Reply #7: What stood out about today's MSM coverage [View All]

[bluedogyellowdog]

The AP, Reuters and CNN reports on Vilsack's announcement all had a glaring inaccuracy: every one of them incorrectly said Vilsack is the "first" Democrat to officially enter the race.

This is wrong - he's the second. The first is Mike Gravel, former U.S. Senator from Alaska.

I smell a media shutout in the making. The MSM whined incessantly in 2004 that they had to desecrate their precious airtime with Kucinich, Sharpton and Moseley-Braun, and even made offensive comments that the three should have been excluded from the debates. The MSM is only interested in horse races, not in an open and democratic electoral process. This time around the media may try to shut out people who are serious candidates but don't fit their "horse race" criteria unless we raise our voices.

This is a matter of principle whether or not you support Mike Gravel for President. To be honest he isn't my first choice (I'm leaning hard toward Edwards, Clark, or Obama). To be honest, he's a longshot and I don't give him much chance of winning. But this is a matter of principle and a matter of whether we are going to truly have a democratic process in this country or just meaningless horse races dictated by the mainstream media. We're the big tent party. We have every right to exclude joke candidates, cranks who only get on the primary ballot in New Hampshire, and nuts like Larouche, but sitting U.S. Congressmen (i.e. Kucinich), former U.S. Senators (i.e. Gravel, Moseley-Braun, the late Eugene McCarthy, etc.), and nationally notable figures (Sharpton) are by definition serious candidates, and should be covered by the media as such.

I don't believe this inaccurate reporting today was an oversight. It was deliberate, and we need to correct the media anytime they make these kinds of inaccurate statements.