"The Scream" Excellent article on the Media's hit on Dean

[absyntheNsugar]

Apologies if this is a repost

"On December 1, 2003, Howard Dean was ahead by twenty points in the polls when he appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews and said, “We're going to break up the giant media enterprises.” This pronouncement went far beyond the governor’s previous public musings about possibly re-regulating the communications industry, and amounted to a declaration of war on the corporations that administer the flow of information in the United States.

It was an extraordinarily noble and dangerous thing to do: when he advocated a truly free press, Dr. Dean was provoking the corrupt media conglomerates that control what most Americans see and hear and read, and thereby control what most Americans think.

The media giants quickly responded by crushing his high-flying campaign with the greatest of ease. This time, they didn’t even have to invent a scandal in order to achieve the desired result; merely by chanting the word “unelectable” at maximum volume, the mainstream media maneuvered Democratic voters into switching their support to someone who poses no threat to the status quo."


http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/040201_TheScream.htm

[mot78]

1. I still believe a lot of Dean's problems are self-inflicted, but the media

certainly played a role in exacerbating them with their "gotcha politics".

[Frances]

2. I think the media was very dishonest in the scream coverage

But the scream did come after Dean had lost in Iowa.

I watched a caucus on CSpan and Kerry definitely had the most supporters there.

At that point, the only candidate I had contributed to was Dean, and I was surprised when I saw that on TV.

When I watched Kerry give his acceptance speech, I began to understand. I think the fact that Kerry had saved the life of a fellow soldier in Iowa made a HUGE difference. Also I think veterans flocked to him because Max Cleland campaigned for him, and everyone knows how the Republicans morphed Max's face into Osama's. That was the lowest of chicken hawk blows. It fired the veterans up.

[stromboli]

5. jon stewart

That Daily Show footage of him coming in on the bus was pretty bad, too. It doesn't take much to shift the momentum.

[NashVegas]

10. Nah ...

I think that was pretty harmless.

Dean did make a big mistake, however, in not making a TDS appearance earlier than he did and in a regular Q & A format.

[stromboli]

3. spin

It's interesting that before this incident, we saw a lot of positive coverage of Dean, but for the past two weeks the only clips of Dean are the ones that make him look really goofy. They love to show him stuttering or stammering over something.

[Julien Sorel]

4. It's the way the media work.

It isn't part of some plot -- when you're on top, the media adore you; stumble, and they will rip you to shreds, and spit on the parts. They gave Dean a free pass for months, and he shitted it down the drain, and they have punished him for it.

[GodHelpUsAll2]

6. The scream

Is there anyone here that saw that supposed "scream" in person that can give an accurate account of Reality vs Media?

[ShaneGR]

7. Ummmm, just to point out, Howard Dean gave the Scream speech

Not the media. If you know the cops are outside waiting for you to break the law, do you break the law?

[w4rma]

8. Microphone capable of blocking out crowd sounds + trying to overcome

the loudness of the crowd.

Big media plays a single out of context soundbyte over and over with their own "crazy" context added.

Realize this can easily happen to *your* candidate, also.

[candy331]

9. Why people defend the media is beyond me.

The media has too much control in this country whether it be Dean/whatever. Who was it that has the American public believing the WMD saga that is unfolding before our very eyes? the media. Such a shame that people are so blinded by dislike/hatred for an individual person they refuse to see the damage that is being done by the media. My dislike of Bush does not make me blind to the media. Who has propped him up the past 3 years? the media. What is the most powerful entity in this nation? the media. It is time for a revamping of the media if this country is to survive.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.