "motivated by a political agenda." MediaChannel has learned that the only "political agenda" in play is that of Sinclair executives who have funneled 98 percent of their political contributions this year to the GOP.
FCC Divided on Broadcasters' Public Interest Obligation
By Timothy Karr
LAS VEGAS, April 21, 2004 -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said that he was "not averse to the Commission's considering new public interest obligations" for broadcasters. Others commissioners appear divided on the issue as they let their views be known during a series of high-profile industry events in Las Vegas.
No News Hole for the Televison 'Truth Squad'
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, March 17, 2004 -- Voters can't always rely upon political attack ads to tell them the truth. Unfortunately, television news programs -- often trusted to sort political fact from fiction -- have not taken well to the role of fact-checkers.
TV News Runs Hot for Kerry, Cold for Bush
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, March 11, 2004 -- Mainstream news organizations may "filter" the news as President Bush claimed late last year, but it's not to omit good stories from their Iraq coverage, but to broadcast more negative news about the president himself, according to a study released today by MediaChannel.org and Media Tenor.
Salon Announces 2004 Initiative with MoveOn and The Guardian
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, March 9, 2004 -- Salon.com announces a series of ambitious editorial initiatives, including the opening of a new Washington news bureau as well as strategic partnerships with MoveOn.org, The Guardian and new progressive radio network, Air America.
A Smear's Journey to Page One
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, February 18, 2004 -- At what point does reporting a smear become acceptable? In a news landscape increasingly crowded with rumormongers and "gotcha" news sites, mainstream news organizations often cross the line to vie with less scrupulous web sources for readers’ attention.
Media Tide Turns Against Bush, Carries Kerry to Early Victories
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, February 10, 2004 -- President Bush's decision to go before Meet the Press may have been inspired by a tectonic shift in the media landscape -- a shift that has resulted in news stories that increasingly portray the president in less favorable light.
Campaign Roadkill: Pay-To-Play Formula Steamrolls Underdogs
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, February 6, 2004 -- The murky relationship of money, media and politics becomes crystal clear when it comes to advertising. If a candidate can't deliver cash to buy political spots from local broadcasters, his or her run for office is dead on arrival.
Where's the Beef? Network Coverage Thin on the Issues
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, February 3, 2004 -- The Big Three news networks have taken to the 2004 campaign trail with a fervor that is unparalleled. But "the beef" in their reporting -- in the form of coverage of the candidates' positions on issues that matter most to Americans -- has gone missing from nightly newscasts.
Horse Race Coverage Tramples the Issues
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, January 27, 2004 -- The Dean "moment" is just one of many set pieces in network news' ongoing portrayal of the 2004 elections as a horse race pitting archetypal personalities against one another. This drama may play well on the small screen, but it accomplishes little towards educating voters about the candidates' political views.
Undercovered Candidates Spoil the Media Election
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, January 20, 2004 -- Nightly news networks set the stage for Iowa's winner weeks in advance of Monday night's caucus vote. But Howard Dean stumbled and so did the media's efforts to forecast a result before Iowans could vote.
CBS Allows White House Super Bowl Ad, Snubs MoveOn
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, January 16, 2004 -- The nearly 100 million viewers who tune into the Super Bowl on CBS will be served up ads that include everything from beer and bikinis to credit cards and erectile dysfunction. They will also see a spot from the White House. Is this an advocacy ad? If so, why did CBS opt to include the White House ad while cutting MoveOn from the program?
MoveOn.org, The New York Post and Media's Double Standard
By Timothy Karr
NEW YORK, January 8, 2003 -- As MoveOn.org endures a media lynching in response to two ad contest
entries that featured comparisons of President Bush to Adolph Hitler, there is as yet little outcry against a New York Post column by Ralph Peters comparing Howard Dean supporters to Hitler's Brownshirts and Dean himself to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
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