This & That

A treat to see the smiling face of Bridget Burns yesterday on the Church Street Marketplace in Big, Bad Burlap.

Usually the only place we catch Bridget is behind the front desk at a certain successful local Vermont weekly where she's the office manager. But Seven Days has a week off!

In her free time, Bridget's been busy in the fight against the truly anti-American Bush-Cheney Iraq War. She's a reminder to this gracefully-aging Vietnam War protester that the "younger generation" of today is not silent.  If anything, they're ignored by the "mainstream media."

Take a look at how 18 different panelists on Vermont Pubic Television's "Vermont This Week"  rated the year's "top" stories as compared to 39 "viewers."

To the press, the action by almost 40 Vermont towns to back resolutions calling for the impeachment of the current president of the United States was no big deal. Here we are, once again, leading the nation at the grassroots level and the story just barely squeaked onto the press' list in 10th position.

To the VTW viewers, however, it came in 4th.

Hmm.....

Compare for yourself:

As selected by "Vermont This Week" panel members (18 votes)

1.    Vermont Yankee cooling tower collapse causes alarm         
2.    Federal Court upholds Vermont’s emissions law            
3.    Climate change dominates much of legislative session            
4.    Democrats fail to override Governor’s vetoes          
5.    Leahy assumes leading role in battle with White House    
6.    Catamount Health begins                      
7.    PSB OK’s industrial wind project for Sheffield            
8.    Verizon seeks to sell landlines to FairPoint               
9.    Valentine’s Day blizzard sees up to 30” fall          
10.  Communities back impeachment resolution               

As selected by "Vermont This Week" viewers (39 votes)

1.    Democrats fail to override Governor's vetoes            
2.    Leahy assumes leading role in battle with White House
3.    Vermont Yankee cooling tower collapse causes alarm
4.    Communities back impeachment resolution   
5.    Rep. Welch targeted by anti-war activists
6.    Federal court upholds Vermont's emissions law
7.    School spending caps increases
8.    Climate change dominates much of legislative session
9.    Valentine's Day blizzard sees up to 30" fall      
10.  Catamount Health begins

Comments

[Liza Earle]

Thanks for posting this list. It is mirrors a trend around the country of the media trying to avoid coverage of the peace movement and the impeachment movement.

I guess it's no surprise that corporate media is there to cover the interests of corporate America and is a little out of touch with the interests of average folks.

Thanks for keeping us all in touch with reality, Peter.

[jpc]

I think you are mistaken Liza, the media puts that stuff front and center repeatedly. It's everywhere, and gets more coverage then it probably deserves. The list is not what they covered, it is what they thought the top stories were. The coverage of impeachment was thick and heavy, but like quite a few others, the media just didn't think it was a "top story." There certainly has been no attempt to avoid the peace movement. Every sit in was broadcast over the TV and in print, even after it had become repetitious. They just don't find it as important as you.

[Brattlerouser]

Liza, as a supporter for investigations into impeachment, I understand your frustration. I just think it would be wise not to "react" against the "corporate media" and find other effective alternatives to get the issue covered.... substantially. IMO, the more we blame the corporate media, the more people (as well as potential media allies) turn us off. May I suggest meeting with TV producers (like VPT) and collaborate for an impeachment follow up? How can we secure coverage and discuss the issue intelligently (without sloganeering and rhetoric)? I think that's a start is the right direction (wiser I might add too). Speaking from experience, it doesn't help me when I take on this angle.

There's more to advocating for investigations into impeachment and perhaps we need to take it to another level because I've seen people pick up on our sloganeering and rhetoric and turn us off because we keep saying and doing the same things over and over again. Maybe that's another reason why impeachment can't make it in the media. Our campaign is as strong as our weakest links. Instead of blaming others, why not deal with our weakest links. Blaming the media is a convienient excuse IMO. We can act more effectively than that.

[What's The Evidence?]

". . . mirrors a trend around the country of the media trying to avoid coverage of the peace movement and the impeachment movement."

What is your evidence that Vermont This Week is "trying to avoid" coverage of the peace movement and the impeachment movement?

". . . corporate media is there to cover the interests of corporate America and is a little out of touch with the interests of average folks."

Do you have any evidence that the panelists on Vermont This Week represent "corporate America" and not Vermonters?

Why do you come to seemingly grand conclusions that there is something terribly wrong merely because the opinions of several journalists from Vermont This Week do not *exactly* match the opinions of 39 people on what are/are not the most important Top 10 news stories in Vermont of 2007? (According to Peter, only 39 VTW viewers voted.) No grand conclusions can be drawn from this insignificant fact-oid.

[jvwalt]

It is, if nothing else, a rather sad commentary on the size and/or passion of the VTW audience. 39 votes?? Now, if they still had Chris Graff running the ship, I bet they would have topped the half-century mark easy. Those were the days...

As for those pesky "repetitious" peace protesters, they ain't half as "repetitious" as this damn war. You have to protest the same thing year after year, you're bound to run short of fresh material.