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IT'S TIME FOR THE GAMES PLAYING AND THE LYING TO STOP
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On
October 31, the National Journal posted the following item, #6,
on its daily briefing (NJ Hotline):
FLORIDA
FALLOUT: Just A Mere One Year Late
Final data from the media
consortium's recount of the state of FL presidential results will be delivered
to members of the consortium on 11/5. And according to various sources, the data
will be made public on 11/11 or 11/12.
After the attack on September 11, the seven corporate
members of the media Consortium announced that they would be unable to
report the results of the Florida presidential ballot study because the war on
terrorism would monopolize the time and attention of their political reporters. Richard
Berke of The
New York Times and Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post each wrote that their Consortium
member employers did not feel any urgency to publish the results
because the terrorist attacks had made the Florida election dispute
"unimportant". On October 17, MakeThemAccountable interviewed Craig
Coelen of the National
Opinion Research Center (NORC), which conducted the ballot coding and data
accumulation for the Consortium. At that time, just two weeks ago, Coelen said
that the Consortium might get back to the project, "around the first of the
year".
Now, there is an announcement that the Consortium has
decided to release the results by November 12.
The war on terrorism is still in progress. In fact,
the Attorney General has predicted an acceleration in domestic terrorist
violence during the next two weeks, the very time during which the Consortium
members now say they will be busy working on the ballot study. There
is no evidence that The
New York Times or the Washington
Post have been hiring additional personnel to focus on the
Florida results. The calendar does not indicate that this is "around the
first of the year".
Yet, following one delay after another that has been
occurring since spring, and despite the fact that none of the "problems"
previously offered as justification for keeping the truth from the American
people have been resolved in any way, the results are now suddenly
scheduled to be released by mid-November.
Or are they? When MakeThemAccountable contacted the
NORC today, they refused to confirm or deny that the results will be released in
November.
MakeThemAccountable deeply thanks all of the
patriots who have contacted The
Times, the Post,
and the other members of the Consortium to demand that the results be released,
and to let these media corporations know that this issue is not going to be
forgotten. Unrelenting public pressure is the one effective antidote to the
contemptible selfishness of those who place their own lust for money above the integrity
of our democracy.
However, based on the Miami Herald experience, even if the NORC
results are going to be released, the tough task still lies ahead. The
Herald conducted
a recount that showed a victory for Al Gore, then masterfully used misleading headlines* (see below) to award the
race to Bush. We have never written that the Consortium would not release
the results; we have written that they did not intend to release the original, accurate
results. If the Consortium actually does belatedly reveal the results of
the ballot study, then the outcome will be presented only after the media
conglomerates have had months to prepare their latest spin on why the winner is
really the loser, and vice versa.
Having interviewed ballot study observers throughout
Florida, in Democratic and Republican counties, we know that any report claiming
something other than a decisive victory for Gore will be the latest mainstream
media deception in their venal serial assault on democracy.
We will rejoice if the members of the Consortium use
this opportunity to disprove our allegation that they value corporate tax cuts
and deregulation windfall profits more than they value honesty and
democracy. Their only ethical course of action is to unequivocally
report that Al Gore was the clear winner in the Florida election.
Given the financial interests of these conglomerates, an
accurate account will not happen without citizen involvement. Here is
the contact information for the seven members of the Consortium - let them know
that you are tired of getting jerked around with endless delays, ridiculous
excuses, and unconfirmed promises. Tell them that you are strong
enough to deal with the unvarnished truth about what happened in Florida,
and that you are patriotic enough to demand it:
*REVIEW
SHOWS BALLOTS SAY BUSH, Martin Merzer, Miami Herald, 4/4/01
Further reading
Recounts
could have given Gore the edge, Shari Rudavsky and Beth
Reinhard, Miami Herald, 4/5/01
So
Gore Really Won?,
consortiumnews.com
Votes
aren't sacred, Tom Fiedler, Miami Herald
Media-sponsored
recount in Florida slants results to legitimize Bush election, Kate
Randall, World Socialist Web Site
USA
Today Conceals Key Information in Recount Story, Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting (FAIR)
Moon
Over the Miami Herald, Paul Lukasiak, Gay Today
More articles available on the Media
Cover-Up Series page.
