From: born@scepter.raleigh.ibm.com (Christopher J. Born)
Subject: Re: Media Bias
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 17:44:17 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.13 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: born@scepter.raleigh.ibm.com (Christopher J. Born)
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

Hello, world - this is an example of pre-"the world is round", "the sun 
revolves around the earth" thinking.  John - I hope you didn't use this 
type of thinking when doing a physics or chemistry lab in college.  
Usually, before reaching a conclusion to a hyposthesis(sp?), an experiment 
is repeated a few times at least.  Results are tabulated and then used to 
prove or disprove the hyposthesis.  You, John, need to attend a few more 
political rallies before coming to your conclusion that the "Media is 
Biased."  
                                                                                     
 
> Hello, beloved world, this is an example of media bias;
> In the Saturday Chicago Tribune the story in Section 'A' with 'Perot'
> in the headline includes a segment about Bush's stop in Chicago.
> I was at this stop, and I can personally vouch that there were
> not '250 chanting students,' primarily since the school year does

So, the media can't count, does this make them biased one way or
another?  Maybe dumb, but not biased.

> not start until next week, and thus most students are not around.
> There were bunches of old people, people driven in from California
> the East Coast and every in between, old people, some graduate students,
> and a few undergards like me who got jobs in Hyde Park over the summer.
> I wasn't protesting Bush so much as the protesters.  You should see
> me with the sign saying [Protest the "Protesters"("Political Pawns"
> more apropriate)] standing in the midst of a group of about fifty people.

Maybe the reason why you won't make it in the news is that maybe no one
would get your clever thinking.:)  The masses relate to symbols (i.e. a clown)
much more readily than a poster with words that are not quickly apparent to
whats going on.  Don't blame the media for having to make their reporting
contain quick short bursts instead of long in-depth thought provoking items.
The media tailors reporting such that it is saleable to the masses.
In instances when the media becomes in-depth, thought provoking, people tune
it out.  Of course, there are many instances where a reporter here and there
has chosen to be in-depth, but I'm talking about the general case.  This
is where the media tries to appeal to the masses.

> [250, yah right!]  Hopefully the sign will be seen in any press pictures,
> but then the press and the crowd did some funny things;

>         1)Tried to censor me; "Don't talk to him..."

If you have ever attended a political rally or protest, or, etc... the
last thing that protesters want to see in attendance is someone abnoxious
with an opposing viewpoint. 

>         2)Made fun of and tried to intimidate me...
>         3)Some live-action camera crews zoomed in to the dancing chicken,
> for a close up, purposefully getting my sign out of the picture despite
> the fact that I was right behind the 'chicken.'  For those who wonder,
> they got reeeaall close physically.
> 
>         There were some people willing to conduct intelligent discussions
> and these included a graduate student in history, and some girl from 
> California. There was some old couple who were really annoyed with and kept  
> bugging me.  The whole 'protest' was more like a party... Let me explain...
>         As the conventioneers were leaving the building, the whole crowd starte
> d following a few cheerleaders who would yell '4 more months,' or
> 'Bush is a liar,' or some such blather.  At the 'months,' I would
> yell 'years,' real loud since obviously no-one was talking to me and there
> was nothing better to do...They changed the yell to 'no more years.' How
> silly.  Someone in the crowd asked 'isn't there anything positive we
> can shout for Clinton?' Nobody answered but me, after a pause' nope.'
>         It was great. The yelled 'we want Bill!' 'We want Bill!' I
> added a 'the' before 'bill'-'We want [the] Bill!' The whole crowd broke
> up. It was great. Finally admitting that Democrats like to pay taxes!
> Anyway, I didn't get to urinate on anyone because of all the police.
> But I'm sure at least someone out there, if only secret service agents,
> got a laugh at all the idiots who were claiming to be 'protesting.'

From these last couple of paragraphs, are you sure you were at a Bush stop?
If it was, why do I get the impression that there were more Clinton supporters
than Bush supporters?  If it was a Bush stop, I would expect that there would
be a majority of Bush supporters in attendance that, even if there were Clinton
supporters, would drown out any chants from the opposition.

> 
>                         J. Wagner
> 


--
Christopher J. Born

born@ralvm48.vnet.ibm.com
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush