A Little FAUX Advice - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Tue Oct-10-06 06:50 PM
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A Little FAUX Advice

A Little FAUX Advice
By Nancy Greggs

Sent to: FOX-TV, News Division, October 10, 2006

Dear Sirs:

I understand that your network has been having some difficulty of late in properly identifying the party affiliation of several politicians who are currently prominent in the news.

In the past week, you have mistakenly identified disgraced Congressman Mark Foley (R) as a Democrat, and in a graphic showing the current poll numbers in Rhode Island, you mis-identified Mr. Chafee (at 39%) as the Democrat, and Mr. Whitehouse (at 50%) as the Republican. In fact, as you know, their party membership is the other way around.

I realize this might be an overwhelming task for your research department, so I thought I’d give you a few tips on how to keep your (D)s and (R)s straight.

At this point, just weeks before elections take place, if you are displaying graphics that show current poll numbers as between candidates in any given race, you can safely assume that in all probability, it is the Democrat (D) who has the higher number.

The same probability applies to surveys. Let’s say the survey asked respondents: “Which party do you think is better on issues of national security?” Chances are the LARGER number of people chose Democrats (D) over Republicans (R). This simple rule-of-thumb applies to questions about which party would better handle the economy, the War in Iraq, the deficit, education, healthcare, prescription drugs, social security, environmental protection, fair taxation, transparent elections, upholding the Constitution – well, I think you get the idea.

By the same token, it is fairly easy these days to know where the (R) is more than likely appropriate. For example, if you are covering a story that involves a cover-up to protect child molesters, manipulation of voting machines, voter suppression, bribe-taking, stock fraud, tax evasion, shady real estate transactions, etc., these kinds of activities will, in all likelihood, involve a Republican, e.g. Frist (R), Foley (R), Hastert (R), Allen (R), Cunningham (R), Corker (R), Santorum (R), and so on.

Certain news coverage will ALWAYS require the use of an (R), such as any news item relating to payoffs from Jack Abramoff, the appointing of incompetent Administration cronies to important positions, or war profiteers being handed no-bid/no-questions-asked government contracts.

Word association is also a useful tool in keeping political identification as accurate as possible. Just remember that a DEMocrat is for DEMocracy and DEMonstrating leadership, while a REPublican is for the REPression of freedom and REPrehensible behavior. Isn’t THAT a clever and easy way to recall where the (D)s and (R)s belong?!

Also keep in mind that it is the Republicans who have been in control of the country for the past six years, which means that ALL of the country’s current problems should be displayed with the appropriate letter: the debacle in Iraq and Afghanistan (R), the foundering economy (R), the growing deficit (R), the sanctioning of torture (R), the outsourcing of jobs (R), the deterioration of the infrastructure (R), the failing education system (R), and increases in joblessness (R), homelessness (R), citizens living in poverty (R), Americans without health insurance (R), violent crime (R), personal bankruptcy (R) and home foreclosures (R) – to name but a few.

I hope these handy guidelines will assist you in keeping your coverage accurate, as well as ‘fair and balanced’.

I am sure you realize what a negative reaction your viewers might have if they see a disgraced, forced-to-resign-immediately Republican misrepresented as a Democrat. They might get the idea that you are deliberately trying to mislead them; they might even start wondering about the truthfulness of your coverage overall.

Therefore, I am confident you will want to do everything in your power to avoid that unhappy outcome, especially in view of your currently falling ratings and diminishing audience share.

Yours Truly,
Nancy Greggs

P.S. Just a word to the wise: You might think about getting your (D) graphics ready for election night coverage; you’re going to be using them a lot.