The Kings Fool

Letter to Media Watch 2007

Hello,

I am writing to you today to comment upon the 24/7/07 edition of the 7.30 Report in which they covered the utilisation of the internet by U.S politicians in the lead up to the elections of 2008.

My criticism stems from the fact that the report completely neglected to mention Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas who has had more success than any of the candidates at creating a grassroots campaign using Youtube and as of 6/7/07 had the second highest youtube views of any other candidate on either side of the coin.

On the 11/07/07 the Washington Post reported that “Mr. Paul has more campaign cash available than former Republican front-runner Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Federal Election Commission records show, and the antiwar conservative has become an Internet sensation”.

My major concern is that the ABC does not seem to do anymore than find the middle ground between the fuax left and right paradigm created for us by our leaders. If the ABC are only allowed to report a middle ground between the illusion served up to us by the mainstream media then we are severely limited in acquiring knowledge that is off of the grid. The illusion of objective reporting is becoming harder and harder to conceal as the veil is lifted.

I thought ABC reporters were trained to look beyond what the government and private spin merchants throw at them and do some real research.

The story was supposed to be about who is getting the “ratings”, not how the media darlings are doing in the real world of youtube support.

The excuse of Dr Paul not being well known enough in the media to warrant a mention in this story is irrelevant is flys in the face of the whole angle of this story which was to show how it is a successful tool for running politicians. There has been no greater success than Ron Paul a relative unknown before the election and someone who is still (as proven in this letter) finding it difficult to be embraced by the mainstream media.

Here are some real figures for you

Paul in 2nd Place
List of all presidential candidates and their number of YouTube channel views as of 9:12 am ET on July 6, 2007:

1. Obama - 5,186,833

2. Paul - 2,092,246

3. Clinton - 733,453

4. Romney - 669,455

5. Edwards - 572,384

6. Brownback - 468,432

7. McCain - 444,189

8. Kucinich - 420,830

9. Tancredo - 409,393

10. Dodd - 397,281

11. Hunter - 347,017

12. Biden - 251,058

13. Gilmore - 229,020

14. Huckabee - 164,076

15. Giuliani - 105,503

16. Gravel - 70,236

17. Richardson - 61,193

The report whilst professing to conclude that Youtube and the Internet was a way for smaller nominees to get their message heard, little was made of any of their message that were breaking through (though i know that this was not the point of the report), in fact the Democratic party line was towed. A short clip was played of Hillary Clinton claiming that all Republican candidates are in line with Mr Bush in regards to Iraq, and only her and her Democratic counterparts oppose it, an utter falsity, widley refuted amongst avid Youtube subscribers that are weighing into the debate in this forum.

The Major talking point of the last republican debate was Rudy Guiliani interjecting when Dr Paul spoke of the subsequent ‘blowback’ following the occupation of a country. The US media spoke about the fact that Dr Paul was out of lockstep with the partyline for days. This is one of the many reasons his campaign is garnering so much interest on the net as people research him for themselves.

So my question here is why is the ABC repeating Hillary’s invalid publicly refuted fallices, other then to question the truth in such remarks, if they themselves are not just parroting the state line?

Those who really know what is happening in this race and the issues that are concerning the people on the ground know that the war is only one very small part of it. The eradication of the federal reserve banking system and IRS are the two major policy points that are being suppressed by the major media outlets. Policies that Paul and democratic nominee Mike Gravel stand for.

The removal of the police state and the championing of individual rights are what these men advocate most and this is what the ABC are complicit in helping to cover up. It is time that the ABC stopped hiding behind the false veil of politically objective reporting and look past the labels to examine the issues and report on them in factually accurate manner ie/ call a spade, a spade not a shovel.

Why were only the media darlings amongst the contenders given any screen time?

John McCain was given screen time and he has even less money in the bank that Ron Paul. A direct consequence of the You Tube phenomenom.

In fact “RonPaul2008.com drew a 27 percent share of visitors to Republican candidate sites in May. (The highest of all contenders) MittRomney.com attracted almost 21 percent of visits last month, while JohnMccain.com brought in almost 13 percent.”

Please bring the 7.30 Report to task on this sloppy journalism. They should be doing their own research instead of broadcasting what appeared at times to be a syndicated report.

Regards,

Kieran Wicks

You can not always fix a problem with the same amount of intelligence that created the problem.

This is an interview i recorded with Ben Hutton of Newcastle outfit Paperadio in 2002 for the Wet Cement program on 2NURFM, just after their song Safe Home became a finalist in the inaugural 1233 ABC Newcastle Music Awards, in the rock category.

 

 Paperadio Interview with Ben Hutton 2002: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download