Posted on 09/29/2004 12:57:17 PM PDT by jmstein7
Thanks to the thousands of Media for Democracy and Common Cause members who submitted their debate questions for President Bush and Senator Kerry. We've received 7,000 thus far, and, with little more than 24 hours to go before the first of the three presidential debates, questions are still flowing in.
Earlier today we delivered your questions to the debate moderators with the hope that they will take your concerns into account when they go face to face with the candidates. We will deliver more of your questions to them in advance of each scheduled debate.
In the meantime, you can read a sampling of the questions submitted by visiting our "Citizens Media Watch" forum.
We'd also like you to become a debate watchdog by joining other citizens who have agreed to watch and score the presidential debates scheduled for September 30, October 8 and 13. Please check out our "Citizens Debate Scorecard" and sign on to rate the debates. Results from member monitoring will be fed back to the moderator, media outlets and the campaigns as a voter-driven guide to the issues that matter to us most.
Stay Tuned and Ready,
Tim
Here's an advance on our press release:
= = = =
Grassroots Effort Urges Debate Moderators
To Make the Public a Part of the Process
NEW YORK, September 29, 2004 -- MediaChannel.org, Common Cause and Media for Democracy today hand delivered more than 7,000 voter questions to the moderators of the three upcoming presidential debates.
Americans from all 50 states asked debate moderators Jim Lehrer of PBS, Charles Gibson of ABC and Bob Schieffer of CBS to pose the public's questions directly to President Bush and Senator Kerry during the upcoming debates. The first of the three debates will take place tomorrow in Miami.
The question drive is a grassroots response to the Bush and Kerry campaigns, which last week released a joint "memorandum of understanding" (MoU) on the debates, a 32-page document that attempts to take control of the debate format at the expense of a frank and contentious discussion of the candidates' positions on the issues.
"We are concerned that the campaigns are trying to control the debates to the exclusion of the public, and that the media moderators are going along with this deceit" Timothy Karr, executive director of MediaChannel.org said.
"More attention should be paid to addressing the many difficult questions this country faces now, rather than to details like the height of the chairs that the candidates will sit on," said Common Cause President Chellie Pingree.
Particularly worrying to Karr and Pingree are the Bush and Kerry campaigns' concerted attempt to stifle public comment during the October 8 "town hall" debate to be moderated by ABC's Gibson in St. Louis. According to the MoU, Gibson is supposed to pre-select written questions from the audience and then "cut off" anyone who changes the wording submitted. The MoU also bans follow-up questions from the audience.
"The tightly scripted debate format allows candidates to avoid contentious national issues put to them directly by Americans," Karr said. "It's time the debate process was taken out of the hands of the two dominant parties and returned the American public. The mainstream media need to be more forceful in their defense of this vital public interest."
Late last week, MediaChannel.org, Common Cause and Media for Democracy asked Americans to submit their questions for the candidates by posting them online at Media for Democracy. Thousands of Americans responded asking the candidates to explain their positions on topics ranging from the military draft and Iraq reparations to alternative energy, paying down the deficit and prescription drug plans. All of their questions were delivered by hand today to the three debate moderators, via the New York offices of CBS, ABC and PBS. (A sampling of questions is posted at MediaChannel's Citizens Media Watch).
Common Cause and MediaChannel.org members will be monitoring all four debates via an online "Citizens Debate Scorecard" prepared by media analyst Andrew Tyndall of ADT Research. Results from member monitoring will be fed back to the moderator, media outlets and the campaigns as a voter-driven guide to the issues that matter to Americans most.
Kerry will have several answers for each Question.
I think we should let Kerry talk for the entire debate. He'll be in a straight jacket by the end of the evening.
Earlier today we delivered your questions to the debate moderators with the hope that they will take your concerns into account when they go face to face with the candidates.
What an exercise in futility.
As if Jim Lehrer, Charlie Gibson, and Bob Schieffer are actually going to take the time to look at 7,000 questions written by lowly non-journalist scum.
Right into the garbage.
"Kerry will have several answers for each Question."
LOL! No doubt.
I wonder if Bush submitted a rule saying Kerry can only have 1 answer per question.
I've been watching the news channels today, such as MSNBC, CNN, and FoxNews, and they're all building up Kerry going into these debates saying he's had a ton of experience blah blah blah. They failed to mention Bush has never lost a debate and he now has almost 4 years of experience with foreign leaders, etc. Bush is going to destroy Kerry tomorrow night!!!
Senator Kerry,
What would you do to insure objectivity /eliminate political bias in the broadcast news industry? Would you consider any legislation /sanctions?
round file.
LOL! Now I know what to call his 1001 positions - the Kerry Sutra!
Gotta wonder if the moderators are more than happy to
comply with them.
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