[FoRK] Is Media playing favorites?

[Luis Villa]

On Jan 7, 2008 11:52 AM, Kevin Elliott <k-elliott at wiu.edu> wrote:
>
> On Jan 4, 2008, at 5:49 PM, Sat N wrote:
>
> > ABC decides Kucinich is not a worthy candidate, just as Fox decides
> > Ron Paul is not a worthy candidate....
> >
> > Whats next? To appear on debates, you must donate to the parent of
> > media company?.
>
>
> Oh come on- is this really to much to ask?
>
> "The network set rules to narrow the field. Candidates had to meet at
> least one of three criteria: place first through fourth in Iowa, poll
> 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire
> surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major
> national surveys."

I think Paul is crazy, but he's been polling above 5% in every New
Hampshire poll for at least a month, and in the 'last four major new
hampshire surveys' he's been at either 10 or 8%. So either those
aren't the Republican rules, or they aren't being paid attention to.

[I'd add that the only even vaguely plausible justification for giving
such tiny, unrepresentative states such an important role is that as
small states they can examine the candidates more closely than the
rest of the country can, so relying on national polls to determine who
gets airtime in NH/Iowa is not just stupid but actively contradictory
to the whole point of spending any time in those states at all.]

Luis