Finding the News (2/1/04)
by Dean Hartwell
In the Iowa caucuses, the public learned the news that Senator John Kerry had won first place, Senator John Edwards second and former Governor Howard Dean third. Kerry’s victory should have been the news.
Instead, Dean made a highly emotional, even frenzied, speech in which, among other things, he screamed and yelled the states that he planned to win in the Democratic primaries. This speech became fodder for newspapers, magazines and television.
As a result of this cache of negative news, Dean dropped from his commanding lead in the primary in New Hampshire to a distant second place on voting day. To be sure, Dean contributed to this disaster by forgetting that he had nationwide television cameras in front of him, but did his actions warrant the results?
Contributing heavily Dean’s woes was the chorus the media formed in ridiculing Dean’s speech. Television stations, newspapers and magazines all over the nation replayed and recounted the candidate’s antics as if on cue. But this should come as no surprise.
Our media is owned by a handful of companies. Columbia Journalism Review has compiled a list of the main companies who control the media (http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/index.asp). For example, Knight-Ridder owns over thirty newspapers throughout the United States, including the Detroit Free Press, the Tallahassee Democrat and the Miami Herald.
The Tribune Company owns the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, among others. The Washington Post Company’s resume includes the Washington Post and Newsweek. Clear Channel Communications has almost forty television stations.
The tidal wave of negativity that hit Howard Dean has hit other candidates in previous years. The media showed repeated images of Michael Dukakis riding a tank, Bill Clinton saying he “didn’t inhale” and Al Gore sighing in a debate against George W. Bush. It happens to Republican candidates, too. Bob Dole’s comment to George H. W. Bush to “stop lying” about his record received frequent airplay.
All too often, the forces in the media focus upon the trivial or the amusing and forget about the important. Lost in the current shuffle is this important fact: As of Friday, January 30th, Howard Dean actually leads in the delegate count for Democratic presidential candidates (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04030/267462.stm). Has this fact been reported on televised news coverage or in newspapers or magazines?
Of course it hasn’t. I had to dig it up on the Internet. With the way our current media works, it looks like we’re going to have to stop relying upon it and do the research ourselves to get the true story.