Apparently it’s because they are too poor to do so. This is taken directly from their website.
Belfast, Maine: In the coming weeks there will be many days when there’s little real political news about the Republicans or Democrats to report. Any chance that one of The Post’s political staff might do a piece on what the Green Party, for example, is up to? (I’ve asked this question during six earlier Post political chats and have gotten no response, a fact I find interesting in itself.)
Paul Kane: I’ll happily answer this one, and I’ll be brutally honest. We don’t have enough resources to cover your party. it’s that simple, and if that infuriates you, I’m sorry. But that’s life. The Green Party and Nader got plenty of coverage in ‘00 when, at the least, he had the chance to play a decisive role in some states. So far, there’s little indication that the Greens will have any major impact on the ‘08 election. Until you can demonstrate that there is some level of support for your party, our paper isn’t going to spend precious resources reporting on whatever it is you’re doing. I’m sorry, but we’re a business, and lots of my colleagues are walking out the door under volunteer buyouts. We don’t have the resources to cover you guys.
OK gang…there it is. We can throw the election to Bush and be “responsible” for 8 years of Bush & Co. We can bring vital issues to the debate. We can elect hundreds of people across the nation to office. We can run the nation’s best known consumer rights advocate, and a former SIX TERM congresswoman with a high profile and a history of making news…and the Post can’t find the cash to cover us? Really? For real? Somehow, I think he’s lying.
Oh…if ya wanna, the entire screed can be found here.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 30, 2008 at 8:57 am
That’s funny.
If we got more media coverage we would get more support, but we can’t get more media coverage unless we have more support. Catch 22?
We can get in the debates if we poll at 5% in opinion surveys, but opinion surveys won’t include our candidates unless they will be in the debates. Catch 23?
We can be on the ballot if we get 10% of the vote, but we can’t get 10% of the vote if we aren’t on the ballot.
2 Anonymous // May 30, 2008 at 9:49 am
Your ’safe state’ strategy has made you irrelevant. You let your hatred for Bush cloud your judgement.
3 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm
There is no “safe state” strategy.
Petty party infighting about past failed strategies will get us nowhere. It is time to stop dwelling on 2004 and focus on the future.
4 Steven R Linnabary // May 30, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I am surprised that nobody has brought this up.
MSM is not going to cover anybody that is a nonstory. And all 3rd parties are at this time, are nonstories.
When did any MSM start to cover Peroutka and Badnarik?? What, 3-4 days before the election? And what happened just before that?
Peroutka and Badnarik both belatedly spent some money on ads. Voila! Suddenly media coverage came about.
News organizations will not cover non news items, except as oddities. An oddity (that I approved of, BTW) was when Badnarik and Cobb were arrested. Trouble is, a candidate cannot continue to get arrested, and be credible.
People in the media are very busy, like you and me. They don’t even know we are running, for the most part. But when they see money coming in, they *DO* notice that, and will do what they can to keep it coming in.
A serious candidate, even on the local level, will see much better media coverage when he or she purchases a few ads in the local paper or on the local radio station.
It may sound callous. But we know that it works. If we don’t do it early, we shouldn’t be surprised or angry when all we get is the perfunctory blurb the weekend before election day.
PEACE
Steve
5 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 30, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I think we need billboards. I’d LOVE to put up a Green Party ad on one of the billboards on our Main Street or the Interstate.
6 teehitan // May 30, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Sorry but it does seem to me that very little support is behind the Greens this election cycle. McKinney has yet to even raise enough to get FEC funds at what remains of the independent/third party left is still behind Mr.Nader.
IMO McKinney should have ran for congress on the Green ticket and endorsed Nader.
7 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 30, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Have you considered the possibility that many of the people that support Jesse Johnson or Cynthia McKinney or Kent Mesplay or Kat Swift don’t have very much money?
I think poor people should be able to vote for a candidate that will represent them and fight for them. They shouldn’t be limited to only candidates that the people with money support.
8 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 30, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I should add though that I would have liked to see Nader and McKinney on the same ticket. It could have happened if Ralph Nader, whom I have an immense amount of respect for, would have sought the Green Party nomination.
9 Zeleni // May 31, 2008 at 10:11 am
Maybe we should send some donations over to the Washington Post so they can hire someone to cover third parties.
10 Ronald Kane Hardy // May 31, 2008 at 6:34 pm
This is one of the reasons we wanted to start this site - to provide news about the Green Party in the U.S. Even online/alternative news sources are lacking.
11 Bry // May 31, 2008 at 11:16 pm
First of all, I love this site! If it keeps going, I could see this becoming a “monster”.
There are a couple of comments that I agree with entirely or in part. MSM does not give equal access to “third parties”, this is a known fact…deal with it. The good news is that our culture is becoming less dependent on “print” journalism and network news. More and more are getting their news from the web, and cable…This is an opportunity people!!!
MSM still holds the keys to the majority of news, but if we can “infiltrate” their “fair” coverage, and provide links to our sites, we could make them work for us. One example of this is a local TV station which sponsors blogs for the election year. If we could begin using it to get our message out, the feedback could cause the station to cover our events. This could be the “key to the MSM door”.
On a different track, we need to focus on local and state politics. If we can make headway there, then it will result in an increase at the national level. We should be speaking to those “on the fence”, about issues which affect them on a daily basis. The Green Party platform speaks to the people, cutting across partisan lines. We should take this advantage to grow the Party!
Grassroots Democracy is one of our four pillars. Local groups need to focus on promoting the Green Party at everything from Council meetings to Church socials. Even if we only get one or two “bites” from each event…it would be progress!
Presidential politics is fun, but it doesn’t create jobs in your county, it doesn’t give you new parks, and it doesn’t deal with pollution, waste disposal, etc., etc…
IF THE PEOPLE SUPPORT IT…THE NEWS WILL REPORT IT…
THINK LOCAL!
12 steve kramer // Jun 3, 2008 at 12:55 am
I’m a big fan of soccer. I say this because there’s a great parallel here…
I remember a World Cup Qualifying match the U.S. team has against Jamaica in D.C. 55,000 people were in the stands in RFK Stadium. The match ended in a 1-1 tie, and flag-waving fans of both teams celebrated with an impromptu dance - together - outside the stadium’s front gate…it was a marvelous scene. Nothing could have been more tailor-made for sports journalism.
Instead, the event was ignored to the point that the traffic reporter for a local radio station was at a loss to explain the resultant traffic jam on the east side of the Beltway once the game let out.
There was an official of U.S. Soccer at the World Cup in Korea who was asked what it would take to make soccer a “major sport” in the U.S. He quickly took his name off the record, and said, “What it will take is for these media gatekeepers to die off, and get replaced by people who get it.”
Nothing really to add here, is there?
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