Tell ABC to Cover All Candidates Equally

[kasia]

ABC Narrows the Field: Did Kucinich's Criticism of Koppel Influence
Decision?
FAIR
http://www.fair.org/activism/abc-candidates.html

December 11, 2003

A day after ABC's Ted Koppel moderated a debate between the Democratic
presidential contenders, the network decided to withdraw three off-air
producers from the campaigns of Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun
and Rev. Al Sharpton.

ABC's decision was attributed to the fact that these candidates are
perceived to have a slim chance of winning the Democratic nomination. An
ABC spokesperson explained (Boston Globe, 12/11/03) that "as we prepare
for Iowa and New Hampshire, we are putting more resources toward
covering those events." Appearing on CNBC with Kucinich (12/10/03), Time
reporter Jay Carney suggested that the decision could be due to the fact
that "all of the media organizations have limited resources. It's
actually, I think, pretty
impressive that they had somebody on your campaign day by day by day."

Somehow it's hard to believe that the "limited resources" of the Disney
corporation (2003 revenues: $27 billion) explains ABC's call. ABC's
decision does seem to mirror the opinions of Koppel, who seemed
frustrated that these candidates were included in the debate at all. According
to the New York Times (12/7/03), Koppel "said he would have preferred a
slugfest among the six leading candidates." Koppel was quoted: "You
can't have a debate among nine people.... There is no such thing. It's
called a food fight."

[ism]

I'm a little confused. While not having a person dedicated to following the day-to-day operations of a candidate's campaign would presumably lead to less in-depth knowledge of said candidate, I don't see how that results in less coverage. Also, I don't think the fact that someone tossed in his or her hat for the Democratic primary warrants automatic equal nationwide coverage. I think that depends on how much interest a candidate generates, and by the numbers (http://moveonpac.org/moveonpac/report.html), asking for equal coverage of Sharpton is a tough case. The latest Newsweek poll puts Kucinich in dead last for "preference in Democratic nominee", with Braun in second-last. And really, what would a person dedicated to a campaign be able to bring to the table other than previously-stated platforms (http://www.sharpton2004.org/index.php?menuID=Page&pid=3)? Do I want to know what Al Sharpton ate for lunch today?

The argument that Disney has X dollars of revenue also doesn't make sense, since the ultimate goal of a corporation is to maximize profits, and ABC News doesn't have access to all of Disney's dollars; they do have a budget. While ABC News is part of the Fourth Estate, mentioning a candidate with less than 1% of the nation's interest 10 times is pretty generous.

The candidates had their chance to captivate interest. Dean came from nowhere, and for that matter, so did Clark. Why couldn't candidates with established names do what they did? It didn't come from free advertising; Dean campaigned on the net and pulled a grassroots effort, Clark used his previous occupation to score interviews and test the waters. Sharpton got on the late night talkshows on the basis of... I'm not sure what, exactly, but if people still didn't care about him after that, ABC News sure can't make people care.

[Danny]

why cover people that have no chance of winning, you lose out on the depth that can be generated around people that actually do have a chance to win.

[kasia]

Do whatever you have to, but remember to watch 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

More than 14 million viewers will get to know John Edwards better -- just
over a month before the Iowa caucuses begin.

Tune in to the top-rated television news magazine and cheer John on. The CBS
show is scheduled to begin at 7 PM ET Sunday, but check your local listings
because NFL games may push the start time back.

[cmar]

I don't like the idea of a news department deciding who can win and who can't. It is thier job to cover the news, not make it. As long as Kucinich, Moseley Braun and Sharpton are in the race, they deserve the same attention as the so-called frontrunners.

BTW, Koppel's questions that night were insulting and surprising. Does he not understand why candidates like those three are in the race? Why would ABC want to silence their voices and ignore the important messages they bring?