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Posted on 10/12/2003 4:47:28 PM PDT by weegee
When The Los Angeles Times published articles just days before the California recall election detailing reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by Arnold Schwarzenegger, its editor steadfastly defended the timing.
"It is a paper's job to disclose anything it knows that bears on a candidate's fitness for office — before Election Day, not after," the editor, John Carroll, said.
But Republicans on talk radio, the Internet and some cable television talk shows accused the newspaper of shilling for Gov. Gray Davis. And many voters agreed. "This is a Davis ploy — he's the king of dirty tricks," one Schwarzenegger voter said, adding, "If anything, it made me want to vote for him more."
Mr. Schwarzenegger's election put more than incumbent politicians on notice. It also gave pause to the establishment news media, with implications that go beyond a single governor's race, political and media analysts said. Other candidates running as outsiders — like Howard Dean and Gen. Wesley K. Clark — are proving they can overcome potentially damaging coverage by positioning the news media as part of the establishment they are fighting.
They are being helped by two increasingly important factors. More outlets are available on radio, cable and the Web where partisan commentators can make their cases, unfiltered, to ever-larger audiences. And polls show that the public's perception of the mainstream news media is growing more negative.
"The media couldn't stop us because the people are becoming savvy to the media," said Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler who was governor of Minnesota from 1999 to this year, referring to Mr. Schwarzenegger and himself. "They're realizing the media's dishonest."
Mimicking the Schwarzenegger campaign's line that the Los Angeles Times articles about groping were a result of "puke politics" by the Davis campaign, Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk show host, told listeners on Election Day that the newspaper's journalists were "dastardly political assassins who use ink instead of bullets to hit candidates under the cover of objective journalism."
Mr. Carroll said such commentary stoked the anger of the paper's readers, more than 1,000 of whom have canceled subscriptions in response to the articles, according to the newspaper. "False stories about the newspaper were circulated locally, and instead of having the obscure death they deserved, they were picked up by the talk shows," Mr. Carroll said, citing a rumor that an article had been held for two weeks, for effect.
"These are pure gold for the talk shows," he said, "because the talk shows are directed at people who are alienated and resentful and who want a target for their feelings."
Mr. Carroll said something else was feeding the conspiracy theories. "This was a genuine, grass-roots rebellion, which is to say an emotional upheaval of the electorate," he said. "And the passions that were expressed in the recall movement were also directed against the paper."
Similar forces seem to be at play in Dr. Dean's campaign, and, perhaps to a lesser extent, in General Clark's.
Despite articles about General Clark's recent flip-flopping on his support of the war in Iraq, he emerged as a leader in the Democratic field — though heavy coverage of his candidacy certainly helped.
Dr. Dean seemed to waver under intense questioning by Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" in June about stances on a balanced budget amendment and a prescription-drug plan supported by the president.
Despite that performance and bad reviews from commentators, Dr. Dean's supporters rallied, more than tripling donations on his Web site for an average Sunday that day, campaign officials said. Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager, said the reaction was so strong because "there's a real feeling of ownership from the people who support us." He added: "It's not just Howard Dean that's getting attacked. It's them. They want to change the country, and you're trying to stop them from changing it when you attack them."
Barbara Levin, a spokeswoman for NBC News, said Mr. Russert was only doing his job. "When Russert asks tough questions of Democrats, they don't like it. When he asks the tough questions of Republicans, they don't like it either."
Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which regularly polls people on attitudes toward the news media, said that in 1985, 17 percent of people said the news media got in the way of leaders trying to do their jobs, and nearly two-thirds said that critical coverage kept leaders from misbehaving. By last year, a third said critical news coverage got in the way. That descent, he said, was hastened by the scandal over President Bill Clinton's affair with an intern.
But many mainstream journalists blanch at defending their motives, preferring to let reporting speak for itself. Mr. Carroll wrote an opinion article for Sunday's paper to address the charges, an acknowledgment that in this climate, the standard "We stand by our story" will not do.
In the piece, Mr. Carroll details the lengthy reporting process, describes how the women were found through Hollywood sources, not campaign operatives, and rebukes those he said spread falsehoods about the paper's motives. "We are now getting a faceful of rotten journalism — journalistic pornography, actually — in which ratings are everything and truth is nothing," he wrote.
He said in an interview that he was unlikely to appear on the cable news talk show circuit to defend his paper.
"I was raised in the South with a high premium put on manners," he said. "I'm not about to go on a show in which people are shouted down."
They also put a high premium on honesty, but I guess he was out sick that day.
No it's not! It's the media's job to disclose anything it knows that bears on ALL the candidates fitness for office!
"The media couldn't stop us because the people are becoming savvy to the media," said Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler who was governor of Minnesota from 1999 to this year, referring to Mr. Schwarzenegger and himself. "They're realizing the media's dishonest."
Chaulk one up for "The Body"! If only he would have walked the talk while he was Governor!
"... so long as that candidate is a Republican, and so long as the timing is as damaging as possible. For a Democratic candidate -- oh, say Gray Davis for instance -- allegations of sexual misconduct in office are not relevant."
Methinks the Times doth protest too much.
(note the election signboards indicating a campaign in progress)
Everybody there has manners, or so I've heard.
Beyond just slanted stories they are now getting completely made up reports. What is there to trust?
Ah, the electorate... quite childlike, really. < /sarcasm>
Headline writers vote `Arnold' for governor
There were copy editors across the state who were dreading the prospect of Schwarzenegger becoming governor, not because of politics but because of the fit," ...It's nice to find out that the sliming of the governor-elect was due to the length of his name.
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"Not when I can print anything I want in the paper without opposition," he added.
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