A question for the Bernie Sanders Supporters

[Peacetrain]

I understand that last night.. all the big cable stations were covering the Trump stump again.. covering his speech etc.. going on about the big huge crowds..

Now I understand Bernie Sanders has had some amazing crowds.. bigger than the Donalds..

Did the media give the same coverage to his campaign stops?

I am am O'Malley supporter..but lets get real here.. Bernie Sanders has brought in bigger crowds and I do not think he is getting whole hour programs covering his speeches.

If I am wrong then let me know.. if not I am po'd for you.. that is just not right..

[Motown_Johnny]

1. Not even close.

Trump was on MSNBC, CNN and FOX... live for all 3 stations.

Bernie's rallies are a side note a few days later, maybe.. on a slow news day.


Bernie's support is about the same as Dumb Donald's too. The thing is that the rest of the support is split between an entire clown car of (R)s while Hillary has most of the remaining (D) support.

Once Bernie pulls close to Hillary, the narrative will need to change.

[Peacetrain]

3. This just makes me so mad..

If the media is going to start selecting who be speeches will be covered in total and devoting hours of time to one candidate it is just not fair to others who are. And if the matter was crowd size being the story.. then Bernie Sanders should have an hour long program dedicated to his campaign.. just saying

[Motown_Johnny]

5. Agreed, but you need to remember....

that everyone who has been attending cocktail parties in DC over the last few years have been told hundreds of times that Hillary will be the next President. After several parties, and even more martinis, they start to believe it.

They honestly believe the hype. They just don't think Bernie is for real. I know it isn't fair but I think the impact will be greater once they are forced to start covering it. It is frustrating now, but there are not any contests for months. Once we get into the debates things will get real. This is still silly season.

[DownriverDem]

37. Not taking anything for granted

I'm a Hillary supporter and I don't take anything for granted. I remember when we thought that no way would Reagan get elected. I have followed Hillary since her work on the Watergate Hearings. I will proudly vote for her. I want to have the first woman president be a Dem. And for those who keep saying she's on the side of corps, do you understand how the game was played years ago? If Dems back then didn't saddle up to the corps, they would not have had the money and support that was needed to run a creditable campaign. No, we Hillary supporters take nothing for granted. In fact, your comment will lead me to making a big donation to her campaign today! BTW, if Bernie (who I like a lot) gets the nomination, I will work my ass off for him too. I sure hope Bernie supporters will do the same if the Dem nominee is Hillary. Otherwise they will have handed the White House to some RWNJ.

PS: I work in The D (Motown) 5 days a week and love all that is going on Downtown!

[musiclawyer]

48. Bernie supporters will work like mad for HRC

We would hope its reciprocal. It's too dangerous not too work together. But IMHO Bernie supporters by definition were never in love with HRC and hence see things more objectively. And the data is in. HRC remains an uninspiring candidate and the MSM will never let go of the email scandal ...which was self inflicted ...which creates its own vicious negative feedback loop. ........Bernie is the much safer bet and certain to act for the 99% all the time! not just some time. And we know the MSM saying otherwise is just a lie .....

[shireen]

58. you have my support

I sure hope Bernie supporters will do the same if the Dem nominee is Hillary.

[olegramps]

30. Trump is their boy.

When MSNBC dumped Ed Schultz I turned them off for good. The whole system is rigged from top to bottom. We are nothing more than pawns in the game to be manipulated to serve their goals.

[DownriverDem]

39. Very disappointed with MSNBC too

But, Chris Hayes, Rachel and Lawrence and some of the weekend shows are still very good.

[cali]

2. no. but the orange hair piece drives ratings.

And he's a freak show

[Peacetrain]

4. I was just talking to someone on the phone about it

they watched the coverage last night.. and I said..that can't be right.. that is nuts..

[virtualobserver]

29. it is only about the money- Clearly NBC has put its foot down

[djean111]

6. It is what it is. The whole world is aghast and fascinated, concerning Trump.

The media is a business, plain and simple. They are going for the money - whether it is ratings gold from Trump, enabling them to sell/jack up ad rates, or pushing a candidate with a huge amount of money to spend on political ads.

This is how the US works. It would be foolish, at best, to assume the media cares about anything except advertising and ratings. It would be monumentally foolish to believe the media actually cares about who becomes president, or who would be the best for the country. It is all just a story, and the hope to snag a huge advertising budget.

I don't take it personally, and I don't base my support of Bernie Sanders on what for-profit media chooses to showcase.
I don't get all angst-y about shit I cannot possibly have any influence over.
It's the money, honey. And the ratings. Possibly the contacts and the friendships and what the 1% and Wall Street want.

eta - I will probably not watch even one campaign ad, or read one mailer, this time around. My family won't, either - they watch shows on Netflix, they get their info from Reddit, the ones who DVR go right past those ads. I don't know anyone in real life who watches the political or news shows. So, perhaps, all the quest for money and ratings will be a bit wasted.

[Garrett78]

8. I agree for the most part.

But I imagine the giant companies that own the media care to some extent who gets elected POTUS. Not that the POTUS can influence all that much, as Sanders said the other day: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/08/19/bernie_sanders_let_me_tell_you_something_no_other_candidate_for_president_will_tell_you.html

[djean111]

11. You are cerrainly correct. And at the end of the day, the corporations want someone

who will work for them, and not for the 99%.

[kracer20]

27. Not Me

When MSNBC went All Trump All The Time, I came up with a simple solution. I turn on the news, and if I don't hear Trump's name in the first 15 seconds, I'll continue to watch. So far I have watched about 1/20th the amount of news I'd usually have on in the background.

I've done exactly what the MSM should be worried about. I've started getting a list of podcasts together, and listening to them.

I even told myself I'd do my best to support the advertisers who help with these podcasts, such as Bio Green Clean which is an advertiser on Ed Schultz's podcast.

[leftofcool]

7. Right now, Donald is the new shiny toy.

Don't expect any of the Dem candidates to get much coverage while Donald is ahead of the GOP. Trump is the new wonder boy.

[Cal33]

16. Many Europeans, among others I'm sure, think of Donald as such a chump! How could

anyone even think of having someone of that caliber run for president of the nation?
Are Americans crazy?

Well, to answer the question: Not all Americans, but Neo-Cons, Tea Partiers, corporate
business leaders...etc...certainly are. The shallowness of their values comes shining
through.

[DownriverDem]

41. Said the same thing about

Reagan too!

[Cal33]

66. True. The Right Wingers think of him as the greatest president ever, and Left Wingers think

him as having started the downward trend of our nation, which is still going on at the
present time.

[immoderate]

59. Americans have a strong streak of anti-intellectualism.

Many of them revel in being Archie Bunker.

--imm

[Cal33]

67. Quite true. What makes it easier for the anti-intellectalism to take place

is the geographic isolation of our country. Our nearest neighbors are
Canada and Mexico. Compare that with Europe, where most people
need only to drive for a couple of hours to be in a foreign country
with a different language and customs.

In modern times one can watch and hear news of what others are saying
about what's going on in one's own country. The opportunities for being
more aware and becoming more open to different ideas is much greater.
The chances of becoming dumbed-down by a single source of information by a Fox News are much more slim

[Armstead]

34. More reason for democratuic Debates....and soon

The press will need a new bright shiny object (i.e. sellable events that show signs of life on the Democratic side)

[SonderWoman]

9. Trump pulled in 35,000 according to reports.

Although he booked a stadium that held almost 80,000.

[hootinholler]

12. Hmmm the number for capacity at that stadium I saw was 40K? n/t

[SonderWoman]

13. That's the number of seats perhaps, most were standing on the field.

[SamKnause]

15. Most of the people were not standing on the field.

Watch the tapes.

Less than half of the venue was full.

The majority were seated.

Do you have any links or article titles to back up your claims ???

[SonderWoman]

19. Here:

Just these photos of people standing on the field.

[SamKnause]

21. Exactly.

The majority of the people are seated.

[SonderWoman]

23. What's your point?

30,000 is 30,000. Does it matter whether they were standing or seated?

Fuck Trump.

[DownriverDem]

42. Crowds are too white!

Look at the crowds he attracts? 99.9% white! I am white and will never vote for a mostly white supported candidate. Why? It's not who we are as a country and these RWNJs are saying things that appeal to the racist hater repubs.

[snort]

49. I wonder what their average BMI is?

[PotatoChip]

38. 40,646 is the capacity according to wikipedia. Here is a crowd pic from an NBC journalist

who posted it on twitter. https://twitter.com/KatyTurNBC/status/634890727537942528

In the interest of full disclosure, the time stamp on her twitter post is 5:51, a little more than an hour before the 'event'. Still, I can't help but giggle at the crowd size exaggeration I'm seeing here and elsewhere online.

[hootinholler]

55. Yeah I saw that one thinking well ok it's early

This time of year in Al, you don't want to be standing outside for any longer than you have to, so I figured that was why so empty an hour before.

I'm still thinking if the crowd was really 30K there would be photos all over the intertubes.

[PotatoChip]

63. Yes. With the exception of the one I posted,

all of the other photos appeared to be tight shots; seemingly on one end of the stadium.

Now I know why.

[SamKnause]

14. Do you have any links or article titles ???

The reports that I saw estimated the crowd at 20,000.

[SonderWoman]

20. Here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/635067457133256704

[SamKnause]

22. Thanks.

[hedda_foil]

36. Now that is interesting. When both CNN and MSNBC covered it live last night...

The anchors and field reporters all said that the stadium was less than half full, with a 40,000 person capacity ... maybe 20,000 Trumpets at most. That fact was remarked upon many, many times during the live coverage. Then Rachel took off from there to compare his crowd unfavorably to Bernie's crowds. In fact, she riffed on that for the first 15 minutes of her show.

So now, well after the fact, they're reporting wildly bigger numbers than their own reporters on the ground saw? That's far more alarming than if that many people were actually in attendance. It reminds me of how hard the MSM worked to minimize and ridicule Al Gore during his campaign in 2000. In this case, they're building the candidate up... way, WAY up and ignoring Bernie.

I'm much more worried that they're working so hard to boost Trump than I am about their non-reporting of Bernie. That's how the MSM got Arnold Schwarzenegger elected governator and George II accepted as president..

[hootinholler]

10. What was the size of Rump's crowd last night?

I haven't seen it reported. Bernie's largest crowd so far is 29000.

No the first I've seen a Bernie rally on TV was yesterday and it was on CSPAN not a major network.

FAIR has done an analysis of mentions, hat tip to kenn3d for this thread.

[Snotcicles]

17. If the obvious blackout of Bernie Sanders doesn't prove there is a concerted effort

by the media and political establishment to undermine and circumvent democracy, I don't know what would.
This should have everybody concerned no matter who is their favored candidate is.
Thanks for showing your awareness Peacetrain, Sometimes the lack of concern shown by others is the most alarming problem.

[Armstead]

33. No the media are whores..Trump equals cheap thrills and ratings

It's pretty much that simple, in terms of news coverage.

They don't give a shit about democracy one way or the other. It;s showbiz and Trump is this month's bright shiny object.

[RoccoR5955]

18. Personally I think

That they are vying for tRump's next reality show. Perhaps he will name it, "I'm Fired!"

MSM has very little about Bernie. But there are not as many people consuming MSM as there once was. They are failing to see this, and Internet sites are doing the job.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. It is easier for the media to follow Trump

Trump probably paid much of the crowd

[DebJ]

25. Isn't there some law about giving equal opportunity air time to candidates?

I thought that was why people on Fox who decided to run had to give up their jobs at Fox.

Confused......

[Ed Suspicious]

26. Yes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-time_rule

[hedda_foil]

43. The fairness doctrine got dumped by Reagan and never been resuscitated.

[Ed Suspicious]

51. "It should not be confused with the now-defunct Fairness Doctrine . . ."

"The equal-time rule specifies that U.S. radio and television broadcast stations must provide an equivalent opportunity to any opposing political candidates who request it. This means, for example, that if a station gives one free minute to a candidate in prime time, it must do the same for another candidate who requests it. The equal-time rule was created because the FCC thought the stations could easily manipulate the outcome of elections by presenting just one point of view, and excluding other candidates. It should not be confused with the now-defunct Fairness Doctrine, which dealt with presenting balanced points of view on matters of public importance."

[Indydem]

32. Clearly you are confused.

CNN, MSNBC, and fox are on cable. They do not, nor have they ever, had to adhere to FCC rules which deal with broadcast media.

[DebJ]

69. AAAHHHHHHH....thanks for that!

[onecaliberal]

28. Frump is a vile little man. He is one of them, Bernie is not.

The revolution will not be televised. We are the media for Bernie. Talking to all the people in our lives and donating whenever we can. Bernie is our only hope to elect someone who has not been purchased by the monied interests. They have taken over all levers of power and they will not relinquish it easily.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

31. They can't air what Bernie says. They only cover the crowd size as a curiosity....

Lately they are claiming Bernie and Trump have big crowds because they're the same thing: Extremists.

I have yet to see coverage of Bernie's speeches that doesn't include someone at a desk in a studio acting bewildered over why people are going to hear him. The next line of attack will be, "He's promising to give them free stuff." and then proclaim Romney was onto something with his "47%" talk.

[Armstead]

35. I'm pissed, but Trump will get boring

Even if he manages to stay in the race, the novelty will wear thin, and he'll become another boring candidate.

The Democrats need debates to remind the media that there is another political party.

[Warren Stupidity]

40. Morning local news T-Rump and Bush. No dems.

The media coverage is, as always, free airtime for the gop. This was Boston.

[Triana]

44. It must be all about their precious: RATINGS. Corprat media works for shareholders above all.

NOT the public. They have to air who/whatever brings in the advertising $$$$$$$$ and profits.

It's their #1 priority. Which is THE problem with corporate, privatized media.

[Deadshot]

45. I don't get the title of your OP.

Shouldn't all of us on this website be Sanders supporters?

[katmille]

50. Nope, it's not Bernie Underground, it is Democratic Underground

Duh......

[Deadshot]

54. Really.

Thanks for clarifying that.

God forbid if I ask if everyone supports a guy that believes in the most fundamental of Democratic party values.

[leftofcool]

57. If you had read anything on DU, you would know

By the way, Bernie is an Independent not a Democrat.

[immoderate]

61. That accounts for the "underground" part.

--imm

[bigwillq]

53. No.

No one has to support all DEMs. I support most DEMs, but there are some I just don't like and could never support them. Like Hillary.

[leftofcool]

56. No! Is he the front runner? No!

[sadoldgirl]

46. No, they don't want to cover Bernie,

or only as little as possible. Media are part of TPTB, and
therefore you have to expect that purposeful neglect.

I think it actually may help Bernie: no news, no smear.

It will change probably so that we will get both.

[MrsKirkley]

47. Will complaining to the stations help?

[jeff47]

52. Reality TV thrives on stupid and conflict.

Democrats are currently supplying neither. Trump supplies both.

[PatrickforO]

60. We all knew that the swollen, throbbing corporate media propaganda organs

would black Bernie out. This was a given.

The guy is telling the truth and bringing up issues that NO ONE in power wants to have brought up. The 1% does not want us to even think about the $32 trillion in untaxed profits that's offshore. They don't want us to think we can have affordable college or Medicare for all Americans. They don't want us to notice the privatized prisons and their slave labor force.

None of that.

And those organs, like the giant oligarchic phalluses they are, are spewing out a tepid, sticky brew of 'news' for American consumption, and busily reporting on things that drive wedges of fear between us so we don't notice how far this nation has slid into fascism.

But we should CHEER UP. Right now, Bernie is on 'ignore.' This is a fundamental mistake because he's in effect being allowed to tap into the profound anger at the rigged game in this nation and build a huge body of support.

The attacks will happen soon enough. So, as MLK Jr. said, "Our slogan must NOT be burn, baby, burn. It must be organize, baby, organize!"

Do that and we won't get BURNT when the media turns its one blank eye-hole toward Bernie and the message that will help us ALL.

[Triana]

62. An Aussie's view of Trump

[Warren Stupidity]

64. New Zealanders just groaned for being lumped in with their bigger cousins yet again.

[DinahMoeHum]

65. It's not how many seats in a venue that matters. . .

. . .it's how many behinds there are in those seats.

eg. "I was at a Bernie Sanders rally and I couldn't get a seat - it was jam-packed"

[awoke_in_2003]

68. Trump is getting the cameras...

because he is appealing to the assholes of the country.