Conversation | 05/02/2008 12:00 am

Marlo Thomas: The Media Steals Our Chances of a Fair Election

With Joan Juliet Buck, Lily Tomlin, Marlo Thomas and Mary Wells

JOAN: Does the deliberate dumbing down of the news have the same effect as censorship, by cutting the public off from information that we need to make our decisions?

MARY: I say this as an old advertising pro: The news is for sale. The news is just a factor, like entertainment. The ultimate person who is responsible for whether the news is good, bad or indifferent is the viewer, because if the news is not good, fewer and fewer people will watch it.

LILY: People didn’t used to try to make money on the news. We lived through an era when the networks prided themselves on their news department.

MARY: Yes. That may be true.

LILY: Not because it was a money maker.

MARY: The news around this election has been particularly obnoxious, idiotic. But you’re getting the news that is essentially what most of the people are willing to pay for, or what they want. I know that sounds vastly oversimplified. But it is a fact.

LILY: Look how many good people they have destroyed just by petty humiliations. There’s nothing worse in this culture than being discounted or laughed at. They destroyed Gore. They destroyed Kerry as any kind of viable candidate, just by making fun of him windsurfing.

MARLO: Look what they did to Hillary, from the very beginning. With her headband, and her not wanting to bake cookies. My God, you would have thought this woman had robbed a bank.

JOAN: There was this great op-ed piece by Elizabeth Edwards where she wrote that what we’re getting, “what is left, is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism.” As intelligent women, when you turn on the American news, do you desperately watch to try and find something? Or do you go on the Internet instead?

MARLO: I always think that if I read enough stuff, possibly somewhere in the middle I’ll find the truth. But the Joe Klein article in Time was so interesting. And he said we get this low-level information and use it as news. You know — what Barack’s bowling score is. All this foolish stuff — what Hillary was wearing and what Bill Clinton said to a guy on the street. But nothing about the issues, nothing about what’s happening to this country, nothing about the war. The war is now on page 18. Iraq is, I think, now on the back of the paper. And we’re not interested in it. And today Bush is all excited about his $600 rebate. A $600 rebate is going to make up, he says, for the gas prices. How far will $600 take you?

JOAN: About 20 miles.

MARLO: And people buy it.

JOAN: Do you think there’s a will behind this deliberate stupidity of information that we’re being given?

MARY: That it’s manipulative?

JOAN: Not only treating the public with contempt but actually —

MARLO: Withholding. Yes, I think they’re withholding.

JOAN: As in, “If we tell them all about Barack’s score – bowling score – they won’t pay attention to anything else.”

MARY: Why don’t we do something about it? I mean, it is possible to do something about it, if we’re really that interested. Why don’t we band together and simply stop it? After the last election, which was certainly questionable, we just accepted — I mean, we are an accepting country.

MARLO: I asked Bill Clinton, at a dinner party, why he and the first George Bush didn’t go to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and ask them to come up with a foolproof way that our elections would be fair and honest.

JOAN: Brilliant.

272 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Brava!!!! Applause!!!!! Applause!!!! Applause!!!!! Brava!!!!!!

By Mugsy Peabody on 05/02/2008 12:09 am

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Wait to go LADIES!!!!

By Jean Matuszak on 05/02/2008 12:58 pm

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For those who are interested a Stop Murdock web based action from Stop Big Media: http://www.stopbigmedia.com/blog/2008/05/01/it’s-your-call-stop-murdoch-today/ And Happy 60th B-Day, Mugsy! The Chinese Way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-GPJWwNbgM&NR=1 This is sweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0G_6NRbvTo Hot!! (aft the boring 30 sec intro) Obsession w/George Clooney clone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8PzObH0Nbc&feature=related

By zut alors on 05/03/2008 12:46 pm

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MUST READ!! Out now, June issue of Vanity Fair with Robert F Kennedy on the cover……(June 5 40th anniversary his death)………good piece on Spitzer. Great piece on Barbara Walters. And EXCELLENT on battle of the mighty lefty political blogs… entitled “When Democrats Go Post-Al.” Whose on top….Daily Kos/Arrianna Huffington etc.

By zut alors on 05/03/2008 6:29 pm

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Mugsy…Happy B-Day Again….Just this AM for the first time (and probably because of our focus this week on media) paid attention to Arianna Huffington’s new book, “Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution and Makes Us All Safe.” In it she prescribes what needs to be done to turn things around….ie what we’ve been discussing for days. I don’t have time to read the book this week…but will before May 19th when she is coming to SF to speak…and then I’ll write a synopsis. Here’s Glenn Greenwald excellent write-up that covers how she blames Beltway Democrats and Liberal Media…for giving the Right Wing Lunatics a pass:” “….thoroughly documents the most influential fact in our political life: namely, that the right-wing faction which has taken over the Republican Party is radical, deeply hostile to America’s core political traditions and values, and incomparably destructive. As she puts it: “they don’t believe in evolution but believe in torture.” But the real value of this book is its examination of the two key culprits in the ascension of this right-wing fringe: the establishment media and the Beltway leaders of the Democratic Party. Huffington’s insights are most piercing and innovative when her targets are the bloated, empty-headed media stars who have done more than anyone else to allow this fringe group to masquerade as part of the mainstream. And she pinpoints the dual afflictions which have rendered the media totally supine, when they aren’t actively complicit, in the face of this falsehood-spewing, extremist movement — the twisted notion of journalistic “balance” which means that they present every claim no matter how objectively false, along with the “self-hating” mentality of “liberal” journalists who have internalized right-wing smears and thus repeat them and seek to accommodate them: A key to understanding the fanatical Right’s takeover of the Republican Party and how these ideas spread to the rest of the country is looking at the role of the media—not the Fox News pseudo-newsmen or the talk radio blowhards—but the respectable, supposedly liberal media. Without the enabling of the traditional media—with their obsession with “balance” and their pathological devotion to the idea that truth is always found in the middle—the radical Right would never have been able to have its ideas taken seriously… . By reporting everything through this prism the media missed the big story: the hijacking of America by the lunatic Right. Perhaps the most compelling proof of how potent is Huffington’s critique of the media’s malfeasance is that one of her prime and most-deserving targets, pseudo-tough-guy Tim Russert, banned Huffington from appearing on NBC and MSNBC shows to discuss her book, because of his hurt feelings over the criticism she voices. As demonstrated by the recent network news blackout of the NYT’s “military analyst” expose — a blackout which Huffington recently described as “among the most shameful in the history of American journalism” — our media stars will simply suppress, conceal from their audience, any content which reveals their fundamental corruption. Hence, Russert uses his position at NBC to ensure that NBC viewers are blocked from hearing Huffington’s revealing critique of his “journalism.” Huffington is equally unsparing — and equally on-point — when it comes to the fear-driven, weakness-embodying Democratic Party establishment, which has been as unwilling as the establishment press to take on the fringe Right: The other not-so-innocent bystanders to the Right’s takeover are the Democrats who have continued to tread far too lightly when it comes to holding the GOP’s fanatical core accountable. Time and time again, the Democratic leadership has allowed itself to get played, run over, or distracted. In sum, we are a nation that has been taken over by a political movement that holds fringe views largely because the two institutions which had the responsibility to expose the truth of what they are — the media and the “opposition party” — miserably failed to fulfill those functions. Huffington’s book is a merciless though extremely well-document indictment of those failed institutions, and highlights the havoc these failures have wreaked on our country and political culture. As depressing as all of that may sound, the book itself is characterized by the vibrant and entertaining yet always hard-hitting tone which characterizes everything Arianna does. And underlying its assessment of our deep-seated political woes is a bulging optimism that the Right can be easily crushed — the same optimistic premise which drove her to create and build with shocking speed The Huffington Post, one of the few real counter-weights to the toxic right-wing noise machine. The reason for this optimism is clear and simple. As she puts it: Democrats are in the majority today because the positions they campaigned are in line with mainstream America. But if the lunatic fringe group now known as the Republican Party is to be stopped in its efforts to radically remake this country, Democrats are going to have to step up and defend the mainstream that swept them into power in 2006. This is the critical truth proven by Huffington’s book: that Democrats’ core positions are mainstream and the GOP’s those of a repudiated fringe. Whether that will translate into political success for the Democrats, and the desperately needed destruction of the Right, depends largely on whether the prescriptions set out in this book are followed or ignored.” ———

By zut alors on 05/04/2008 2:33 pm

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I just want to make sure I am reading what my eyes are showing me. Did I just read this conversation from some of the wealthiest people in our country complaining about coverage of the election process? Okay, let me ask this…how many of you reply to conversations, etc. from this site have a close and dear friend who writes network news, reads the network news, wines and dines with network executives, is best friends with network big wigs??? Get where I am coming from? If these decision makers are your friends call them, text them, ask them why their networks cover the election process the way they do? Ask them why they feel it necessary to report on stupid nonsense? Ask them why they get to determine what is best for the American viewer? I can go on and on with this one. Hell…give me the email or phone number of your best friends… I’ll ask if you ladies are afraid to ask. Or is it you really do not care of the lifestyle of the 1% ( ladies that’s you) will only get stronger? Mary aren’t you the one who gave us the list of prominent physicians that we’ll need when we do our extended travels throughout Europe? Haven’t you all been friends forever and a day? What kind of friend cannot demand Bill Clinton come up with a better way of covering the election process? Let the two us arrive at the same dinner party I promise you I’d ask. Please. Cut me some slack.

By Taylor Hall on 05/06/2008 2:53 pm

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[at the highest possible volume] YEEEAA-ROOOM-BOOOOTY! Do not accept substandard news. They are tools of the puppet masters.

By RoseMerry Hoffman on 05/10/2008 8:17 pm

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Hear, hear! Too true, Marlo—they’ve corrupted the process possibly irretrievably. Exit polls need to dumped immediately. Instead of speculation, the media needs to report facts and use some judgement in what they report. Politics has become too sensational in the media and that needs to stop right now. Applause indeed ladies :-)

By Frank Peterson on 05/02/2008 12:17 am

In some cases honest exit polls may be the only way to keep the system from being hijacked, Frank. In 2000 they showed Gore winning in more than one state where the actual / virtual vote count mysteriously turned out quite differently. They have been useful in various international elections. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/weekinreview/17plis.html?_r=1&oref=slo…

By Michael Salling on 05/02/2008 2:26 am

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I disagree, Michael. Why participate in exit polls? Our elections are free - and confidential. Since this country operates in four time zones, why influence later voters with early results. I think we should tell exit pollers that our votes are confidential. Period.

By K O on 05/02/2008 10:08 am

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I agree with Kitty. I value my personal time in the voting booth, and ignore these poll takers, both at the voting site and when they call me on the phone.

By Diana T on 05/02/2008 11:46 am

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Michael, I agree. No one need participate in exit polls unless they wish. They do provide an indicator. The problem isn’t the exit polling but the reporting on it before all the polls are closed.

By zut alors on 05/02/2008 11:49 pm

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I have to say, I am totally loving the fire in Marlo’s belly in this conversation!

By Buh- Bye on 05/02/2008 2:52 am

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The media has lost their sense of responsibility to us. They are supposed to be our eyes and ears and report back to us(the citizens) what we are unable to find out for ourselves so that we will be better able to make informed decisions at the ballot box. But, over the years, the “need” for news 24/7 plus our complacency has reduced their standards. We also must remember that back in the old days, huge corporations did not own the news mediae and they were much more independent. Look at who owns the networks. How much independence does an outlet of Rupert Murdoch really have? What is the true agenda of the various reporting outlets in regards to the special interests owning them? Unless, the public starts really delving into the real facts on any subject, finding out facts for themselves, and partcipating in the election process, I really think that the continuing erosion of our democratic process will start accelerating faster and faster like a melting glacier.

By Diana T on 05/02/2008 8:51 am

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Oregon is a state where we have mail in ballots. This means we will always have a paper trail for our voting. It is a simple and effective way to validate what is happening and to circumvent the manipulation done by not having enough voting stations at the voting sites.

By Jenny G on 05/02/2008 12:17 am