Saturday, March 19, 2016

TO STOP TRUMP(S); STOP PROPAGANDA

Finally, the Republican Party is upset with getting a candidate of its own creation.  Party Leaders now want to take action to stop Trump.   Most likely, it's too late for this election but not for the next.   With action, we can stop future Trumps from harming the country.




One solution for the future, Party Leaders should suggest to voters that journalism, not propaganda is essential in a democracy.   Guess what?   Facts matter.  

If Party Leaders are actually concerned about the country, they should get some of their super wealthy supporters to pay for a public education campaign like the ones we've done for using your seat belt and the dangers of driving and texting.   This would be a public education campaign to educate the public about journalism.  Top Republicans should privately and publicly tell Roger Ailes that Fox should do something it's never done:  journalism, not propaganda, not political talking points for the party. 

The country has lots of problems.   But every problem is not caused by President Obama.

Journalism requires verification.   What are the facts?  What is the evidence?   If journalists had done their jobs, there would not have been an Iraq war.   There was no imminent threat and the intelligence community knew that, and it was being confirmed daily by the UN weapons inspectors.  

If Fox News had done journalism instead of propaganda, there would be no Donald Trump about to get the nomination of the party.   And if voters would start demanding the same thing journalists should - facts - they will never support a candidate like Trump.   In addition, there will be no disagreement on global warming and the dire need to take action regarding climate change.   In that way, science is like journalism, facts matter.

We're now paying a national price for a party and a cable "news" network that have ignored facts.   
Ultimately, science will win.   There's no doubt of that.   Can journalism make a come back? Let's hope so or this country will be one of the shortest living world powers in earth's history.

When journalism fails, bad things happen.


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Friday, March 18, 2016

WHY POLITICIANS CAN IGNORE THE PRESS

How can members of Congress get away with not talking to reporters?   Simple.  Reporters don't talk to them, at least not the ones who matter.

As Tip O'Neill pointed out years ago, all politics is local.

What happens at the local level, where the member's voters live?   Nothing.  Local TV news operations question them about NOTHING. Local TV news operations don't question them about climate change or student debt or international trade or military expenditures or even the magnificent wall Donald Trump wants to build.  

Students in my computer-assisted reporting class contacted every single member of the Ohio Congressional delegation to get the member's position on climate change.  They also requested a 5-minute videoskype interview with either the member or the member's press aide to discuss the member's position on climate change.  

Click right here and watch what the students discovered.  


What's germane here is the second part of the students' assignment.  The student journalists also had to call the local commercial television stations to find out if their news departments had questioned their members of Congress about climate change.
Navy Veteran Christopher Freeman Calls Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson's Office Trying to Get the Congressman's Position on Climate Change.   Congressman Johnson Would Not Provide It.
Student reporters discovered not a single commercial TV newsroom in Ohio had questioned its members about climate change.

Local news no longer holds members of Congress accountable.   So when politicians get called from national reporters, they can ignore them.   Your members of Congress can refuse to comment because all politics is local.  And local TV news reporters aren't holding them accountable.

The question is why?   If a local TV station wants to improve ratings, one way to do that is to hold their members of Congress accountable, not ignore them.

Perhaps I'm wrong; maybe my student journalists missed something (I doubt it).  If so, I apologize and ask you to send the URL from the TV station where the Senator is being questioned about climate change or about whether the Senate should hold hearings and vote on the current Supreme Court nominee or about any other issue of importance.  

One great thing about technology is it saves money.   The local TV reporter in Cincinnati or Columbus or Toledo or Cleveland or Youngstown or Dayton doesn't have to fly to D.C. to do a video interview.   That can be done via videoSkype for no cost.    Right now, the only cost we have is the incredible cost to democracy because local reporters aren't holding members of Congress accountable.   Had reporters done their job, Donald Trump wouldn't even be a consideration for the nomination of president.   But then, if reporters had done their job, there never would have been a war in Iraq either.  There was no imminent threat, and we knew that.  At least reporters from the McClatchy group got that on right.   

When journalism fails, bad things happen.


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