10-9-03
SPECIAL REPORT
The Arnold protest the news media
didn't tell you about
Giving pro-life the silent treatment
by Ken Francis
It's "Hasta la
vista" to Governor Gray Davis, a
s
California voters opted to replace him with one of the more improbable gubernatorial candidates of all time: Austrian-born
bodybuilder and action movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger (right, celebrating
victory with wife Maria Shriver and supporters) who has never held elected
office. Another seeming barrier is his thick German accent, which he has
retained despite having lived in the United States for over three decades and
despite working in a profession that would naturally lend itself to anyone
wishing to speak proper English. Some of his supporters, though, including U.S.
Senator Orin Hatch (R–UT), have gone so far as to
say his nationality shouldn't even be bar him from attaining the nation's
highest office and to this end they are actually proposing that the U.S.
Constitution's limiting of the Presidency to native-born American candidates
struck down.(
Hatch backs Schwarzenegger, says foreign-born Americans should run for White
House But America may have to wait for a President Schwarzenegger, anyway,
since there are rumors that the actor, who has dual citizenship in his native
country and the U.S., may have other goals.
Arnold for President¼of
Austria?)
Although Davis gleaned the most votes of any of the scores of
candidates in Tuesday's circus known as the recall election, a majority favored
removing him from office and Schwarzenegger, a self-described
conservative on fiscal issues and moderate on social issues, led all opponents.
Having starred as Hercules, Conan the Barbarian and the Terminator, Arnold will
now play the role of Governor of the State of California (while others actually
run the
government).
Despite his continuing huge popularity (he earned
$30 million for his recent film, Terminator 3), Schwarzenegger did not get
through the campaign without some serious attacks being made against his
personal character.
Less than a week before the election, Associated Press reported:
A coalition of women's groups unveiled an anti-Schwarzenegger ad campaign Friday and introduced a former TV network intern who said the gubernatorial candidate groped her when she led him to a sound stage 25 years ago. She was one of 11 women who have come forward to say Schwarzenegger has groped or sexually harassed them over the years. (Women's groups lead opposition to Schwarzenegger)
At the same time, other voices were raised
in protest over remarks attributed to Schwarzenegger expressing admiration for
Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler. (Arnold:
'I Cannot Remember' Hitler Comments)
These controversies
and Arnold's responses ( in the first
case, apologies and, in the second, denials), were reported coast to
coast with considerable fanfare by the all the major media sources, including
the big five television networks. It was, in fact, due to this intense scrutiny
by the controlled news organs that Schwarzenegger felt compelled to—in the words
of the AP article—"shake off allegations of sexual misconduct."
And then there was the revelation that he had taken part in a 1977 interview in the pornographic Oui magazine, in which he spoke in graphic terms of his sexual proclivities and drug use. At first he said he couldn't remember such an interview (Schwarzenegger has 'no memory' of lewd 1977 interview—no Total Recall here!). Feminist attorney Gloria Alred voiced concerns that Schwarzenegger had in essence admitted to committing rape and wanted straight answers from him (Women's Rights Activists In Las Vegas Challenge Schwarzenegger), but later he had the opportunity to conduct damage control on Oprah Winfrey's talk show, saying that he made up the stories he had mentioned in the Oui piece (Schwarzenegger, Shriver bring campaign to Oprah's showo).
It is a testament to the times that in the world of post-Clintonian politics, not only did Schwarzenegger win, but he is said to have done well with women voters (according to his campaign blather, he wanted to be their "champion"). Also telling was the silence of many so-called "conservative" Arnold backers concerning his immoral behavior, many of whom had chastised the feminists for their lack of outrage over Clinton's record as sexual predator.
Beyond the question of personal ethics, there is one here of journalistic ethics that, in terms of its potential political impact (not only on Californians, but on all Americans), is far more important, for the news media, acting as one as though guided by an unseen hand, chose the same events to cover and the same to ignore. They decide if something is going to be a Page One major feature story, an article consisting of two paragraphs and buried on Page 34 or one that is spiked. There are legitimate editorial reasons that this might be done: The invasion of Iraq and the opening of a shopping mall, for example, just don't carry the same weight, so the latter obviously must give way to the former when it comes to the level of coverage. But when the puffing up or suppression of a news item is done as part of a political agenda, then the public should know it's being deceived.
And this occurred during the recall campaign, for while the media magnified way out of proportion the scandalous accusations of sexual harassment and crypto-Nazi leanings (a story that even the New York Times eventually backed away from) against Schwarzenegger, they totally ignored a protest, not only against Arnold and Gray Davis, but against a third leading candidate, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante—despite being alerted of the fact well in advance.
On September 30th, the pro-life group, American Life League [ALL; www.all.org], had a press conference at which it announced an ad campaign that would take to task these three candidates. A pre-conference release stated:
"Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cruz Bustamante and Gray Davis unapologetically tout
their pro-abortion stances while claiming to be 'Catholics' in good standing.
This is gravely dishonest. They shamelessly pander to the culture of death, and
it is about time the leaders of the Catholic Church say enough is enough," said
Judie Brown (right), president of American Life League. "Not just for the
sake of the souls of these three, but also for the countless souls they mislead
with their actions." (California's
Unholy Trinity: New Ad Focuses on Pro-Abortion 'Catholics' Schwarzenegger, Davis
and Bustamante)
So, here is an event that in a number of ways mirrors the one cited above in the Associated Press article: Disgruntled people call a press conference to announce the launching of an ad campaign targeting questionable activities of Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is where the similarities end, however, as one was given extensive coverage in the national news media, while the other was given no coverage by any major media source. In fact, the only group to pick up the story was the little known U.S. Newswire, which is so insignificant in the terms of use by the average American as to render it a non-factor. U.S. Newswire is not a news service, per se, but a merely provider of press releases from various governmental agencies and private organizations, in this case for ALL.
Real News 24/7 contacted the national American Life League office in Stafford, VA, to find out more about media involvement at its conference. According to Joseph Starrs, director of ALL's Crusade in Defense of our Catholic Church that was involved in the project, approximately 20 members of the press were on hand and half a dozen television cameras. He said he was unaware of any national coverage of the event, but acknowledged that there may well have been some in California.
After conversing with him, a search was made of articles in the on-line editions of five of that state's leading dailies: the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union, the Sacramento Bee (the city in which the conference occurred) and the San Jose Mercury News (mentioned specifically by Mr. Starrs as having a reporter present). Of these, the first three had nothing regarding ALL when an internal search of the papers' contents over the past month. A short article (under 1000 words, excluding religious profiles of the candidate), What they believe: a quick look at Davis, the major recall candidates, appeared in the Mercury News. While this contains one sentence about how ALL "plans to run an ad," it came out a week before the press conference and no follow-up piece ever appeared. Even so, its "coverage" (however indirectly) was about as close to national exposure as the conference received, since, as part of the Knight Ridder chain, this Mercury News article was republished by seven of its sister news sites around the country.
The most extensive [sic] coverage in terms of text devoted to ALL's ad campaign was Church and State: How much do voters care about the religious beliefs of candidates, carried in the Sacramento Bee. Jennifer Garza, author of the article, actually carries a quote from Joseph Gigante, media director of the American Life League (naturally he is given far less space than any of those cited who defend abortion "rights"). Like the Mercury Times' story, it does not go into the conference at all (even the quotation she uses is a secondhand one), but unlike that paper, the "Church and State" did not appear elsewhere.
The only other web representation of ALL's ad is Conservatives Attack Schwarzenegger on Abortion, Homosexual Marriage, which is from the Cybercast News Service (CNS), a small conservative company. This article is more sympathetic than either of those just mentioned (save for ending on a sour note with a spokesman of the Los Angeles Archdiocese slamming Judie Brown), but it doesn't mention the press conference either. It also appears on Town Hall and Crosswalk, a conservative and Christian site, respectively.
Conversely, to show how much coverage is out there, a search was made of the AP article quoted concerning the feminist protest (for details, see "A test for the inquisitive" feature below). Although a number of articles were written about that press conference, only the one was chosen to keep the search more manageable. Nevertheless, some seventy websites carried the article—ten times the exposure of the most widely circulated news story about the American Life League's worthy effort.
Why the discrepancy? Simple, the AP article concerns a "politically correct" subject in a feminist outcry against Schwarzenegger's demeaning treatment of women, whereas U.S. Newswire dealt with the decidedly incorrect topic of defending the unborn. Still, some might try to argue that the major news media people didn't need to pick up on the matter because it's a "Catholic issue." Such an argument is hollow, though, because—to note just two points—a) the media has been in a feeding frenzy for over a year concerning the "Catholic issue" of "pedophile priests" and b) the Anti-Defamation League's ongoing attacks on Mel Gibson's upcoming film, The Passion, certainly constitute a "Jewish issue," but the media, far from brushing it aside, have been careful to record, in almost religious fashion, every alarmist word off of the lips of ADL leaders.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, one concedes that some journalists might not find a protest of Schwarzenegger's abortion views sufficiently important to warrant lead story coverage, but to have no coverage at all!? Another question that should be raised: It is one thing to say that some publishers, editors and reporters don't find defense of the unborn a compelling issue¼but all of them? That such is the case clearly shows a deeply ingrained bias permeating the entire profession, which, of course, anyone in the pro-life movement knows to be the case.
As the major new sources continue to merge, where more and more frequently "competing" newspapers or radio stations in a city (and in a few instances, even TV stations) are, without fanfare, owned by the same people, the ability of Americans to get independent voices reporting news is dwindling and is becoming something of a Hobson's choice. For those unfamiliar with the phrase, Tobias Hobson was a 17th century English innkeeper who instructed those who wished to rent a horse to take the one nearest the livery stable door. Hence, Hobson's choice was "this or nothing" and has come to be used in situations where one must take what is offered. But at least Tobias Hobson was up front about it; with today's media, what in truth is no choice masquerades as a choice.
This all goes to point out that the media exerts tremendous influence throughout the nation not only in what it publishes, but in what it refuses to publish, as well. By the propagation of articles that promote a Godless neo-paganism or the suppression of stories that don't follow the liberal agenda and whose wider circulation could stimulate awareness of the ideas and activities of traditionally-minded Americans, the news media molds public opinion nearly as much as it does with the textual "spin" it brings to stories. As long as such deviousness and one-sidedness in approaching to reporting prevails, Real News 24/7 will continue to monitor the controlled news media and expose their deceits, deceptions and derelictions.
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The "Terminator" Club:
Governor-elect Arnold posing with his
chief advisor on abortion "rights" issues? |
