An open letter to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos
Dear Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos,
It's hard to know where to begin with this, less than an hour after you signed off from your Democratic presidential debate here in my hometown of Philadelphia, a televised train wreck that my friend and colleague Greg Mitchell has already called, quite accurately, "a shameful night for the U.S. media." It's hard because -- like many other Americans -- I am still angry at what I just witnesses, so angry that it's hard to even type accurately because my hands are shaking. Look, I know that "media criticism" -- especially when it's one journalist speaking to another -- tends to be a genteel, colleagial thing, but there's no genteel way to say this.
With your performance tonight -- your focus on issues that were at best trivial wastes of valuable airtime and at worst restatements of right-wing falsehoods, punctuated by inane "issue" questions that in no way resembled the real world concerns of American voters -- you disgraced my profession of journalism, and, by association, me and a lot of hard-working colleagues who do still try to ferret out the truth, rather than worry about who can give us the best deal on our capital gains taxes. But it's even worse than that. By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself. Indeed, if I were a citizen of one of those nations where America is seeking to "export democracy," and I had watched the debate, I probably would have said, "no thank you." Because that was no way to promote democracy.
You implied throughout the broadcast that you wanted to reflect the concerns of voters in Pennsylvania. Well, I'm a Pennsylvanian voter, and so are my neighbors and most of my friends and co-workers. You asked virtually nothing that reflected our everyday issues -- trying to fill our gas tanks and save for college at the same time, our crumbling bridges and inadequate mass transit, or the root causes of crime here in Philadelphia. In fact, there almost isn't enough space -- and this is cyberspace, where room is unlimited -- to list all the things you could have asked about but did not, from health care to climate change to alternative energy to our policy toward China to the deterioration of Afghanistan to veterans' benefits to improving education. You ignored virtually everything that just happened in what most historians agree is one of the worst presidencies in American history, including the condoning of torture and the trashing of the Constitution, although to be fair you also ignored the policy concerns of people on the right, like immigration issues.
You asked about gun control -- phrased to try for a "gotcha" in a state where that's such a divisive issue -- but not about what we really care about, which is how to reduce crime. You pressed and pressed on those capital gains taxes, but Senators Clinton and Obama were forced to bring up the housing crisis on their own initiative.
Instead, you wasted more than half of the debate -- a full hour -- on tabloid trivia that for the most part wasn't even that interesting, because most of it was infertile ground that has already been covered again and again and again. I'm not saying that Rev. Wright and Bosnia sniper fire and "bitter" were never newsworthy -- I myself wrote about all of these for the Philadelphia Daily News or my Attytood blog, back when they were more relevant -- but the questions were stale yet clearly intended to gin up controversy (they didn't, by the way, other than the controversy over you.) The final questions of that section, asking Obama whether he thought Rev. Wright "loved America" and then suggesting that Obama himself is somehow a hater of the American flag, or worse, were flat-out repulsive.
Are you even thinking when simply echo some of the vilest talking points from far-right talk radio? What are actually getting at -- do you honestly believe that someone with a solid track record as a lawmaker in a Heartland state which elected him to the U.S. Senate, who is now seeking to make some positive American history as our first black president, is somehow un-American, or unpatriotic? Does that even make any sense? Question his policies, or question his leadership. because that is your job as a journalist. But don't insult our intelligence by questioning his patriotism.
Here's a question for you, George. Is it true that yesterday you appeared on the radio with conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity, and that you said you were "taking notes" when he urged you to ask a question about Obama's supposed ties to a former member of the Weather Underground -- which in fact you did. With all the fabulous resources of ABC News at your disposal, is that an appropriate way for a supposed journalist to come up with debate questions, by pandering to divisive radio shows?
And Charlie...could you be any more out of touch with your viewers? Most people aren't millionaires like you, and if Pennsylvanians are losing sleep over economic matters, it is not over whether the capital gains tax will go back up again. I was a little shocked when you pressed and pressed on that back-burner issue and left almost no time for high gas prices, but then I learned tonight that you did the same thing in the last debate, that you fretted over that middle-class family that made $200,000 a year. Charlie, the nicest way that I can put this is that you need to get out more.
But I'm not ready to make nice. What I just watched was an outrage. As a journalist, you appeared to confirm all of the worst qualities that cause people to hold our profession in such low esteem, especially your obsession with cornering the candidates with lame "trick" questions and your complete lack of interest or concern about substance -- or about the American people, or the state of our nation. You embarassed some good people who work at ABC News -- for example, the journalists who worked hard to break this story just last week -- and you embarassed yourselves. The millions of people who watched the debate were embarassed, too -- at the state of our political discourse, and what it has finally become, at long last.
Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter. This. Must . Stop. Tonight, if possible. I thought that we had hit rock bottom in March 2003, when we failed to ask the tough questions in the run-up to the Iraq war. But this feels even lower. We need to pick ourselves up, right now, and start doing our job -- to take a deep breath and remind ourselves of what voters really need to know, and how we get there, that's it's not all horserace and "gotcha." Although, to be blunt, I would also urge the major candidates in 2012 to agree only to debates that are organized by the League of Women Voters, with citizen moderators and questioners. Because we have proven without a doubt in 2008 that working journalists don't deserve to be the debate "deciders."
Charlie, I'm going to sign off this letter the way that you always sign off the news, that "I hope you had a great day."
Because America just had a horrible night.
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www.VelvetRevolution.us
Gibson and Stephanopoulos
The questioners were stupid, arrogant, pompous and full-of-themselves.
The questions were inane, trivial, boring, irrelevant and repetitious.
Precisely as is *required* by the corporations who control the media in their pacification and brain-washing of the American people...
While, in the background, they are preparing for the mass-extermination of the people on this planet.
Michael Cecil
well said, I cannot stand tv
The American public does not have a clue about what is going on. And they are disinterested ... and guess what ... they no longer buy newspapers and news papers used to be an American staple.
EW
typo
typo in first graph line 5
WILL BUNCH: One of the few with a clue in the MSM
Now all he needs to do is take it to the next level with an in depth investigation of and serious reporting on exactly why Gibson and Stephanopoulos came off looking like a couple of self-serving Washington establishment media whores.
It's quite clear that the true concerns of the people are no concern of the MSM. Until America clearly understands why this is so, there is no hope of turning it around.
Looks Mr. Bunch and the few others in his profession who share his outrage have some more work to do.
Latest video commentary:
"Bush Signs Off on Homicide"
4/15/08
DEBATE?
This wasn't a debate, it was a "PUBLIC HANGING" of Barack Obama.
Video :ABC Debate Travesty . PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION
"Dear MoveOn member,
If you missed the Democratic presidential debate on ABC last night, Editor & Publisher called it "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years."1 (Click below to see video excerpts.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s3vbklTXd0
Moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson spent the first 50 minutes obsessed with distractions that only political insiders care about—verbal gaffes, polling numbers, the stale Rev. Wright story, and the old-news Bosnia story. And, channeling Karl Rove, they directed a video question to Barack Obama asking if he loves the American flag or not. Seriously.
Enough is enough. The public needs the media to stop hurting the national dialogue in this important election year. Can you sign the petition to ABC and other media outlets and pass it on to friends who are also fed up? Click here for our must-see video with excerpts from last night—and to sign the petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/enoughdistractions/?id=12455-5662018-50C60Q&t=4
The petition says: "Debate moderators abuse the public trust every time they ask trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about. Enough with the distractions—ABC and other networks must focus on issues that affect people's daily lives."
We'll deliver petition signatures to ABC and the networks hosting future debates. And if we reach 100,000 signatures, we'll reprint the petition in an ad campaign targeting the networks on this issue.
ABC's natural inclination will be to ignore their critics, so we need to go above and beyond to show them that the public is truly outraged. So, please, think about some friends who may be fed up with 2008 media coverage and forward them this email. If thousands of us do that, it'll make a huge difference.
The reaction to last night's debate has been very consistent:
"A stinker, an absolute car crash—thanks to the host network ABC...[It] ran the gamut from banal to inane. At the end of the debate members of the crowd appeared to be booing moderator Charlie Gibson."—The Guardian's Richard Adams2
"Halfway through the debate, not a single question on any policy issue had been asked."—OpenLeft.com's Chris Bowers3
"For the first 52 minutes...Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with."—Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales.4
"We've revisited bitter. We've gone back to Bosnia. We've dragged Rev. Wright back up onto the podium. We've mis-spent this debate by allowing Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos to ask questions that skirt what in my mind is what we need to know now."—Philadelphia Inquirer's Daniel Rubin5
Shame on ABC for letting voters down with last night's abysmal debate. Bad debates aren't just painful to watch—they actually hurt the country by distracting voters and politicians away from big issues of the day.
Please send a message to ABC and other media outlets that we need our national dialogue to focus on the real issues facing Americans. Click here to sign the petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/enoughdistractions/?id=12455-5662018-50C60Q&t=5
Thanks for all you do.
–Adam G., Patrick, Anna, Peter, Justin, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, April 17th, 2008"
IMPEACH BUSHCO & RICO PNAC/AIPAC>"OUT" ANTI-AMERICAN CABALS!
WE MUST DEFEAT MCCAIN!!! http://www.cafepress.com/bootthepnac
"S.O.P." = Yet Another Missed Opportunity...
Considering the disgraceful show which was put on by Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos last night, it should give those Americans who actually bother to think for themselves cause to pause and take stock of just how much we, the People, and the media which is supposed to be both the people's advocate and watchdog, have degenerated to the point of impotence and uselessness.
Instead of asking serious questions about the major issues which are confronting us, Gibson and Stephanopoulos wasted valuable time rehashing the alleged "criminal ties" of Barack Obama, while convienently giving Hillary Clinton and her "criminal ties" a free pass, and dwelling on gossip, insinuation and innuendoes instead of using the debate as an opportunity for Clinton and Obama to start communicating real ideas about their vision for the future of the nation to the American electorate.
What occurred last night is nothing more than the Standard Operating Procedure we get during every Presidential election cycle; tease the American people with bigger promises of something good from a particular Presidential candidate who's been built up as a populist, inflate that "man of the people" candidacy to the level of unrealistic expectations (in this case, Barack Obama), then ... with systematic brutality, take that candidate down by rehashing various scandals and unleashing a few new ones which the candidate is woefully unprepared to combat, and in the process, portions of certain sections of the American electorate are destroyed due to demoralization and discouragement.
What makes this process so effective is because of the "virtuous victim" mind-set which has ingrained itself within the American psyche over the past thirty-five years or so, makes the American electorate extremely vulnerable to being "victimized", demoralized and destroyed in this manner again and again, but even this is slowly beginning to change, judging by the angry comments which have been made by many Americans who saw the debate last night.
The outrage and anger which many have expressed concerning a "debate" which was nothing more than a recitation of the lies, gossip, insinuations and innuendoes concerning Barack Obama -- which have been propagated exclusively by Rupert Murdoch's British-based media machine and dutifully parroted by the American oligarch-controlled MSM -- was certainly justified, because yet another opportunity for the American electorate to learn what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's vision for the future of the nation, the American people and all of humanity was squandered on schoolyard gossip, unproven rumors and the tactic of imparting guilt by mere association.
Everyone at ABC News, especially Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos (who used to work for Hillary's better half, mind you), should be ashamed of themselves for taking what could have been a powerful opportunity to allow Clinton and Obama to educate the American electorate and reducing it to the level of dumbed-down, Romper Room-style kindergarten gossip, which should be conduct unbecoming for citizens living under a Constitutional republican form of government.
Journalism vs Broadcasting
Mr. Swanson,
I was as incensed by the debate as you were, for much the same reasons. But it may be a little unfair of you to take broadcast "journalists" to task. They are, after all, probably not as smart or as disciplined as people like you who work in the print media. They are performers, not journalists. If you doubt that, tune in your own local TV station during the news hour (not PBS, however). And while we would welcome some sign of diligence in the broadcast media, it is not likely to occur anytime soon. Ed Murrow, where are you when we need you?
Leo Toribio
Article VI
Article VI of the Constitution promises that, no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. So why did the Compassion Forum's moderators ask about Senator Clinton's belief in the Trinity, and what Senator Obama would tell his children about creationism?
Americans would be much better served by hearing Senators Clinton and Obama talk about how they will respect their constituents' religious diversity and how they plan to balance their private faith with their public oath to uphold the Constitution and the separation of religion and government.
EW
The above was cut and pasted FROM:"Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy"