The Saturday Masacre - the Dems finally get it.

[keopeli]

Over the past few weeks, a new trend has emerged. For years, the Republicans have dumped news on Friday nights. Now, Dems are creating news cycles on Friday AND Saturday that are discussed heavily on Sundays and, if nothing else, parodied on Monday.

The signs are finally there. The Dems are really planning in their meetings. Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are using the media to capture the news cycle. So are the Presidential candidates.

By holding a special session of the Senate today, Harry Reid is creating a talking point that the press will eat up - even Fox. And it's not a 1 or 2 day talking point. It's going to come up again and again for weeks. Everyone will cover the House Resolution to reject Bush's "surge", as we can see. But, they will now add a tag on about the Senate.

Maybe it will be, "but Senate Republicans block passage." Or it could be, "as Senate moves forward on passing similar bill."

It could even be, "Senate Republicans abandon Bush." Wishful thinking, I know.

But this is a great thing and it sets my mind at ease. For years, the media has cowed to Bush and practically ignored the Congress, but the days of his reign are finally coming to an end.

And I'm sure Cheney sleeps well every night.

[EstimatedProphet]

1. Y'know, I think you have something there

The media is going to start covering Democrats instead of trying to pretend they aren't there. And the best thing is, because of the way this is going to play out about the Democrats changing the rules, they won't even know they are doing it!

[lligrd]

2. Wait A Sec

It always seemed to me that the Republicans held bad news until Friday, knowing that the public wouldn't pay any attention on the weekend. Am I missing something?

[keopeli]

4. The media must be complicit. In this case, the media can't ignore the Dems.

Friday nights have not always been for news dumps. It's been happening for years because of a dynamic established by Rove. Important news came out early in the week. Then, the media was bored to tears for a week until, by Friday, they were covering Anna Nicole Smith to save their ratings. Maybe the Sunday pundits would mention the bad news, but only as an item on a list.

One of the problems before was that the media had no obligation to cover the Dems. As Congressional leaders, they have more voice.

So, now they have the power to inject themselves into the news cycle, rather than depending on the press to cover it. But, it must be strategically done to be successful. That's why they've added the "Saturday Massacre". It's a way to increase the visibility of a topic for the press. The press loves a good "massacre." In Blackjack, they would be doubling down.

For instance, the current House resolution was a Friday night event. This is not an accident. The old Republican Congress only met on Monday and Tuesday much of the time. Now, Congress is working 4, sometimes 5, sometimes 6 days a week. They have the power to control what the press is likely to report. By adding Saturday to the mix, they create a double whammy that is hard to ignore. They give all the Dem senators, representatives and candidates something to talk about over the weekend on their days off.

The WH is trying desperately to control the news. The whole reason for the "surge" is to defy Congress and the American people who voted them in. The whole reason for the Iranian "accusations" is to defy Congress and justify an increase in military. The whole reason for moving the entire US military into the Persian Gulf is to protect the WH's control of the military.

This is demonstrating that Dems can counter in the media and even control the topic, thereby removing Rove's choke hold on the headlines. I've not seen this type of media strategy before from the Dems, even in 06 when Bush imploded.

Peace

[lligrd]

6. You Could Be Right And I Hope So

I just don't think most Americans pay attention to the weekend news shows. But maybe, those that do are the ones that will eventually take action. At any rate, I am both heartened and disheartened by what has happened lately. Don't want to get my hopes up too high but encouraged a bit by what the Dems have accomplished.

[POAS]

7. I think th OP is suggesting

(at the risk of putting words in his/her mouth) that while the Republics use the Friday late evening news dump to bury stories containing bad news (after the major news rooms had done their Friday night stories and gone home leaving skeleton weekend crews around) the new Democratic strategy got the news about the House vote out before those newsrooms shut down so that Friday nights broadcasts would be filled with the House vote and the Senate staying on to actually do work on the weekend. They even emphasised that Democratic Presidential candidates called off campaign appearances to stay and vote on this important matter.

Now the big news guys are stuck also. They can't very well send home the A-Team for the weekend with this story hanging in the air. They also can't slide it under the rug during the talking head Sunday shows because it already made a splash on Friday.

So I see the OP's point and agree with it. They have (at least this time) beaten the Republics at their own game. I hope they keep it up.

[keopeli]

8. Thanks for clarifying what I said. You did a good job!

It's really too complicated and my post was over-simplified, but you honed in on the gist of what I meant.

Peace.

[POAS]

10. Glad I didn't

overstep or misrepresent you!

[Nite Owl]

3. Could be

Saturday the slow news day, so they are making sure to fill it. They don't have much else to cover so the vote or lack of it will be the headlines and the talk on Sunday am.

[keopeli]

5. I think the press can easily find stuff to cover, like Anna Nicole. That's why the "massacre".

It's gotta be "newsworthy", like an announcement or a bill passing. The old Congress only met in the early week. The Repubs set it up to avoid giving the press something to talk about.

Someone, somewhere is putting thought behind how the news is being presented for the Dems, and it seems that, at least in part, the Dems in Congress have a hand in what's going on.

Peace.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. I think the MSM is backing off the Bush bandwagon for their own

good.

The corporate propagandists are afraid the democratic congress will go for their throats with the fairness doctrine bill, if they don't cut us some slack now. I don't think big business EVER does anything remotely fair without a swift boot in the hindquarters to get things moving. The dems need to pound the drum hard for the next two years, about fairness in the MSM, IMO.

[jazzjunkysue]

11. K&R. True. Seems they have a TV expert giving them advice, and they're

listening. This is a war to win over the hearts and minds of american voters, first. So, it's about time the Dems figured out how the game is played and are organizing their moves accordingly.

Ultimately, being on the right side of an issue is meaningless if it always fails in the vote. It would be romantic to say that the dems could just run the government well and leave the reporting to the reporters, but that's obviously not gonna work.

I think Nancy is simply the second coming. God bless you, woman!