A post-Arnold-protest, anti-media RANT

[maggrwaggr]

So I go to this protest tonight in Santa Monica. I see a huge outpouring of support that is purely anti-Arnold. All the media is there, it's certainly a photogenic display, huge crowds of passionate people lining the streets, waving their signs at the passing cars who were largely honking in support, cheering etc.

Tonight, the 11:00 news. What do I see? When they do mention the protests, they show a couple of shots, then, as they're TALKING about the protests, they show PICTURE of Arnold! Shaking hands, smiling, red-white-and-blue confetti falling all around him.

And when they interview a few people, who do they interview? Do they interview people who came down, who took time out, who went to a whole lot of trouble to come down and protest?

No!

They interview some stupid-ass Arnold supporters! Talking about how the protestors are saying "ridiculous" things and how none of this matters. Arnold, Arnold, Arnold .....

Talking about the "juggernaut" and his bus tour, showing him interviewed (OH MY GOSH the big MOVIE STAR is giving me an INTERVIEW! I'm so wet I'm gonna slide off my CHAIR!!)

My own experience clashes DRASTICALLY with what I saw presented as "reality" on the news.

Why?

The media wants Arnold to win. This has the same feeling that the lead-up to the gulf war had. They presented it as inevitable, they helped make it inevitable.

Man. It's just WEIRD AS HELL. There's just no question to me anymore that the media is complicit as hell in all of this.

This was channels 2 (CBS) 4 (NBC) and 7 (ABC). Oddly, the Fox 11 report an hour earlier was much better. They actually showed more of the protest and GOLLY DARN actually interviewed a few protestors.

Okay. Thanks for listening. Now I can't decide whether to watch Nightline or see Robin Williams trash Arnold on Letterman.

[not systems]

1. What was Thursday...

it was like an alternate universe. I flip
on the TV and Arnold is bashed, Bush is bashed,
Arnold is talking about Hitler.

The today it is back to ... zombie ...

Arn... Arnold must win .. Arnold ... will win...

The media is strange today were like never mind what
just happened now back to the regularly scheduled
Arnold coverage with praise for his quik apology.

An apology for what, he didn't say.

[AndyTiedye]

3. All the Anti-Arnold Stuff Was Spiked by Corporate Headquarters

The talking heads all have their orders.

[Democat]

2. The entire mainstream media is pro-Arnold

A few negative true stories for one day in the entire campaign do not start to make up for all the Arnold lying and promoting these right wing media whores have been

The media are the ones who promoted the recall in the first place - they are some of the ones who encouraged Issa to put up the money, they helped gather signatures, they've bashed Davis relentlessly for years.

The entire California media is right wing owned and operated.

[wtmusic]

4. Well, not all

LA Times yesterday was decidedly anti-Arnold, only showing front page stories relating to the groping charges and how Arnold is "Acting as if he's already Governor".

Daily News (San Fernando Valley), however, is a HUGE headline 'ARNOLD'S AGENDA--1st Hundred Days to Pose Many Challenges', then in the lead paragraph is the catcher 'if he wins the election.'

[LibDemAlways]

6. The Daily News isn't fit to

be toilet paper. Total rightwing bullshit. I've been telemarketed by them many times, and they always receive the same response : I don't waste my time or money on repuke lies.

As for the rest of the LA media, hopeless. Back in August I e-mailed a guy I know who works for the local CBS affiliate and attached every Arnold groping story and nude photo I could find - suggesting that the station could boost its sagging ratings with a "shocking" Arnold expose. (As with most local news outlets, KCBS usually loves salacious tabloid stuff.) His response: Forget it. The powers that be "won't go there."

Amazing how Clinton's consensual relationship with Monica warranted impeachment, but Arnold's unwanted sexual advances toward who knows how many women are casually dismissed as "playful." Nothing to see here. Move on.
Shameful.

[wtmusic]

5. 'They presented it as inevitable'

Absolutely--it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy and it is weird as hell. It's more vacuous celebrity fascination than right-wing positioning going on though, except of course on our favorite FAUX 'News'.

[Piperay]

7. You got it right

the media, anyway the electronic media has already decided the groper is going to be governor. I think the main reason they want him is because it makes a better story. :argh: :mad: :shrug:

[uhhuh]

8. So True

I was watching the morning news on channel 4 at 11:00am and they showed ahnold's apology and gave him about 2or 3 minutes to deny the Hitler stuff. They then gave about thirty seconds of Arianna's press conference with the victims of ahnold's groping, during which, they used about the last 10 seconds to show ahnold supporters disrupting the press conference, as if it was funny. This was followed immediately by a report on Bustamante's afilliation with Mecha and and allowing for a single sentence from Cruz speaking to this, followed by a continued shot of Cruz with Paul Moyer doing a voiceover describing Mecha and their slogan "To the race, everything, to others nothing."

Earlier in the broadcast, they teased the ahnold rally by showing a shot of the venue in Santa Clarita, which they went on to report on no more than 10 minutes later. When they went to the shot of the venue, it was completely empty, but the image was taken down after about 1 second, like the feed was suddenly cut. When they went back to the mini nuremburg rally less than 10 minutes later, they showed a tight shot of about three rows of ahnold worshippers, with about two more rows behind him on a stage. The ones behind him were primarily latinos and women. The audience that you could see was, as far as I can tell, was young white men.
But you know that the media is being totally fair in it's coverage,right....right?