Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

While GRIID has not noted a marked partisan preference in the election reporting of the Grand Rapids Press in general, this story seems to be biased somewhat in terms of tone and language. The descriptions of the potential committee chairs use phrases that seem prejudiced. For example, one senator is described as a “die-hard liberal” and another as a “free spending progressive.” Readers should ask them selves are the adjectives “die-hard” and “free spending” objective descriptions or do they have negative connotations. No is any information included that would substantiate the claim that Rep. Obey is more “free spending” than other representatives or that Rep. Rangel is more “die-hard” than his peers.

Story:

Detroit’s U.S. Rep Dingell among potential chairmen

Associated press

WASHINGTON – If the chips fall right for Democrats and their party seizes control of the House, President Bush’s agenda on Capital hill would fall into the hands of some of his most dogged opponents.

It’s not just would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California but a boat-load of Democrats newly running committees who would determine what legislation ets debated and which programs and agencies get scrutiny.

So who are the chairmen in waiting, and for which committee?

• Detroit’s SU Rep. John Dingell, a Polish-American lawyer with a reputation for making witnesses quiver: Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Charles Rangel, a die-hard liberal from New York’s Harlem with 35 years in the house; Ways and Means committee.

• David Obey, a free-spending progressive from Wausau, Wis,;Appropriations.

• George Miller of California, one of the few remaining “Watergate babies” swept into Congress in 1974; Education and Workforce Committee.

Analysis:

This story tells readers that because of Federal Communication Commission regulations, radio talk show host Robert S. will have to step down from his job while running for a Kent County Commission seat. The article mentions that Robert Womack will be challenging current Commissioner Paul Mayhue and Jim Talen in the August 8 Primary. However, the story tells readers nothing about why Robert Womack is challenging Commissioner Mayhue, what his platform is or what Mayhue’s track record is as a commissioner.

Story:

GRAND RAPIDS — Radio personality Robert S. is going off the air next month to become political candidate Robert S. Womack.

Womack, who is running as a Democrat for a seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners, said he will abide by a Federal Communications Commission rule that forbids stations from giving air time to candidates within 45 days of a primary election.

“I believe this will give me time to get door to door and let the people meet the face behind the voice,” said Womack, who has hosted a call-in show on WJNZ-AM as Robert S. for the past two years.

Womack said he will leave his “Pulse of the City” show June 22 — 47 days before the Aug. 8 primary. But that’s not soon enough for Paul Mayhue, the Democrat who has held the 16th District seat for 17 years.

“He’s announced his candidacy three times since May 10, 2005,” said Mayhue, who claimed his requests for equal time on the station have been ignored.

Jim Talen, a former county commissioner, also filed as a Democrat for the mostly Southeast Grand Rapids seat.

Mayhue, the target of frequent barbs by Robert S. during the past two years, also once left the spotlight to run for office.

In 1999, Mayhue was required by Grand Rapids charter to resign his County Board seat in order to run for mayor. He lost that race to John Logie, but was re-elected to the county job in 2000.

If Womack wins the primary, station owner Mike St. Cyr said he hopes to bring him back on the air until 60 days before the general election, when the FCC would require him to sideline Womack again. The winner of the primary election will face Republican Scott Seibt in November.

The FCC regulation would allow St. Cyr to keep Womack on the air, but he would be required to give other candidates equal time — an offer he can’t afford to make.

St. Cyr said he probably will reassign Womack to production and engineering tasks during his hiatus. He said he has not found a replacement for Womack’s 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.

Analysis:

This article is the result of a public hearing held by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Grand Rapids on May 22 in regards to claims of fraudulent practices in the gathering of signatures for the ballot initiative known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Readers hear from just two of the people who testified that night and from the Civil Rights Commission chairperson Mark Bernstein.

The article also includes some information on hearings in other parts of the state and what the ballot initiative would change if passed. Over one third of the article is devoted to polling information, some of it unsourced and some of it attributed to Steve Mitchell, someone who has had clients ranging from big business, elected officials and media outlets. What was omitted in the story was the organizing work done by several groups to turn people out, particularly the group BAMN, By Any Means Necessary. BAMN has been organizing on this issue across the state and even has an online resource for people to find out if they signed the petition to put a ban on affirmative actions programs on the November 7 ballot.

Story:

Their angry testimony may not be enough.

But to people like Harry Campbell, that is all the more reason to stand up and vote down a November ballot initiative that would ban affirmative action in Michigan.

“This is fraud, and it’s got to go,” Campbell said at a hearing Monday before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.
Like many others, Campbell said he was tricked by a petition circulator into signing a petition against affirmative action.

“He said, ‘This is to keep affirmative action,”’ said Campbell, who was recently elected to the Grand Rapids Board of Education.

If the measure cannot be kept off the ballot, Campbell said later, there is but one option: “Get out and vote. Vote it down.”

This was the latest in a series of state hearings on claims that thousands were duped into signing petitions to put the anti-affirmative action measure on the ballot. More than 200 people jammed into the Grand Rapids Board of Education meeting room to vent their frustration at the means petition circulators allegedly employed.

Commission Chairman Mark Bernstein said he has heard “compelling, credible and very disturbing” testimony at hearings in Flint, Lansing and Detroit that voters were misled.

But he conceded it is “not likely” legal challenges will keep the measure off the ballot. If passed, it would ban race or gender as a factor in university admissions and state hiring or contracting.

Support for the measure has dropped from 64 percent in January 2004 to 46 percent in a recent poll, while the percentage of undecided voters grew from 14 percent to 26 percent.

Analysts attribute much of that drop in support to the fact the approved ballot language includes words “to ban affirmative action programs.” Proponents of the measure proposed language that did not include the words “affirmative action.”

Claiming fraud and deception over the signature gathering, opponents filed suit to block the measure, but the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered in on the ballot, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Polls continued to reveal a wide disparity by race in how the measure is viewed.

According to a poll earlier this month by pollster Steve Mitchell, the affirmative action ban is favored by whites 44 percent to 24 percent. Blacks oppose it 60 percent to 17 percent. It is favored by Republicans 55 percent to 13 percent, but opposed by Democrats 45 percent to 28 percent.

Grand Rapids resident Tracey Kperzs said she has been a consistent supporter of affirmative action.
But she recalled a petitioner coming to her door, assuring her the petition was to help keep affirmative action in place. She signed it.

“I was duped. Every time this gets raised in the news, I get very angry,” she said.

Analysis:

The story is mostly data about the rise in the US prison and jail population. According to the AP story “Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.” The only source used in the story was Allen Beck with the Bureau of Justice who says that “the jail population is increasingly unconvicted” and that “Judges are perhaps more reluctant to release people pretrial.” None of Beck’s comments are verified by the reporter, nor explored in any serious way. There is also a statistics box that accompanies the story, with numbers on the states with the top 5 ratio of prisoners to residents.

As you can see about half of the original AP story was omitted from the GR Press version. The original version also cites Mark Mauer, with the Sentencing Project, who was talking about the racial makeup of the US prison population. One statistic cited was “In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males.” The Sentencing Project also provides greater analysis of what has contributed to the rise in US incarceration numbers, like changes in drug laws, more juveniles being charged as adults, and the mandatory minimum laws which have disproportionately impacted minorities. Why were these aspects omitted from the story?

Story:

WASHINGTON – Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in
2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.

Of particular note was the gain of 33,539 inmates in jails, the largest increase since 1997, researcher Allen J. Beck said. That was a 4.7 percent growth rate, compared with a 1.6 percent increase in people held in state and federal prisons.

Prisons accounted for about two-thirds of all inmates, or 1.4 million, while the other third, nearly 750,000, were in local jails, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Beck, the bureau’s chief of corrections statistics, said the increase in the number of people in the 3,365 local jails is due partly to their changing role. Jails often hold inmates for state or federal systems, as well as people who have yet to begin serving a sentence.

“The jail population is increasingly unconvicted,” Beck said. “Judges are perhaps more reluctant to release people pretrial.”

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

The report by the Justice Department agency found that 62 percent of people in jails have not been convicted, meaning many of them are awaiting trial.

Overall, 738 people were locked up for every 100,000 residents, compared with a rate of 725 at mid-2004. The states with the highest rates were Louisiana and Georgia, with more than 1 percent of their populations in prison or jail. Rounding out the top five were Texas, Mississippi and
Oklahoma.

The states with the lowest rates were Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Men were 10 times to 11 times more likely than women to be in prison or jail, but the number of women behind bars was growing at a faster rate, said Paige M. Harrison, the report’s other author.

The racial makeup of inmates changed little in recent years, Beck said.
In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males.

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which supports alternatives to prison, said the incarceration rates for blacks were troubling.

“It’s not a sign of a healthy community when we’ve come to use incarceration at such rates,” he said.

Mauer also criticized sentencing guidelines, which he said remove judges’ discretion, and said arrests for drug and parole violations swell prisons.

“If we want to see the prison population reduced, we need a much more comprehensive approach to sentencing and drug policy,” he said.

Analysis:

This is a very short piece reporting on some local fundraisers by the gubernatorial candidates. Other than the fact that these fund raisers took place, no other information is provided that would help make the viewer a more informed voter. If voters did want to learn more about where the gubernatorial candidates are getting their funding, that information can be found at the website for the Michigan Secretary of State Campaign Finance Reporting Database.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – Well both candidates for Governor are getting some help from some big names. Sean Hannity of FOX News Channel speaking at a fund raiser for Dick DeVos. Last week DeVos appeared at and event with former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Governor Granholm held a fundraiser with Senator Hillary Clinton. Tonight’s event was at the Amway grand Plaza Hotel, it cost one thousand dollars to attend.

25 seconds

Analysis:

This is a very short piece and does not really tell the viewer much about this particular protest. In the piece, the newsreader notes that “The Energy giant moved it’s meeting to Duncan Oklahoma, critics saying to avoid the public lime light. But protesters found them anyway. Sixteen people were arrested outside the meeting. Regardless the company’s leader says they have nothing to hide.” This is then followed by an unidentified Halliburton Executive who says “the government likes what we are doing, we’re getting excellent marks. We’re in the public profile today, we have to accept that as a business.” The story then ends with the newsreader noting that Halliburton moved the meeting to Oklahoma in order to “honor its Southern Oklahoma roots.” This Halliburton executive is the only voice actually heard in the story. No voices from the protesters are presented and neither are any reasons given as to why they are protesting. Nor is the statement made by the Halliburton executive subjected to any scrutiny in the piece. The Halliburton executive says that “the government likes what we are doing, we’re getting excellent marks.” That’s a verifiable statement, and if a reporter looked into it, they would find that it is certainly not as cut and dried as the Halliburton Exec would like people to think. So for example, there have been serious allegations of fraud and overcharging concerning Halliburton’s Iraq contracts. According to the Pentagon’s Defense Contract Audit Agency in 2005, Halliburton had one billion dollars in “questioned” expenses and 442 million dollars in “unsupported” expenses. Just last month the Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) held a hearing on allegations that Halliburton and its KBR subsidiary knowingly exposed thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq to hazardous levels of unhealthy water which included human fecal matter. These are a couple examples of some of the numerous controversies that have surrounded Halliburton and a reporter would not have to dig very far to find this information out. Unfortunately, the story run on WXMI did not bother to present any of this information, choosing instead to present only Halliburton’s side of the story.

Story:

WXMI 17 Newsreader – Meanwhile shareholders of Halliburton showed up to their annual meeting only to be greeted by more than a hundred picketers. The Energy giant moved it’s meeting to Duncan Oklahoma, critics saying to avoid the public lime light. But protestors found them anyway. Sixteen people were arrested outside the meeting. Regardless the company’s leader says they have nothing to hide.

Halliburton Executive – As I said in the meeting, the government likes what we are doing, we’re getting excellent marks. We’re in the public profile today, we have to accept that as a business.

Newsreader – As for moving the meeting out of Texas, Halliburton says it’s just trying to honor its Southern Oklahoma roots.

Total Time: 34 seconds

Analysis:

This story is a good example of the local news reliance on “official voices” in reporting on an issue. The only voices presented are those of Congressman Vern Ehlers and a short quote from a National Guard officer. It is noted that two local Democratic Senators declined to comment. No non-elected officials are interviewed.

Story:

WZZM Newsreader – President Bush is expected to use his speech at eight o’clock tonight to push for the deployment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border.

WZZM Newsreader #2 – WZZM’s Kathy Reynolds joins us now with details.

Reporter – Well, the president hasn’t even hit the airwaves, and already his proposal is meeting with mixed reviews. At issue, is the role the National Guard would play in border security, and the continuing debate over immigration reform.

Tonight, President Bush will propose using a small percentage of National Guard troops to secure the Mexican border. A White House spokesperson says out of four hundred thousand members, fewer than then thousand will go.

Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-Grand Rapids) – I have voted against deploying troops and in place of border patrol.

Reporter – Congressman Vern Ehlers says the country has called on the National Guard too much. Troops like Wyoming and Greenville have spent years in Iraq, now state society says they should only play a supportive relief-oriented role.

Ehlers – My understanding of the President, simply going to use them as a back-up, they can do the administrative work and things like that without actually being in full gear, deployed with rifles etcetera. That would be more acceptable for me.

Reporter – Major Dawn Dancer tells WZZM 13, quote: “At this point, we have not been told formally or informally that the Michigan National Guard will be involved in this event”. Dancer could not comment further, but the National Guard is the latest in a series of plans aimed at immigration reform. This afternoon, the Senate took up the Guest Worker proposal, which would allow immigrants to remain in the country, as long as they fill jobs American workers don’t want.

Ehlers – I think the President’s Guest Worker program is a good idea.

Reporter – An idea Ehlers says is part of a larger debate. Stopping the flood of illegal immigrants coming into the country, he says, will take more than the National Guard.

Ehlers – Its all very complex, and all tied together. We simply have to have a national dialogue where we can reach some agreement on what we want to do about this.

Reporter – We called Democratic Senator Stabenow and Levin for a response, neither one wanted to comment on the President’s National Guard proposal until after his speech.

Total Time: 2 minutes 3 seconds

Analysis:

In this piece WOOD TV 8 provides poll results on the governors race as well as a discussion of the role of polls in political races. The story provides an reasonable analysis on the relevance and validity of polls and points out that current poll results do not necessarily indicate who will win the race. Despite these qualifiers by the reporter on the limitations of polls, local TV news election coverage continues to really on poll numbers heavily. This focus on polls often leads to a lack of attention put on platforms, voting records and financial supporters.

Story:

WOOD Newsreader – For the first time, the polls are showing Dick Devos leading Governor Granholm. A Mitchell research poll has Devos ahead, forty-four, to forty-three percent over Granholm. The EPIC-MRA poll says Devos is favored by forty-six percent of those surveyed, compared to Granholm’s forty-five percent. 24-Hour News 8 reporter Rick Albin has been looking at these recent polls. He joins us now live in studio to look beyond the numbers.

Reporter – Suzy, polls are useful in tracking progress of a campaign, but each time you get new poll results, its likely that there is both more and less to those numbers than you may think.

Reporter – The latest numbers have Granholm and Devos in a statistical dead heat. In other words, given the amount of variable, or the margin of error, plus or minus four percent, either candidate could have a slight lead. But, they are essentially tied. So, you could interpret this as the first poll that shows Devos ahead. Or you might more accurately say the race has stayed very tight over the last thirty days. So what should we make of a poll this early in the election cycle?

Erika King (GVSU Political Science) – The old cliché is a poll is a snapshot in time, but it does give you information. What this does show is that it is at this point a competitive race..

Reporter – Erika King is a professor of political science at Grand Valley State University. She says not only are polls a snapshot, but polling in uncertain times may be more difficult.

Erika King – That is when you get a polarized electorate and a very close race. Polling does a microcosm of the voting public, and the voting public changes its mind throughout a campaign. Campaigns matter.

Reporter – But these polls, that can be dozens of pages long, can be helpful in gauging attitudes and trends. For example, this in the EPIC-MRA poll: “Will Michigan’s economy get better or worse in the next several months?” Only eighteen percent say it will get better. Thirty percent say it will get worse, nearly half believe it will remain the same. And those numbers don’t suggest how someone may vote, but they do give us a glimpse at people’s attitudes and opinions as election day approaches. Now, in the nearly six months left in this campaign, you’ll hear about dozens of polls, and remember, they are a reflection of the moment in when they are taken, and everything, I mean everything that happens subsequent to that poll can greatly impact the outcome of Decision 2006. I’m Rick Albin. 24 Hour News 8.

Total Time: 2 minutes, 22 seconds

Analysis:

This story is rather lengthy by broadcast news standards, weighing it at 2 minutes and 27 seconds. However, viewers must ask themselves whether it added to their understanding of the Iraq War and its human costs. While the story tackled an emotional topic with both the death of a solider in Iraq and a group of protestors targeting the funeral, to what degree did it add to the public’s understanding of the war? There were a number of highly emotional quotes promoting patriotism and considerable use of imagery featuring American flags. The story equates dying in Iraq and support of the war with patriotism, what does this say to those who do not support the war?

Moreover, regardless of what one thinks about the protestors and their tactics, WOOD TV 8 did not give any of them airtime to explain why they were protesting.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – A sea of supporters during a fallen soldier’s funeral to drown out protesting voices. And 24 Hour News 8 is here with more.

Reporter – Well, funerals are particularly solemn affairs, but not this time, and the family didn’t seem to mind.

It is not unusual for strangers to show up at the funeral of a soldier. But this time, it was more than saying goodbye to a man who fought for his country.

Elaine Straith (supporter) – These guys fight so these people can behave as badly as they are.

Reporter – Those guys, are the people across the street, protesters who have been targeting soldier’s funerals, because they died defending a nation that tolerates homosexuality. These men drove forty miles from Muskegon to protest the protesters.

Larry Hackney (military supporter) – This young fella and his family gave up everything, and we need to be here to support ’em.

Reporter – The picketers brought out picketers from a broad swath-bikers, to Bible-carrying school children from a nearby Christian school.

Bob Huth(Supporter) – It really wasn’t until I got here, and then I saw the outgoing of love for this kid, and it shakes you up.

Reporter – Sergeant Rick Herrema was twenty-seven years old when he was shot while stepping off a helicopter in Baghdad last month. He served in the Army for seven years, but was in Iraq for just three weeks when he died.

Walter Sokalski (Family spokesperson) – We cannot describe our grief, but Rick would want everyone to know he died doing what he loved, which is fighting with his brothers for his country.

Reporter – The family didn’t mind the spectacle, in fact, they were heartened to see supporters outnumbering protesters.

To see all these people and all these flags, it’s just heartwarming. It just lets you know that hey, we’re not fighting in vain.

Reporter – And when the time came to pay respect, the crowd pushed aside it’s political differences and did just that.

The State Senate unanimously approved a bill this week that would stop protesters of soldiers killed in Iraq. It would ban demonstrations within five hundred feet of a funeral. Governor Granholm is expected to sign the legislation. American Civil Liberties Union says that such laws go too far in violating free speech.

Total time – 2 minutes, 27 seconds.