Siegelman, the Alabama Blackout and our Dem Leaders

[electprogdems]

Does anyone feel, as I do, that now is the time for our leadership to get involved in this matter in a big way? I can see them waiting for the grassroots to make enough noise to bring the story to the attention of the national media, and thanks to Larissa, Scott, Hissyspit, L. Coyote, sfexpat2000 and many other I am leaving out, that has happened, but last night, don't you think we crossed some sort of line?

No one needs to be reminded, but we had a media owner with extraordinarily close ties to the Bush administration decide to "black out" a news story about a Democrat. I believe that is called fascism and is practiced in countries like China, Russian, and Cuba. Come on guys, do it on principle - I keep saying that if it could happen to Siegelman, it could happen to any Dem. And by the same token, if the media can blackout a story in Mississippi, why not New York, or Florida, and if they could do on Feb 24, why not on Election night? When is it going to be serious enough for you guys to stand together on this? Come on Nancy, Harry, Hillary, Obama, Al, Howard, John, rise up together and call a freaking press conference already.

[angrycarpenter]

1. It is a nonstory in Ala.

I called my mom in Ala last night to ask her if she had seen it. She was under the impression that he had been caught trying to set up a crooked lottery system.

This gets no airtime there. Most Alabamians have no idea of the details of the case and think that he was an extraordinarily corrupt man who deserves to be where he is at.

[chknltl]

3. WOW! nt

[electprogdems]

4. yes i have heard that local media will not report on the story

which is bad enough, but when your local media decides what you will hear or not hear based on their own ideology, than something is seriously wrong. Leaving Siegelman aside, what if they decide to kill an Obama speech or what if they disrupt the Dem convention coverage (which I assume will be limited enough in a state like Mississippi). I cannot think of one reason or excuse our leaders would have to not address this particular issue, the blackout not the Siegelman tragedy.

[angrycarpenter]

6. Alabama likes it's people ignorant.

and desperate. I tried going back there to live about 12 years ago. Low wages, no benefits, and bosses who would make hitler proud. The tax system is as upside-down as it gets.

The place is one big speed trap because it is the only way they can keep police on the road.

I have no use for the place because given the choice of having a lottery and a good educational system OR no lottery and a dismal sorry excuse for a school system they chose ignorance.

It is the state of my birth. It is beautiful there. But if it were not for family living there I would never return.

[chknltl]

2. Press Conference. At this point, that sounds good to me.

That blackout may have been a good thing. Thom Hartmann took a call from someone in Alabama who is following this case. She said that the local TV stations claim that there were tons of complaining calls which was the reason FOR blacking it out. I ask you, HOW IN THE HELL can any viewer call in to complain about something that they can not even see yet? Yes, they could and likely did have forewarnings that a show was going to be aired but the content was not likely prereleased.

The caller suggested that this particular local corporate media has strong ties to bush and rove. I suspect that the real reason for the blackout can be found to have a lot to do with that particular relationship as opposed to bowing to any local viewer complaints.

on edit: glad to be the fifth rec.

[electprogdems]

5. boy that explanation does not pass the smell test...

so if all local dems call and object to the showing of the Repuke convention, they will pull it? I think not. The liars are going to have to do way better than that.

Thank you for the rec.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. a kick and rec. from Alabama...

I follow politics and media here in AL. I haven't heard a thing. Can ANYONE fill me in on more details than the OP offers? During the gubernatorial race, if there was a medal for "Above and Beyond the Call of Being Swift-boated," Siegelman would have a dozen.

[EFerrari]

8. I'm not sure what you're looking for. Here's a link to the outage last night:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2919156

[Jeffersons Ghost]

23. thanks sfexpat2000...

that was EXACTLY what I sought.

[angrycarpenter]

18. The segment itself had enough reasonable doubt

To get the case thrown out of any fair court.

[DVickers]

9. WHNT Apology & Siegelman Segment to Re-air at 6pm

Hello everyone!  

I am the Station Manager/News Director at WHNT-TV.  I feel
compelled to post to this site today to clear up the
misconceptions about what happened at our station on Sunday,
Feb. 24.  Last night at the worst possible moment, we had a
technical failure of a piece of equipment that allows us to
receive feeds from CBS.  It happened just as the 60 Minutes
segment on former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman was about to
air.

Initially, we thought the problem was on CBS' end.  Upon
investigation, WHNT learned that the problem was on our end at
the station.  WHNT engineers responded as quickly as possible
to diagnose the problem and were able to restore the feed with
a few minutes left in the Siegelman segment.  

As you might imagine with a story of such intense local
interest, our phone lines and emails were bombarded with
complaints and rightly so.  That's why we requested and were
granted permission from CBS to re-air the segment in its
entirety last night during our late news, NewsChannel 19 at
10pm.   We also posted a link on WHNT.com to a streaming video
clip of the entire segment.

Still, many people indicated to us that they missed it at 10pm
because they did not get word that it would re-air.  So, once
again we asked and were granted permission from CBS to again
re-air the "Prosecution of Don Siegelman" segment. 
It will air again tonight on NewsChannel 19 at 6pm.   We are
abbreviating our news, weather and sportscasts in order to do
this.  And, we are pre-empting all commercials in order to
make this happen.

We have received hundreds of emails and phone calls from
viewers who accused us purposely sabotaging the broadcast for
political reasons.  I can understand how people might think
that was the case.  But, I assure you that it is patently
false.  We have been working to remedy this problem.  CBS has
bent over backwards to help us through this very regrettable
situation.  If we were conspiring to blackout this story from
the public, we wouldn't have promoted it heavily in the days
preceding.  No one would invite such a public relations
nightmare like this on themselves.

We apologize to all viewers of the Tennessee Valley for the
interruption.  We assure them and you there was no intent
whatsoever to keep anyone from seeing the broadcast. 

I hope readers of this forum will accept our sincere
apologies.  

Anyone who wishes to engage in further discussion about this,
may do so by emailing me directly at [e-mail].

Sincerely,
Denise Vickers
Station Manager/News Director
WHNT-TV

[seemslikeadream]

10. I'd like to hear what Bass has to say

[DS1]

11. Not buying it. 60 minutes has been blacked out openly in the past

this time you're just insulting our intelligence.

Go home and think about what America means to you.

[seemslikeadream]

12. GET YOUR REPORTERS TO DO SOME REAL REPORTING

ON Don Siegelman

[brentspeak]

15. There is a silver lining in all this, as it created more publicity for the story

[L. Coyote]

25. Indeed, I'll call it a form of punctuation or emphasis, helping 60 Minutes make the point.

The redneck idiots who did this screwed up bit time!
But, hey, were we expecting exceptional IQs? NOooo! :rofl:

[blondeatlast]

17. With all due respect, I hope your station is giving the story the investigative attention

it deserves.

If you are performing your task as the Fourth Estate, I trust that you are--but only you can make peace with that question...

[blondeatlast]

19. Alabama DUers: Has WHNT given due attention to the story, in your opinion?

Now is an excellent time to find out...

[MelissaB]

24. I'm from Alabama, and here's a post from radfringe. This isn't the first time this has happened

which makes me very skeptical. I remember it well because I was pissed then, too.

radfringe (1000+ posts) Mon Feb-25-08 05:34 AM
Response to Original message
169. **REGARDING BLOCK**

Edited on Mon Feb-25-08 05:36 AM by radfringe
same thing happened in my area with the BUSH-AWOL story in 2004

just after the opening credits - the station mysteriously went off the air, but was up and working again a few minutes after 60 Minutes ended..

and yes - we were using comcast cable at that time

the explaination give was "transmission problems" with affiliate station

they did make a "tiny and obscure" announcement that 60 minutes would be rebroadcasted in its entirety -- and they did - at 2am in the middle of the week

I know from being on the DU at that time, other DUers in other parts of the country experienced the same "transmission problem"

---on edit:
just for the record - we dumped comcast a few months ago, and are now using DISH/TV. We were able to watch 60 minutes last night


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2917888#2919651

[notadmblnd]

22. coming here to inconsequential, uninfluential, meek , mild , little DU?

specifically to apologize? My Dear, you protest too much!:rofl:

[nashville_brook]

26. I'm sure your station appreciates your PR efforts, but this just seems desperate.

I know, I'm being unfair. A piece of electronic machinery failed at a critical moment making WHNT appear to be a tool in a corrupt political machine. You're just trying to explain the situation, and I'm calling this extraordinary PR effort "desperate."

I bet your sales department is freaking out as this embarrassing technical difficulty has become national news. Even in Alabama, there's Democrats (advertisers and viewers alike) who are going to perceive WHNT as an eager player in this dirty Seigelman episode. You've got a public relations meltdown on your hands, otherwise you wouldn't have left this post here.

The best thing you can do at this point is make the necessary changes to put WHNT beyond reproach. Investigate this affair and the recent smear on Scott Horton. Take this opportunity to improve your journalism, rather than your public relations.

[MelissaB]

28. Well said!

:applause:

[Pastiche423]

29. You may call it "desperate"

but I call it bullshit.

This same exact post has been posted three times on DU, w/no response from the poster.

[nashville_brook]

31. i'm sure she did it so can show her station that she's being "proactive" in her "crisis management"

"bullshit" in so many words, for sure.

[annabanana]

32. "intense local interest". . ?

From what I'm hearing from our Alabama posters, there has been a near blackout on coverage of this issue from the git-go. How can we be convinced that your station has done it's duty to it's viewers? They have a right, as citizens, to know the whole sorry story.

I'm curious. Who alerted you to the interest our message board has in your broadcasting (or non-broadcasting, if you will)?

[stillcool]

13. this needs play...

maybe we should get a letter writing campaign going to Alabama and our local newspapers? I've spent way too much time here today, but I'm bookmarking this for later...

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/usstate/usalabam.htm

[angrycarpenter]

14. Was that explanation real?

Coming here to tell us it was all a misunderstanding. Did that just happen?

[electprogdems]

16. stunning and sickening, isn't it?

Listen, all the more reason for our leadership to make a statement. If they can blow this all off as if it never happened, just what are the going to do when we really get into the election season.

[guitar man]

27. well, there's no explanation

as to what happened to the backup. :shrug:

redundancy is the name of the game in this business and I've read it over several times and can't find an explanation as to why their duty Master Contol Operator didn't switch immediately to the backup if indeed the main feed failed.

[LynneSin]

20. Ready Wikipedia some house members have gotten involved

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman#Congressional_reaction
Congressional reaction
On July 17, 2007, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Reps. Linda Sánchez (CA-39), Artur Davis (AL-07), and Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking him to provide documents and information about former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman’s recent conviction, among others, that may have been part of a pattern of selective political prosecutions by a number of U.S. Attorneys across the country.

[electprogdems]

21. i do appreciate what they have done, but my point is

that if all of our high profile leaders got together on this, it could not be ignored, and I am speaking to the Siegelman matter.

But what I really believe needs play by our leaders is the media blackout (in AL) of the 60 min story. That was NO accident and something has to be done, or it WILL happen again.

[chknltl]

30. UPDATE Siegelman's lawyers going to call for a special prosecutor.

Heard on the Randi Rhodes show, Sam Sedor sitting in for Randi. Also caught something about the chief prosecutor who prosecuted Siegelman is now a mucka-muck on Senator mCcain's Presidential election committee. Sorry, I have no better data than this, I do not know who Sam Sedor was interviewing at the time. I heard this bit on my radio while at the same time talking on the phone on an unrelated topic. I posted what I heard. If I heard wrong, my apologies. If factual, this is encouraging news! I know I risk flames for something so nebulous, but it needed posting.

[troubleinwinter]

33. "Dem Leaders" I'm sorry, can find no such item. Got a link?