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?

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!

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.

IMO McKinney should have ran for congress on the Green ticket and endorsed Nader.

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

Petty party infighting about past failed strategies will get us nowhere. It is time to stop dwelling on 2004 and focus on the future.