Media Rants by Tony Palmeri
from the January, 2004 edition of The Valley Scene
Every year Sonoma State University's Project
Censored identifies news stories that are "underreported, ignored,
misrepresented, or censored in the United States." Censored 2004 (Seven
Stories Press) cites neoconservative plans for global domination and homeland
security threats to civil liberties as the top censored stories of 2003.
Last
year I began what is now an annual
series of columns on the top 10 censored stories in Northeast Wisconsin.
Two items on last years list (Valley Legislator Obstructs Mental
Health Parity, Tax Incremental Finance Flimflam) received
better coverage in 2003, though mostly in local independent publications like
The Scene and Lake
Winnebago B2B.
Corporate media censorship is a product of the bottom-line mentality that now
rules journalism. Media bosses no longer devote the resources needed to cover
adequately those social, economic, and political events that shape our world.
The result? Northeast Wisconsin gets excessive Green Bay Packer coverage while
news necessary for people to be responsible citizens gets short shrift. And
now the top censored stories of 2003:
No. 10: God Talks To Bush.
Many were disturbed when General William Boykin said, "George Bush was
not elected by a majority of voters in the United States. He was appointed by
God." Yet Northeast Wisconsin media joined the national press in ignoring
the most disturbing presidential statement since Gerald Ford denied Soviet domination
of Eastern Europe.
In June, then Palestinian prime minister and Bush administration favorite Mahmoud
Abbas told the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz he was told by president
Bush, "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he
instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve
the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections
will come and I will have to focus on them."
The White House has not denied the statement. Bushs remarks may not be as titillating as Bill Clinton denying sex with an intern, but more frightening when considering that God might tell Mr. Bush to order nuclear strikes.
No. 9: Realtors Inspire Republican Tax Freeze.
Fox Valley Republican state legislators voted to override governor Doyles
veto of the smoke-and-mirrors property tax freeze even though local
government officials pleaded with them to support the veto.
During the freeze debate, Northeast Wisconsin media downplayed the fact that
the freeze proposal was a product of a public opinion poll conducted by the
Republican-affiliated Tarrance Group of Arlington, Va., and financed by the
Wisconsin Realtors Association. WRA spent more than $87,000 lobbying the Legislature
in 2003, while local Republican legislators have received financial support
from real estate interests in the last 10 years, including $3,470 for Rep. Underheim,
$4,925 for Sen. Roessler, $6,350 for Sen. Ellis, and $40,545 for Rep. Wieckert.
These politicians will run for reelection claiming to be taxpayer friendly,
when the reality is that they put the interest of their campaign contributors
above the interests of their constituents. And the media let them get away with
it.
No. 8: Tommy Thompsons Pay-To-Play Legacy.
Tommy Thompson remains popular in Wisconsin, especially in the conservative
Fox Valley. Teflon Tommy benefits from media minimizing of his administrations
complicity in shady schemes.
In 2003, University of Michigan professor Roland Zullo released a study showing a pattern of pay-to-play politics in the Thompson administration. Contractors who contributed to Thompson were awarded contracts averaging $20 million, while contractors who did not contribute were awarded contracts averaging $870,000. Rather than use this study as a basis to call for further investigations, or at least as a basis to reevaluate the Thompson legacy, Wisconsin media allowed Tommys cronies to dismiss the findings out of hand.
No. 7: Doyle Doesnt Understand Single Sales.
In June, Democratic governor James Doyle signed legislation making Wisconsin
the fifth state in the union to enact a single sales factor formula
for taxing big business. The formula will take $45 million out of the state
treasury without even requiring that the benefiting businesses make good on
their pledge to create new jobs.
Though The Post-Crescent expressed reservations about the law, most Northeast Wisconsin media either supported it or downplayed the risks, probably because of intense paper industry lobbying. Sadly, Jim Doyle cant even comprehend the boondoggle. According to the Madison Capital Times, "The governor, when asked about the loophole recently, seemed not to understand how it would work."
No. 6: Wal-Mart Day Of Action.
Last year Fortune magazine said that "Wal-Mart in 2003 is, in short, a
lot like America in 2003: a sole superpower with a down-home twang." Youd
think that local media would show interest in attempts to raise awareness about
Wal-Mart, right? Wrong.
On April 19, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 73A and
the Winnebago County Labor Council gathered outside the new Oshkosh superstore
to voice their opinions about Wal-Marts anti-union practices, poor benefits,
non-American made products, low wages, use of out-of-state contractors to build
their stores and the negative impact on local economies. Not one Northeast Wisconsin
newspaper, radio or television outlet considered the event newsworthy enough
to send a reporter. Shame on them.
Coming next month: The top five censored stories of 2003.
Tony Palmeri (Palmeri@uwosh.edu)
is an associate professor of communication at UW Oshkosh.