Let ABC know how you feel about their decision to remove it’s embedded reporter from the campaign.
Let ABC know how you feel about their decision to remove it’s embedded reporter from the campaign.
Reform ABC News Coverage:Calling the Media to its Proper Role
On December 9, Congressman Kucinich publicly stood up to big media on a nationally televised debate. Dennis told debate moderator Ted Koppel, “I want the American people to see where media takes politics in this country.” The crowd cheered. “We start talking about endorsements, now we’re talking about polls and then talking about money. When you do that you don’t have to talk about what’s important to the American people.”
As reported by the Associated Press, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan was “thrilled” by Dennis’ statement, and said she wished the candidates had spent even more time talking about the issues important to New Hampshire voters.
On December 10, ABC News pulled its fulltime embedded reporter from her job of traveling daily with the campaign, a move that entailed canceling an in-depth interview of the candidate that had been planned for the next week in Iowa. Also on the 10th, after the Kucinich campaign sent out a press release about the change, ABC said the same reporter would still cover the campaign part-time and without the traveling. On the 11th, ABC’s reporter informed the campaign that she would be traveling some, including a trip to Iowa to conduct the interview this weekend or next week.
ABC News has also taken its reporters off fulltime embedded status with the campaigns of Rev. Al Sharpton and Carol Mosley-Braun.
At issue here is whether the media will usurp the role of the people in narrowing the field of candidates. The airwaves belong to the people. The people of this country are increasingly turned off by politics and disinclined to vote. Biased and superficial coverage leaves people thinking that their vote does not matter and that they have nothing to vote for.
Express concerns to ABC, contact the following:
ABC Audience Response line at 818-460-7477. Press 4 to leave a message.
ABC News Washington DC Bureau at 202-222-7777, fax 202-222-7684
ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin at 212-456-4545, fax 212-456-2795, email mark.halperin@abc.com
ABC News President David Westin at 212-456-6200, fax 212-456-4292
ABC President Alex Wallau at 818-460-5500, fax 212-456-2795, email alex.wallau@abc.com
You can write letters to:
ABC News
47 W 66th St
New York, NY 10023-6290
Kucinich Excerpts from the New hampshire Debate
For a full transcript: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50859-2003Dec9?language=printer
KOPPEL: When you hear some of your colleagues here — you know, I get a little bit of a sense of sour grapes here, that if anyone else on this stage had gotten Al Gore’s endorsement, he would have been happy to have it. What do you think?
KUCINICH: Well, I can’t say I was really counting on it.
(LAUGHTER)
But let me say, Ted, let me say — let me say that some of the best talent in American politics is on this stage right now.
(APPLAUSE)
And with all due respect to you, Ted Koppel, who I’ve admired over the years greatly…
KOPPEL: There’s a zinger coming now, isn’t there?
KUCINICH: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
To begin this kind of a forum with a question about an endorsement, no matter by who, I think actually trivializes the issues that are before us.
(APPLAUSE)
For example, at this moment there are 130,000 troops in Iraq. I mean, I would like to hear you ask during this event what’s the plan for getting out. This war is not over. I have a plan, which is on my Web site at kucinich.us, to get the United States out of Iraq.
KUCINICH: I want to talk about that tonight, and I hope we have a substantive discussion tonight and that we’re not going to spend the night talking about endorsements.
(APPLAUSE)
…….
KOPPEL: This is a question to Ambassador Braun, Reverend Sharpton, Congressman Kucinich. You don’t have any money, or at least not much. Reverend Sharpton has almost none. You don’t have very much, Ambassador Braun.
KUCINICH: We’ve raised $4.5 million. I mean, that’s not nothing.
(LAUGHTER)
KOPPEL: You’ve got about $750,000 in the bank right now, and that’s close to nothing when you’re coming up against this kind of opposition. But let me finish the question.
The question is, will there come a point when polls, money and then ultimately the actual votes that will take place here in places like New Hampshire, the caucuses in Iowa, will there come a point when we can expect one or more of the three of you to drop out? Or are you in this as sort of a vanity candidacy?
Reverend Sharpton, you go first.
SHARPTON: Well, first of all, I think the fact that I’m doing so well in many states in the polls and ahead in national polls of people with far more money shows that I know how to deal with the national deficit probably better than anybody on this stage.
(LAUGHTER)
So I think that in all seriousness the problem is that we are reducing politics to people with money. I think that Americans want people with ideas.
(APPLAUSE)
The suggestion is that if you can’t buy your way now, that you can’t seek the highest office in the land. That is to really sell the White House.
I think that people with no money that can generate the kind of support I’m generating, that can galvanize a lot of young people, a lot of people that left this party and voted for Ralph Nader, this is what wins elections. I refuse to allow us to continue to act like the person with the best dollar — or the biggest dollar — has the best message.
If money is going to win this, Bush is going to win. Nobody up here is going to raise the money Bush raises.
KOPPEL: You’re out of time.
SHARPTON: What we must do is raise the votes he can’t get. And you can’t buy those votes.
(APPLAUSE)
KOPPEL: We’re talking about two things. We’re talking about money and we’re talking about ultimately standing in the polls. There are only a couple of ways that you can measure how someone is doing at this stage in the election process, money and polls. You’re not doing terribly well with money; you’re doing even worse in the polls.
KOPPEL: When do you pull out?
KUCINICH: After I — when I take the oath of office, when you’re there to cover it…
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
… and I can tell you, Ted, you know, we started at the beginning of this evening, talking about an endorsement. Well, I want the American people to see where the media takes politics in this country.
To start with endorsements…
(APPLAUSE)
We start talking about endorsements, now we’re talking about polls, and then we’re talking about money. Well, you know, when you do that, you don’t have to talk about what’s important to the American people.
Ted, I’m the only one up here that actually…
(APPLAUSE)
… I’m the only up here on the stage that actually voted against the PATRIOT Act and voted against the war — the only one on this stage.
I’m also…
(APPLAUSE)
… I’m also one of the few candidates up here who’s talking about taking our health-care system from this for-profit system to a not-for-profit, single-payer universal health care for all.
(APPLAUSE)
I’m also the only one who has talked about getting out of NAFTA and the WTO and going back to bilateral trade…
(APPLAUSE)
… conditioned on workers’ rights, human rights and the environment.
Now…
KOPPEL: Congressman?
KUCINICH: … I may be inconvenient for some of those in the media, but, you know, I’m sorry about that.
(APPLAUSE)
……..
KOPPEL: Congressman?
KUCINICH: Well, I’d like to take issue with something that’s been said here. You know, the war’s not over. The war is not over. We have 130,000 troops there. And the occupation equals a war.
Now, my plan, which I mentioned earlier, which is on a Web site at kucinich.us, and I’d like everyone to look at it, calls for the end of the occupation, for the United States to get out.
Now, the U.N. will not cooperate unless the U.S. takes a change of direction. And here’s the change of direction: The Bush administration must let go of its aspirations to control the oil in Iraq.
(APPLAUSE)
They must hand over to the U.N. the handling of the oil, on a transitional basis, so the U.N. can handle it for the Iraqi people until the Iraqi people can be self-governing.
KUCINICH: The U.S. must hand over to the U.N. the contracting process. No more Halliburton sweetheart deals, no more war- profiteering, no more bids going to people who have contributed to the administration.
The United States must let go of the plan to privatize the Iraq economy, because, frankly, that’s a violation of both the Hague and Geneva conventions, and that’s another sticking point.
We have to turn over to the U.N. the cause of governance and helping to write a constitution.
You know, you can’t say, as Dr. Dean has, that you’re against the war but you’re for the occupation.
(APPLAUSE)
Because by keeping our troops in Iraq for years, you’re essentially keeping the war going.
The New York Times had the article yesterday, Ted, and, you know, maybe you saw it, how there is tough new tactics by the U.S. to tighten the grip on Iraqi towns. I mean, the tactics that this administration is having our men and women use are intensifying the war. There’s going to be greater casualties.
Now, the plan that I just talked about, in addition to having the U.S. provide for rebuilding what we blew up, providing reparations to the innocent Iraqis who were killed, providing an opportunity for — we have to provide some money so that we can bring U.N. troops in.
KUCINICH: But, Ted, unless we get the U.S. troops out of there totally, we’re never going to see a situation where that war is going to be over. We’re going to continue to be attacked.
And we need to get the U.N. in and get the U.S. out, end that occupation. And this is a centerpiece of my campaign for the presidency of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
KUCINICH: The resolution that I talked about, going to the U.N. with a totally different approach — from the time the U.N. approves that, 90 days later we can bring our troops home, rotate the U.N. troops in and bring our troops home.
We are not stuck there, Dr. Dean. The only difference between a rut and a grave is in the dimensions. We are not stuck there.
