Political Bedlam

The Media Murder of the Herman Cain Campaign

It’s now Official: The Media chooses our Candidates for us!

I watched the ‘Grand Opening’ and ‘Grand Closing’ (all in the same day) of the Herman Cain Campaign Headquarters in Atlanta with a potpourri of emotions.

I was curious and I was furious. I was sad and I was glad. I felt defeated and inspired at the same time. I felt disgust and I felt pain. And when it was all over with I felt disdain. The media that I have so enjoyed watching over the years has morphed into something so hideous and frightening that I feel the TV in my living room is something out of the book “1984”. It’s “Big Brother” all over again! Only this time it’s for real! This time it isn’t fiction.

Seriously! Seriously now! Just how important is it that a couple of very questionable women ‘alleged’ that they had encounters with Cain? I mean, just how relevant is it to running for President to have these unproven accusations aired 24/7 on the air, giving all kinds of exposure to the accusers with absolutely ZERO PROOF?

I’ll answer my own question. It isn’t important at all! If it was important President Bill Clinton would have never been elected and would have never gotten off the hook for getting a blowjob in the oval office. If it was important Newt Gingrich would not be the forerunner in the presidential campaign today. It simply isn’t important!

And this wasn’t about sex anyway. This was about eliminating Herman Cain from running for and being elected to the highest office in the land. That’s what this is all about. This was about making sure WE the PEOPLE vote for who the Media chooses for us. One sure way to guarantee this is to simply get them out of the running. And so as I watched and waited, I was pretty sure I knew what his decision was going to be.

Clicking back and forth from CNN to Fox to CSPAN I was forced to listen to disparaging remarks about Cain by the reporters as I waited for his announcement. The remarks came from the right and from the left and the verdict was all in. Cain was guilty as charged (by the media) and without even having a fair trial. Or any trial at all, for that matter. I wanted to turn them all off but I wanted to see and hear Herman Cain and so I watched in agony.

Candy Crowley on CNN was the most difficult to watch and listen to as it became obvious she was as eager to ‘crucify’ Cain as she was to eat her next chocolate eclair. The bloodthirsty media made me cringe as they circled the building, ready to swoop down on the Cain carcass.

The dreaded decision came: “Today I am suspending my presidential campaign.” I uttered out loud “Nooooooo!” For a few minutes of his speech I felt he was going to stay in it. It sounded very much like he was still in it. And then, with his wife (Gloria) standing a few feet behind him, he called it a “suspension”. And he talked about something called “Plan B” which was all a blur to me because my disappointment at his suspension trumped anything else I had heard. He said he would be endorsing another candidate soon. WHAAAAAAT? Who on earth could that possibly be? When he suspended because of sexual allegations surely he couldn’t endorse Newt, who is a proven adulterer, not to mention the fact that Newt had called Cain on the carpet to address the allegations and “be sure what you say is accurate”. Surely not! Romney? No way! Cain stated on the Michael Savage Show that he could never accept the VP slot if Romney got the nomination because he had such a different stance on so many of the issues. Huntsman who called for Cain to step down? Ron Paul who is on a different planet? Bachmann who was quick to use the allegations against Cain? Perry who he once thought had been behind the smears? Santorium the whiner, who always looks like he could benefit from a good dose of milk of magnesia?

No. Surely there is no one on that GOP stage that Herman Cain, in good conscience, could possibly even entertain the thought of endorsing.

But there they came anyway. Cain was now wonderful in their eyes. The man they thought should face his accusers and “tell the truth”, the man who “should step down”, the man they had ‘put down’ was suddenly a great friend and wonderful person! Translation: I want your endorsement! I want your supporters!

It was nauseating. There is really nothing wackier or dirtier or more insane than politics and politicians. But that’s been going on forever. It has just reached a new low. I suppose there really is no more to be said. What we have just witnessed truly was the “Assassination by Innuendo” of an American Candidate. In fact, it is more than that.

It is the Media Murder of Democracy!

Who will hold the Media accountable for this crime? Why aren’t Chris Matthews and Lawrence O’Donnell and Wolf Blitzer and Bill O’Reilly and others being fired for airing things that they could not prove were true? What happened to the code of ethics that reporters and journalists are supposed to follow?

(For those who are not familiar with the journalistic Code of Ethics they can be found at the bottom of this blog.)

The sad truth is that there ‘are no ethics’ in the Media now. We are fed precisely what they want us to hear and what they want us to know and what opinion they want us to form. And the reporters and anchors are paid a lot of money to get this message out that their ’employers’ want them to air, regardless of the validity of the message. Truth isn’t important anymore in reporting. The MSM will soon put the National Enquirer out of business.

but to continue…..

After Cain’s announcement CNN aired an interview with Cain’s accuser, Ginger White.

“Pound a stake into his heart just to ensure he is indeed dead!”

At that point I turned the TV off and it has been off ever since. There are other, more trustworthy ways, to get information. But I am sad to say that I feel when Cain suspended his campaign today, as a result of ‘media hounding’, this country lost not only the best possible choice for the next POTUS, but in the process ‘killed’ the one thing that has always made it so great. The American Dream!

The American Dream died today. December 3rd, 2011.

R.I.P.

1776 – 2011

…………………………..

Radio Television Digital News Association

Ethics

Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

PREAMBLE
Professional electronic journalists should operate as trustees of the public, seek the truth, report it fairly and with integrity and independence, and stand accountable for their actions.
PUBLIC TRUST: Professional electronic journalists should recognize that their first obligation is to the public.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Understand that any commitment other than service to the public undermines trust and credibility.
* Recognize that service in the public interest creates an obligation to reflect the diversity of the community and guard against oversimplification of issues or events.
* Provide a full range of information to enable the public to make enlightened decisions.
* Fight to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public.

TRUTH: Professional electronic journalists should pursue truth aggressively and present the news accurately, in context, and as completely as possible.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Continuously seek the truth.
* Resist distortions that obscure the importance of events.
* Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.
Professional electronic journalists should not:
* Report anything known to be false.
* Manipulate images or sounds in any way that is misleading.
* plagiarise.
* Present images or sounds that are reenacted without informing the public.

FAIRNESS: Professional electronic journalists should present the news fairly and impartially, placing primary value on significance and relevance.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Treat all subjects of news coverage with respect and dignity, showing particular compassion to victims of crime or tragedy.
* Exercise special care when children are involved in a story and give children greater privacy protection than adults.
* Seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype.
* Present a diversity of expressions, opinions, and ideas in context.
* Present analytical reporting based on professional perspective, not personal bias.
* Respect the right to a fair trial.
INTEGRITY: Professional electronic journalists should present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Identify sources whenever possible. Confidential sources should be used only when it is clearly in the public interest to gather or convey important information or when a person providing information might be harmed. Journalists should keep all commitments to protect a confidential source.
* Clearly label opinion and commentary.
* Guard against extended coverage of events or individuals that fails to significantly advance a story, place the event in context, or add to the public knowledge.
* Refrain from contacting participants in violent situations while the situation is in progress.
* Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalize events.
* Use surreptitious newsgathering techniques, including hidden cameras or microphones, only if there is no other way to obtain stories of significant public importance and only if the technique is explained to the audience.
* Disseminate the private transmissions of other news organizations only with permission.
Professional electronic journalists should not:
* Pay news sources who have a vested interest in a story.
* Accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
* Engage in activities that may compromise their integrity or independence.

INDEPENDENCE: Professional electronic journalists should defend the independence of all journalists from those seeking influence or control over news content.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Gather and report news without fear or favor, and vigorously resist undue influence from any outside forces, including advertisers, sources, story subjects, powerful individuals, and special interest groups.
* Resist those who would seek to buy or politically influence news content or who would seek to intimidate those who gather and disseminate the news.
* Determine news content solely through editorial judgment and not as the result of outside influence.
* Resist any self-interest or peer pressure that might erode journalistic duty and service to the public.
* Recognize that sponsorship of the news will not be used in any way to determine, restrict, or manipulate content.
* Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
* Defend the rights of the free press for all journalists, recognizing that any professional or government licensing of journalists is a violation of that freedom.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Professional electronic journalists should recognize that they are accountable for their actions to the public, the profession, and themselves.
Professional electronic journalists should:
* Actively encourage adherence to these standards by all journalists and their employers.
* Respond to public concerns. Investigate complaints and correct errors promptly and with as much prominence as the original report.
* Explain journalistic processes to the public, especially when practices spark questions or controversy.
* Recognize that professional electronic journalists are duty-bound to conduct themselves ethically.
* Refrain from ordering or encouraging courses of action that would force employees to commit an unethical act.
* Carefully listen to employees who raise ethical objections and create environments in which such objections and discussions are encouraged.
* Seek support for and provide opportunities to train employees in ethical decision-making.
In meeting its responsibility to the profession of electronic journalism, RTDNA has created this code to identify important issues, to serve as a guide for its members, to facilitate self-scrutiny, and to shape future debate.
Adopted at RTNDA2000 in Minneapolis September 14, 2000.

http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct48.php