Current Trends by Natasha Sapp

Oh yes when we don’t like something reach for that old go to— blaming the media after all it takes the heat of you and is a convenient story almost anyone can believe, especially cozied up next to its twin bias in the media exhibited by the dueling networks of MSNBC and Fox News, rival print media The New York Times and the Washington Post, missteps at say CBS’ 60 Minutes, hosts still thriving in talk radio pushing one political side alone; a phenomenon that started, hard for some to comprehend, before this election cycle, even before the days when Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan’s latest shenanigans hit the morning shows, Alek Baldwin was assaulting photographers, LeBron James’ choice of professional basketball team warranted mention on a national news program and Mel Gibson garnered as much of a name for himself as a celebrity fallen from grace prone to drunk driving arrests and racist rants over his extensive acting, directing body of work. And it worked for Ben Carson deflecting questions about the veracity surrounding events in his autobiography, Ted Cruz used it to get through more than one debate boiling serious questions facing Americans regarding the candidates down to the satire of “are you a comic book villain,” Ben Carson can you do math” exc., simultaneously democrat Bernie Sanders told the entire world he was sick and tired of hearing about her (Secretary Hillary Clinton’s) damn e-mails plainly wanting to focus on voters issues, so who wouldn’t engage in a little media obfuscation particularly with more and more channels to put it on via ever expanding cable packages to get your message out there? Nor is media bias anything new, part of core questions that came along with the mass distribution of the television into nearly every home circa 1960, questions about content, effect on society, impact on children, what is appropriate, what’s not, its influencing of ideas; to concerns today centering around the power of advertising, channels, networks that seem to exist solely for propaganda, selling of products beyond the late night infomercial, cooking tool demos, QVC and the Home Shopping Network to programing aired seemingly solely to present commercials in between. Enter an article posted on Salon.com allegedly exposing 3 big ways the press, reporters of news and information to the people, have failed us this election cycle including a brief history citing other media egregious leanings to one glaringly skewed side of partisan politics, misshaping the truth by sidestepping, omitting whole sections of the situation, subject under discussion, bad, by that meaning incompetent, irresponsible reporting using that other modern stock go to—9/11 and it’s coverage. Despite clear, fact supported, implicating of Fox News in the staggering percentage of disinformation permeating the American public about U.S. military conflict, vis-à-vis the Iraq war, specifically imaginary links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, they expand that to all news outlets, print as well as television in discussing the press’ significant let down of voters approaching 2016. Accusations they essentially covered Trump too much considering his early poll standing and possessing zero prior political experience molding, morphing the first ‘Media-Created Presidential Nominee.’ Between political operatives throwing their hat into the ring, while making no mention of any other republican apart from Trump in the conspiracy of how media coverage bought the election in favor of one candidate ultimately shutting out also available party choices, because there were somewhere close to 15 republican contenders vying for the nomination they seem to get a pass from our press conspiracist on who they covered most and least, the author instead whines about how badly Bernie Sanders, a virtually no named senator from Vermont, 6th smallest state in the union by landmass, 2nd smallest by population, was hurt by media bias towards Hillary Clinton, when “only 7 percent of the media’s reporting on Sanders was about his issues, whereas 28 percent of Clinton’s coverage was issue-focused.” Sliding neatly into the next slot marked effectively duping the public, endless election coverage especially on primary and caucus election nights leading to show anchors on CNN, MSNBC counting votes before they’re cast, calling it, election results too early, causing voters, yet to cast their ballots, make their decision on paper to stay home believing the election already over. Finally ignoring real, bona fide news related to the election, voting and how inherently rigged our system is—valiantly exposed by Bernie Sanders, surprise, surprise according to writer, Sophia A. McClennen; allegations of election fraud, actual candidate filed cases in Arizona, New York. Instead of covering that, it’s all Donald Trump all the time. Mechanical, logistics problems we’ve heard repeatedly not fixed since the 2000 debacle encompassing hanging chads and unclear ballots, at least one recount and Bush still won, voter suppression efforts coming to a head in 2012 resurging 4 years later complete with eye popping video “old voting machines, to reduced polling places, to inaccurate ballots, to registered voters being dropped, to impossibly long lines, to uncounted provisional ballots the examples of ways our democracy has been hamstrung abound.” Yet is that a fair, truthful, factually accurate breakdown of why this election cycle is so topsy-turvy, why entities like Trump have been able to break all the traditions, if not rules, and still win, still amass votes; is the media seriously the largest reason democracy stands at this horrifying level of gone awry? As opposed to say the state of the economy, dysfunction in congress, republicans known for their constant obstruction, the populous’ desire for change, not necessarily fussed with what kind of change as long as there is a change, their poorly defined anger seeking a target; it couldn’t be any of that could it?

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/22/the_press_has_not_done_its_job_three_ways_the_media_has_failed_our_democracy_in_covering_the_election/

No the mainstream media is not responsible for making Donald Trump the republican nominee, unduly helping, never mind creating, any presidential nominee to date; though they have been responsible for breaking the strides of successful candidates by uncovering scandals, long forgotten voting records and similar things changing the public’s mind on political operative X. Then again that’s what they are supposed to do; it’s called investigative reporting. First let’s better define mainstream media, CNN, MSNBC, HLN are not exclusively mainstream any more than Fox News is; all 4 are cable news outlets 3 with a more ‘liberal’ bent, Fox the conservative, the slant of the Washington Post and the New York Times particularly covering certain subjects, person or topic either one, usually Hillary Clinton, is well known and continually remarked upon. Here, a quote from a fellow Salon author on another scandal the current election cycle has drudged up perfectly illustrating the above, a New York Times correspondent’s “sloppy reporting during Bill Clinton’s presidency of the Whitewater controversy that led federal investigators to spend several years and millions of dollars chasing Clinton misdeeds all over Washington and Arkansas. That all those investigations ever turned up was the president lying about a blowjob is one of the more absurd spectacles in the long history of absurd spectacles in American politics.” Truly mainstream media is broadcast station media, basic local channels that carry national news NBC, ABC, CBS, lasting 30 minutes consistently 6 days a week, and when you have only that many minutes per night you have to then prioritize; Bernie Sanders ho-hum rally or the obnoxious thing Donald Trump said worthy of kicking him out of contention for the presidency? Those things he said matter assuredly to the citizens deciding whether or not to vote for him; destroying the falsehood ‘most Trump press was good press,’ alluding to just saying his name so many times got him elected the republican nominee, directly after Trump’s confrontation with Megyn Kelly, arguments about did he or didn’t he say those things about women, ABC news aired a short debate highlights montage showing yes he did. When the former rape allegations once made by his wife surfaced along with a lawyer working on behalf of complainants suing Trump over a business dispute came forward describing a harrowing deposition experience involving a breast pump, CNN interviewed the latter as well as correctly identifying unearthed years old rape allegations as an attempt to discredit the business mogul; somewhat overshadowed by his lawyers’ comments you couldn’t rape your spouse, legally untrue, however not the fault of ‘the media.’ We heard about his desire to surveil mosques, create a Muslim registry, finally a ban on all Muslims and we should have heard it, as it tells us about what the candidate plans to do for the country; it matters that Trump University amounted to a Ponzi scheme gaining attention of multiple states’ attorneys general, it matters that Trump businesses are bad at paying their bills, he’s on record extremely anti-illegal immigrant but is caught hiring them to build his hotels, his grand plans to make America great again emphasizing buying American and Trump merchandise in his hotels, TV’s guests are watching are made anywhere else, him claiming he can’t find U.S. product makers. But I proved this false in a piece researching the TV’s example and very much available American companies; Vizio plus a smaller company, operating at that time, he had to choose from. The results of a few minutes google search; imagine what someone with business connections should be able to find. Moving exclusively to the democrats for a moment, beyond the following quote succinctly explaining ‘expanded’ Clinton coverage over Sanders; ‘Hillary Clinton received three times more coverage than Sanders in summer 2015, during the period of pre-primary debates. I stopped reading right there.’ “A First Lady, Senator and previous presidential candidate received more coverage than an Independent Senator representing 600,000 constituents and no previous national ambitions? The “pre-primary debates” began in October. That’s overstating the obvious; all the debates occur before the primary. Where do these people get the idea that a certain candidate deserves things not given to anyone else?” Ignored in the Sanders Clinton comparison, A- our exposer of all things nefarious about 2016 only contrasted Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders when examining coverage not say Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley, Hillary Clinton and Jim Web, Lincoln Chafee, even Bernie Sanders and the other 3 early democratic casualties. By her logic if media coverage had been fair, O’Malley, Web, Chafee might have won the democratic nomination, not Sanders at all; thoughts incongruent with their lackluster, downright scary answers, their own ill-preparedness. B- again she did nothing close to the same thing on the republican side instead cross comparing Sanders and Trump then Sanders and Clinton; thus subsequently asking how Trump and Clinton secured their respective nominations is like asking why Rick Perry or Scott Walker, Rick Santorum didn’t clinch it for republicans, why oddity Lincoln Chafee didn’t sow it up for democrats trying to blame the media not their own obvious campaign flaws, incoherent answers, absent voter support and extreme positions. The rise and success of Donald Trump directly correlates to failing, less put together candidates, highlights of 2012 seemingly gone further off the deep end, utterly incapable of opposing him forget successfully; identical problem demonstrated with the Never Trump Movement, they don’t have a viable candidate to put up countering him, republican field inherently open with no one opposing him for far too long. Looking at press content for Clinton and Sanders, there’s the whole Benghazi-gate, e-mail-gate, FBI criminal investigation-gate, private server-gate people determining what to put on air thought deserved as much coverage as Trump at the republican end, all negative in nature, rehashing common threads expressed about Clinton by analysts and voters alike in past elections on issues of trust, honesty and likability; which should have helped Bernie coupled with his policies to exceedingly benefit the American people in what still feel like recession times, that it didn’t makes his campaign flaws and own strategic short comings that much more pronounced. Mixing in with the chorus of reiterated complaints about press coverage for Sanders, plenty of people heard Bernie Sanders’ policies and needed no help connecting them with socialism, had no trouble hearing him use, next coin the term ‘democratic socialist’ easily defining it, making voters nervous all the same. People who watched the 1st debate or caught a highlight reel thanks to news outlet X heard him say we should be more like Denmark, immediately thinking they don’t want America to be like Denmark, unimpressed with his ‘I come from a rural state’ answer on gun control in the wake of regular mass shootings. Even the most socialist leaning democrats, young millennials who later flocked to his banner liking the concept of free college compared to their mounting student loan debts, projections of the cost to them personally to get educated predictably felt something inherently right in Hillary Clinton’s rebuttal to his ‘free college for everyone’ slogan stating tax payers shouldn’t have to pay for Donald Trump’s kids to go to college; sane implication being Mr. Trump is more than capable of doing so, let him along with all the uber wealthy freeing taxpayers to fund the average Joes’ children’s dreams. Equally we’re giving the press far too much credit for Trump when ABC News and others profiled focus groups shown Trump rallies, Trump comments, Trump positions, explanations and it’s not that they didn’t hear what he said, not that the ramifications of his words, his policies weren’t explained to them, it’s that the Trump supporters didn’t care. They liked that he had a truck driver’s mouth because it wasn’t politically correct; one focus group member discussing his Muslim ban commented he was the only one who would say it, undertone it needed to be said, pointing to an electorate problem not a media coverage problem.

http://presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/stories/5187/23-ridiculously-offensive-donald-trump-quotes#1

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/what-the-trump-and-cosby-allegations-reveal-about-rape-culture-20150728

Running a Country According to ‘The Donald’- Convince the Public their Country is No Longer Great, Leaders are Stupid, Unintelligent, Then Layout Your Audacious Plan toTurn It All Around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyb2SOia4G4

As for counting votes before they are cast, Ms. McClennen even pointed to the 1980 election where print media called it for President Elect Ronald Reagan over incumbent Jimmy Carter post east coast only results apparently oblivious California is the biggest electoral state in the union and on the west coast; calling their actions, quelling voter turnout, nothing compared to the early counting, implied miscounting going on throughout election coverage 2016. “This time we witnessed a race called before any votes had been cast. On June 5, the Associated Press called the Democratic nomination for Clinton based solely on the interviewing of super delegates, who do not cast their votes until the Democratic Convention on July 25.” Except, though super delegates aren’t ever going to be the whole story, their opinions were simply confirming the blatantly obvious acknowledging Clinton won by an overwhelming margin of pledged delegates (being those assigned to a singular candidate), not merely super delegates alone. Their support placing her well over the top in needed numbers to secure her party’s nomination, the favorite to battle Trump in the general election; pledged delegate votes, in the case of democrats, tied to primary results (by state) indicating it isn’t just willy-nilly, on a whim, what the delegate feels like that day rather representing what voters said they wanted with their ballots. Sanders always trailing far, far behind in any delegate count; super and unpledged delegates free to vote whichever way they choose remembering their goal is voting for whichever candidate bests represents party interests in their state, not general election viability. Easily forgotten to those who weren’t born yet, were toddlers, elementary school children holding no desire to follow politics, Reagan won and Carter lost probably by significant enough margins it can’t all be blamed on pockets of low voter turnout believing the election decided, all additional factors facilitating a Reagan win that year discarded. 2 solid decades of recession…“11 percent inflation when the nation was still paying the prices of the Great Society and the Vietnam War, ‘weakening performances, including doing nothing to achieve the release of American diplomatic hostages held in Iran,’ Mr. Carter was diminishing defense spending at the same time the Soviets were building an estimated 13,500 tanks, 6,300 aircraft, 900 ballistic missiles and 1200 intercontinental missiles,” embarrassing speeches where he failed to take responsibility for the nation’s problems didn’t sway the people at all, that day’s conservative, tea party sort—sure. Similarly to Carter in ’80, campaign progression saw an increasingly windswept, low energy, burnt out, struggling, if not weak Sanders, and no that’s not a reinforced reference to him being pushed off stage at his own event by Black Lives Matter, an incident Trump couldn’t stop repeating at the end of a microphone, rally podium or bullhorn, rather a man straining to keep up generating questions, along with his age, can he handle a presidency? Early on more seasoned voters when hearing ‘Medicare for all’ and ‘free college tuition for students’ wondered at the cost to the average citizen; one defining criticism of the 1st debate was when he couldn’t tell wealthy citizens listening by how much their taxes would go up under his plan, on how much of a sliding scale according to income. Bernie Sanders staunchly supports the Fight for 15 while Hillary Clinton mentioned during debate supporting a $12 minimum wage out of an abundance of caution toward not doing any more damage to our economy, avoiding the mistakes of other countries and their minimum wage, uncertainty about what a $15 minimum wage would do economically on the whole; Hillary Clinton holding a perfect counter to Medicare for all in the public eye echoing what she said on college tuition, not paying Warren Buffet’s Medicare so we can pay everyone else’s. All signaling a seasoned operative who can smoothly, competently take the reins of the highest office, appealing to equally experienced voters; my own coverage of the first debate saw me saying thoughtfully Bernie Sanders’ campaign, taking into account his stated goals for criminal justice reform, Wall Street reform, ending district gerrymandering, depending heavily on beginning an uprising of unprecedented voter turnout should not be a candidacy for president. Functioning much better at the grass roots level, mirroring state by state moves in the fight for 15, but skewed media coverage is the only difference between outcomes for Sanders and Clinton, election night coverage keeping Sanders supporters home thinking they had already lost, hardly. Temperament of average Bernie Sanders supporters belying any notion an early call for the other guy would spur them to stay home, think the book closed, the election in whatever state already over; likely presenting the opposite effect causing them beat feet to their polling place, to turn out in greater numbers. Remember the violent eruption in Nevada for the first time raising questions about security, safety and order at the democratic convention mirroring outbursts trailing Trump cross the country when assessing republican convention security? Actually what has slowly happened to the Sanders’ campaign is indicative of what can happen in many cases; the difference between probable voters who will show up to rallies to see what you’re all about, potential voters eligible to vote, meeting the requirements and countable voters who translate that interest, enthusiasm into completing voter registration, Trump’s own of age children not registering in time to vote for him on the ballot in New York, physically showing up on voting day pulling the lever, marking the box next to your name. Lending credence to the possibility it was more than media bias, it was more than establishment blockades or whatever the conspiracy theory of the day is that derailed Bernie’s presidential chances encapsulated in comments on Ms. McClennen’s own article, “I agree that the media failed us but you have the context backwards. Sanders never had a chance. He was never a serious candidate. He lacked the support from Democratic voters, he had never put any effort into building the relationships and support needed to mount a successful campaign. The media failed to tell us that. They went along pretending he could win because it made for a better story. They always want to tell the horse race and they loved Sanders because he allowed them to talk about “what is wrong with the Clinton campaign.” Even after her sweep of the Northeast in March when the primary was effectively over they kept up the charade. This is how they failed us. They supported the delusions of Sanders supporters even when there was no chance of victory.” [Sic] Once more Bernie Sanders’ own behavior/demeanor giving an inkling into what went wrong saying, ‘it doesn’t appear I’ll be the nominee,’ phraseology making us wonder if he just came back down to earth, plugged into reality, slow to render an answer to whether he’ll endorse Clinton. Identical to media having no trouble covering his democratic socialist ideas, plans to give better to the American people, they had no trouble finding the one blemish spot of scandal on the Sanders campaign, when a Sander’s staffer got ahold of confidential Clinton campaign voter information; DNC immediately cutting them off from their extensive database. Doubtlessly it hamstrung his campaign, but that was the DNC’s doing not the media’s; CBS picking up the larger story it was a software glitch not intentional hacking, further this had happened before, Sanders’ workers probably not realizing what they had at first, staff going through proper reporting when they did and Sanders himself calling again for DNC officials to do something to keep the security breaches from happening. Yet every time disgruntled Bernie supporters talk about fraud and being robbed of the will of the people exc., this move never comes up; it’s all nebulous hate for DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, unfairness of closed primaries, poorly counted ballots in Nevada, New York, Arizona forgetting anything else. Or that these were fundamental problems with state laws, election procedures varying by states and falling under the purview of states’ rights according to the constitution, much harder to change than average individuals realize. If you really want to examine something effecting voting results and democracy with real intent to manipulate the outcome, rewind to what Ted Cruz did to Ben Carson in Iowa; Cruz phone bankers telling Iowa voters Carson had dropped out, would not be moving on to New Hampshire based on a circulating report he had returned home to Florida—yeah to pick up clothes. Odds Ben Carson would have been the republican nominee slim to none, but you can’t argue Cruz’s interference wasn’t wrong and that Bernie Sanders has no adjacent claim on the democratic side.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/dec/18/20051218-125505-3437r/

First Democratic Debate Sadly No One Can Avoid All the 3 Ring Circus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orjuXFGegpM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A72ZrFXw8pk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLdyfNgLF2Y

Under the subheading ignoring the real news Ms. McClennen meant news pertaining to the election and election outcomes noting subsequently listed items encountered upon continued reading, but again she’s thinking only of the cable news opportunities where they cover this for hours and hours a day; still they have to cover other breaking, up to the minute happenings. Some other needed to be covered topics, events: shootings in a Colorado planned parenthood, San Bernardino’s terror attack, Orlando’s nightclub attack hate crime and terror fueled massacre, Egypt Air flight 804 going missing, weather, tornados, floods, fires ravaging the west, terror attacks in both France and Bustles, the shocking shooting of UK parliament member Jo Cox, the UK’s brit-x vote, to name only a fraction of headline worthy things taking place around the nation, across the globe people would wish to know about, seek information concerning. Clarifying her assertions, it is not election fraud, according to our system, to have closed primaries where a person must choose their registered ballot democrat, republican, independent and that registered affiliation to one of the above could exclude them from voting for a candidate not matching that that affiliation; hints the independent voters shut out of voting for Bernie Sanders because they are independent and he’s running under the umbrella of the democratic party leading to an uproar over New York results, shouts the system is rigged. It’s the same on the republican side referencing the never Trump movement, talk the RNC (republican national convention) rules body will simply change the rules to allow a nominee to be chosen by something other than who has reached the target number of votes, a majority of votes, rumors of a contested convention on either side if a candidate for both did not reach the predetermined ‘magic’ number, 1,237r 2,382d; sound familiar, it is exactly what republicans wanted to do planning meetings about changing debate rules. However, target numbers not pulled out of a hat somewhere but generated from the number of delegates attending each convention, each delegate pledged or unpledged representing one vote, target number to reach amounting to half plus one for a majority, modeled after passages on the congressional floor. Far from helping matters, voter fraud was first mentioned this election cycle by Donald Trump over Louisiana delegates, 5 once belonging to Marco Rubio who then dropped out and 5 undecided delegates free to go wherever they choose and he threatened a lawsuit to garner those votes for himself, as if the nominee race was ever going to be decided by a meager 10 delegates. Further causing voter fraud to be something people tuned out when watching the news, a dead phrase used as a ploy, next to non-existent voter fraud on a national scale was the republican stated impetuous for voter I.D. laws, voter suppression methods making it harder for citizens to exercise their civil right and responsibility to participate in their democratic republic. Final nail in the trifecta coffin of making people immune to the headline ‘Voter Fraud,’ in the last election voter fraud was championed the loudest by republicans who didn’t win by vast margins, complaining like small children who lost a game, and the then Maine RNC chairman flabbergasted at the sheer number of black people who turned out to vote vowing to get to the bottom of it. These 2 paragraphs up to this very line showcasing an abject failure to understand the primary process, primary, voting rules; marginally forgivable for citizens unaccustomed to so many candidates for one party, adjusting perception for the time it took to narrow the field to the standard 2-3, even 5 candidates representing a party, voters unfamiliar with new voter I.D. laws, only vaguely aware their state is among the most recent to enact such laws, inexcusable for the candidate. Reince Priebus exactly right to scold Trump the rules have been in place for over a year and it’s up to the candidate to know and understand them, including that states not the RNC set their own voting policies; a scolding that could easily reach across the aisle to Sanders’ supporters if not Bernie Sanders himself. Now digesting what we know about the directives under which primaries are conducted there is an argument for dismantling caucuses, going to an all primary system, an open primary system where people show up on voting day and having met the requirements to vote, registered to vote you mark the box next to whichever candidate you want sans on record party affiliation of you the citizen or they the candidate, single stipulation you can only vote for one candidate. Many thinking it was that simple, but primaries, while complex, are not a completely lawless no man’s land or are made so by state guidelines, voter I.D. laws and the post 2012 environment that isn’t new by any means. Nor has voter fraud in the form of voter suppression via voter I.D. laws, limited polling places ceased to be a steady portion of news coverage especially on cable programming where they have more time; they’ve been keeping it fresh in watchers minds since it became a central issue in 2012. Neither was the media somehow playing hooky election night in places where things did seem to go wrong Arizona, New York, Nevada; the NBC footage below clearly showing their coverage of alleged Latino voter suppression and a video from MSNBC’s All In with Chis Hayes filming long lines, broadcast news viewers weren’t robbed of the opportunity to know what had potentially occurred in the listed trouble spots, certainly not in favor of over glorified coverage featuring Donald Trump. And please stop saying there was no follow up on voter suppression stories to favor Hillary over Bernie Sanders who would have won but for voter suppression engineered by the DNC; as it was happening analysts said it would take months to unravel Arizona, it’s only been 3, chief reason we haven’t heard anymore is in both Arizona and New York a decision has been rendered. Arizona’s primary was March 22, by April 26 hearings had been held and a judge deemed there wasn’t enough evidence to proceed to trial; New York’s primary was held April 19 by May 2 a judge had thrown out the challenge to that state’s closed primary system. Now again there can be endless debate on whether or not the judges made the correct decisions in each case and it greatly bolsters the argument for primary election reform, pushes for a constitutional amendment to uniform the process, streamline and simplify procedures to allow more voting access, but that’s hardly no media coverage or indication national news media, whatever branch, is to be faulted because it took up more time and space in local papers than elsewhere. Relevance may have been a key player too as it began to matter less in terms of delegate math whether or not Bernie Sanders could have won any massively voter oppressed state mentioned; Maricopa county, AZ was the main county effected and is the most populous, unanswered is anything about the dynamics of registered voters vs. felons, people under voting age, illegal immigrants counted in population/census numbers, inconsequential to electoral numbers. New York’s problems all stemmed from Brooklyn according to reports, while well-known and highly populated it isn’t by any means all of New York; assuming the commenter in the previous paragraph was correct, a commenter as far as can be ascertained is an ordinary citizen not a political expert, operative or analyst, and it was essentially over in March when Hillary Clinton swept the east, then another opinion picture of the situation rings truer. “Our elections are a shambles. That’s true…I notice no one on the Sanders side has called out the most pervasive and significant example of voter disenfranchisement–the caucus system, which clearly drives down voter turnout. The media should be focusing on how disorganize, unsecure and unprepared our voting systems are, but you can’t complain that the media isn’t giving full voice to your debunked conspiracy theories.” Want solid proof the media isn’t playing fast and loose with your election, when Bernie Sanders’ name was left off the ballot in Washington D. C. it was reported, the citizenry heard about it and it was expediently corrected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0VfVMAzfM

http://www.msnbc.com/the-reid-report/watch/will-new-voting-restrictions-affect-2016-205347395869

http://billmoyers.com/story/a-black-man-brought-3-forms-of-id-to-the-polls-in-wisconsin-he-still-couldnt-vote/

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/arizona-hearing-latinos-demand-answers-primary-voting-problems-n547131

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/14/politics/dnc-lawsuit-arizona/

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/04/26/judge-tosses-lawsuit-challenging-arizona-presidential-primary-results/83561630/

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/judge-rejects-challenge-new-york-closed-primary-system-article-1.2622021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjvUSdTVeDI

Here is where being as old as I am—over 30 and therefore falling on deaf eared millennials but not nearly as old as say Chis Mathews or Karl Rove—can provide some modern, relevant perspective. No one argues the tabloidization of American media increasingly reporting on entertainment topics during ‘mainstream’ news, a more entertainment style applied to the regular news despite a plethora of sports and entertainment dedicated shows. But very recently wasn’t the only time something or someone managed to make news a spectacle, big events warranted hours of coverage before the tabloidization of standard media, Princess Diana’s wedding achieved that status; I’m old enough to remember Reagan scandals dominating the news in at least as much as the Oliver North testimony/trial was on all 3 major broadcast channels for an entire summer boring early grade school me to death. OJ Simpson’s trial 8 years later interesting only as something to watch and it’s on every channel, who could forget that bronco car chase either; I remember 2 years earlier the wall to wall Michael Jackson coverage as the ‘he molested kids’ mantra went around the world or the satellite time he was able to get to do a news conference describing the humiliating medical exam he endured in the course of the investigation. To say nothing of the endless stream consisting of bizarre stories: shrines to superstars, marriage proposals, women alleging to have had his baby, sleeping in oxygen chambers, buying the elephant man’s bones facets of mainstream news too reported, everyone ate up clamoring for more; even after his death rumors, conspiracy theories and what if’s are permanent fabric of urban legend. Translation, this isn’t new celebrities, known names with clout knowing how to get themselves on TV, wedge their way into the news cycle one way or the other; still no one called Princess Diana’s wedding coverage media bias favoring us once again becoming British colonies, something equally absurd, or accused networks of scarifying need to know news to cover it; they called it a happy, feel good world event wishing they could find more of them. Coverage of Trump is no different than public fascination, wonder at Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor of California, Jesse Ventura before him in Minnesota; in some ways less so because it’s been done before, in some ways more so because this is president of the United States he’s running for then there are his stated polices, comments rallies, tweets, quotes contrasted against 2 people despite their prior occupations unquestionably interested in the civic duty, public service job, bringing to the table intriguing policies to help their respective states. But even McClennen has a media problem as her core examples are false; was I the only one paying attention when it was announced on broadcast news in a standard 5:00, 5:30 news segment Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11? Was I the only one who tuned in and noticed in the speech leading up to the Iraq invasion President Bush made no such link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, the dictator and 9-11, instead talking a lot about weapons of mass destruction and failed disarmament through diplomatic channels and the potential threat Hussein represented if left in power with the kind of armaments everyone, including fellow US allies, believed him to have, knowledge of random killings and rape rooms run by the dictator against his own people mentioned even then? So she was right in pinning Fox News with horrific lies tainting the public’s understanding but to broaden that to all media in reference to 2016 makes her no better than Fox and is about as out there as 9/11 families who now want to sue Saudi Arabia over the terror attack. By her metrics of Trump and Clinton pre-election coverage the wall to wall coverage of something as tragic, monumental and internationally reshaping as 9/11 was covered too much via all media making possible the irresponsible reporting from Fox News. We heard the same thing on the right regarding arrested abortion clinic doctor Kermit Gosnell up in arms the ‘left wing’ abortion supporting media blacked out the story, refused to cover it despite it being undertaken by a local Philadelphia (where this happened) affiliate in 2010, covered by CBS in 2011 when investigation lead to arrest, like it’s never been understood networks sometimes scoop exclusives before other major outlets, cameras blocked from the courtroom and the gruesome nature of trial contents readily explains limited coverage there, no one failing to capture the guilty on all counts verdict or the life sentence he ultimately received. I myself doing a piece on why the ‘media blackout’ which wasn’t a blackout, constituted responsible media coverage of a sensitive topic, unable to stop the wave of abortion restrictions championed by prolife and conservative politicians in the wake of Gosnell. Despite deeper investigation revealing his clinic hadn’t been inspected since 1993 when raided in 2009 or 10 on unrelated drug charges, evidence of collusion from local hospitals when one patient, who later died, was admitted to a neighboring hospital, personnel aware of where she came from, others testifying about high instances of STD’s and infections garnered from unsanitary equipment again un, under reported, staff from above board abortion clinics funneling women and girls too far along for an abortion there to this butcher. Information proving there was no need to force abortion doctors to possess admitting privileges at the nearest hospital or for surgical rooms to be mobile surgical theaters putting an undue burden on women just overturned by the supreme court this week, forcing them to travel a hundred miles in some cases, face doctors with long waiting lists, fewer available regulated clinics to go to, number in Texas alone cut in half; instead a need to enforce laws and regulations already on the books, ensure frequent and competent inspections. One of the primary reasons Gosnell’s apply named house of horrors went on for so long is because it served primarily poor and minority women and who has a track record of callousness toward said groups, conservatives, republicans and pro-lifers; the same conservatives, republicans and pro-lifers currently unwilling to give women access to birth control yowling it’s all abortifacient. Right wing conservatives who also refused to listen to reason or evidence in the Planned Parenthood baby parts scandal when it was factually revealed A- Planned Parenthood was negotiating a processing, storage fee for transport of fetal tissue for research into devastating diseases, not selling chopped up baby parts, fetal tissue otherwise to be discarded as biohazard, B- the prolife videos were made as a form of entrapment salaciously edited with stock YouTube footage from their website astutely identified as propaganda. Propaganda fallen for by presidential hopefuls like Carly Fiorina who made an impassioned debate speech daring Hillary Clinton and president Obama to watch a fully formed fetus on the table heart beating, legs kicking and hearing people say they have to keep it alive to harvest it’s brain; except noting like that was in the Planned Parenthood video instead containing a potential still birth and a miscarriage none the fault of abortion clinics in the first place, or that judges cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrong doing indicting the video makers instead. I regularly temper examples in my own work on the effect of things besides the gun in violent altercations, ways screening and other processes don’t work lest I give criminals, psychopaths and terrorists ideas; countering the unnatural instinct in censoring, tempering what must be documented carefully, there are the times when continued reporting is exactly appropriate i.e. a presidential election. Trump was covered as much as he was covered because he kept doing things warranting that coverage so people were fully aware of what the candidate lobbying American citizens to be elected leader of the free world was really like, was doing, had done, what he planned for the country, dismissed throughout the source piece, times when all 3 major contenders for the presidency from both parties Sanders, Clinton and Trump, Ted Cruz in the early days, were covered in specific aspects pertaining to them informing the American people of vital policies, stances, statements justifiably impacting their vote.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7OKqqTb_o]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zT-ZHBbOzM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzDCab9QmCg

Media Blackout or Responsible Media Reaction: The Gosnell Trial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB3FADrN2Bo

http://www.politifact.com/nevada/statements/2016/may/18/jeff-weaver/allegations-fraud-and-misconduct-nevada-democratic/

http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/may/13/judge-dismisses-case-filed-by-sanders-supporters-a/

http://www.politifact.com/nevada/statements/2016/apr/07/blog-posting/no-bernie-sanders-didnt-retroactively-win-nevada/

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/wtf-happened-at-the-nevada-democratic-state-convention-20160517

You’re always going to have a slightly more ignorant, less in tune electorate section too busy, working their jobs, raising their kids, paying their bills, nurturing the relationship with their spouse to be laser focused on politics even in an election year, run so ragged they can’t sit down regularly and watch the news; simultaneously you’re going to have sections of people who can’t afford cable, don’t have internet by virtue of not wanting it, no access to physical parts living in broadband blackout spaces or wireless dead zones. I watch so much news because I can afford cable and keeping a pulse on current events is how I do my job; one of the reasons I took this job was to put out materials cutting through the minutia and dross found even when you have internet access and time. A majority doesn’t have either luxury and yet are still mandated to make intelligent decisions. To then turn around and say mainstream media, again the standard NBC, ABC, CBS stations 30 minute nightly news segments, should have covered less of Trump because everything he said was obnoxious, saying his name was only giving him more free media attention and solidifying his name in the mind of voters is akin to saying we shouldn’t cover the news because it’s bad. Following that line to its ultimate conclusion would have, rather than steering people away from Trump the business man, reality star trying his hand at politics, pushed more people towards him because they wouldn’t know all the outrageous things he had said, plans he intended to enact if garnering the Whitehouse. When interviewed by press asking did you know Trump has a history of derogatory statements about women including stating one time if his daughter wasn’t related to him he would probably date her she’s so hot, did you hear he wants to surveil mosques, create a Muslim registry, ban all Muslims from entering the country, you’ve no doubt heard he is anti-illegal immigrant but did you know he hired them to build his hotels or how bad a shape American business would be in sans immigrant labor and they shocked speechless mutter a barely coherent no. How is a further uninformed electorate a good thing; how does not telling the people about Trump the demagogue, echoes of fascism, uncensored, unpredictable, possibly suffering some form of brain disease, mental decline, candidate better help America, help Americans chose a leader? To say instead it was supposed to be wall to wall some other republican, wall to wall Sanders over Clinton is to ignore even PolitiFact says whatever happened at the Nevada county convention Clinton supporters showed in greater numbers and there was no hijacking the floor, no blatant bucking of procedure and that a lawsuit by Bernie Sanders supporters in Nevada, key parts thrown out, had to do with lower offices and filings to run for those offices, facts coming out of the Nevada county convention chaos is it remained to be seen if Sanders picked up any of the at-large, unpledged delegates until May’s state convention that became the same violent free-for-all. Still of the delegates in contention between the 2 democrats, nothing changed from the county numbers; Clinton 20 Sanders 15. Bigger story being the violence, insults hurled largely by Sanders’ supports because they don’t understand caucus math, primary processes, death threats leveled at state officials representing Clinton, releasing her phone number and e-mail online, threats referencing her home address and the name of her grandchildren’s school; talk about dirty politics it makes now former Trump campaign manager’s grabbing of a reporter, a few fisticuffs seem tame. To cling to saying the problems with our election cycle are indicated by Bernie Sanders not winning and the media not covering it, when readers can see the Rolling Stone link above is a representation of bias in not calling out the reality many of Sophia A. McClennen’s sources, though hyperlinked into the text are dubious entities few have heard of unlike The Daily Beast, Daily Kos, insidegov.com, PolitiFact, Newsy, Geobeats and Buzz60 news for the millennial set, smacking of internet junk posted by just anyone, not vetted and housing less reliability. Though largely progressive in nature they don’t carry the weight of say Mother Jones, Think Progress, The Nation, Politico on the conservative side and that matters when people are trying to discern if what they are reading and hearing is biased, accurate or compete conspiracy theorist nonsense. In the End Hillary’s win Bernie’s loss had less to do with media coverage and more to do with primary/caucus complexity; Trump’s against all odds rise to be republican presidential nominee speaks to much deeper divides and issues in our country than media coverage slanted either way. Remember it wasn’t that Trump supporters hadn’t heard his controversial statements, hadn’t heard a better candidate from either, any party better speaking to their issues and certainly not because of skewed media coverage, it’s that they liked what he had to say and appeared to drastically down play negative implications of his rhetoric and policies even when presented with it; issues not fixed by changing media coverage, format, content.

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