Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

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.

Analysis:

While all three stations reported on the problems with the Barry county voting machines, this WOOD 8 story is the only one that looked at voting machine malfunctions beyond this particular case. In the story the WOOD 8 reporter notes that problems have been reported in Alaska, Ohio and Florida with machines made by the corporation Diebold. The reporter notes that he talked to a representative from Diebold who attributed the irregularities in each case to user error or incompatibility with other equipment. The Diebold representative is never heard form directly and the reporter does not ask any follow up questions.

Nor is much information provided about Diebold, despite the fact that they have generated a fair amount of controversy. Diebold has been at the center of a number of controversies dating back to before the 2004 election concerning problems and weaknesses in their computerized voting systems. There also was controversy surrounding Diebold’s CEO Walden O’Dell, who previous to the 2004 election had told Republicans in a fund-raising letter that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”

This issue of voting machine malfunctions is, at least according to independent researchers such as Black Box voting.org or Ohio based professor Bob Fitrakis, tied into larger issues of election fraud and tampering. Despite having plenty of evidence to back up these claims of election fraud, the local news have been very reluctant to report on them, or if they do, it’s usually dismissed as partisan bickering.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – Well, election day hit a big glitch in one West Michigan county.

WOOD 8 Newsreader #2 – Brand new voting machines stopped working in Barry County. The cause is believed to be a glitch in a computer program. 24 Hour News 8 is live in Hastings now, where all the ballots had to be hand-counted. Dan…

Reporter – Yeah, that’s right. This was literally a county-wide problem. Fifteen of the sixteen townships, as well as the city of Hastings were forced to hand count their results. And this comes after a federal law required the state to dole out money, and buy new voting machines for every county in the state.

A day later, and the votes are in. Clerks dropping of results at the Barry County HQ, the last step in what turned out to be a long night. The trouble came from machines like this one–twenty-six in all in Barry County. It’s an optical scan voting machine. The ballot goes in, the machine records the vote. At the end of the night, clerks tally the final numbers and the machine prints out the results. That’s where the problem came to light.

Tom Emery (Hastings City Clerk) – The first precinct that we looked at, one candidate got zero votes, but there were ninety write-ins out of 125 votes cast.

Reporter – Forcing City Clerk Emery to do a double take.

Emery – …especially since the person who got zero votes was the person that I voted for, so I know the zero was wrong.

Reporter – Here’s a closer look in the Thornapple School Board race. The computer had both candidates with zero votes, and the total for write-ins was 35. The biggest problem, the county clerk says, was for races dealing with bond proposals.

Debbie Smith (Barry County Clerk) – To all of the printouts where there were any bond proposals showed a zero total for yes votes, and that it appears that the actual votes cast as yes were showing under the no total, and then the no total was not appearing on the tape anywhere.

Reporter – At four thousand dollars apiece, the state bought each machine for the county after federal law required all states to use the same optical system. Tuesday’s election was the first time Barry County used these particular optical scan machines. The county had used a previous model before without having any problems. Why the printouts were scrambled, for now at least, remains a mystery.

We talked with several other West Michigan election officials to see if they experienced similar problems, but all say everything went off without a hitch. We also spoke with a spokesman for the company that makes those optical scan machines, Diebold, he says the company is looking into the problem, but adds these machines are typically very reliable. Live in Hastings, Dan Bewley, 24 hour News 8.

Analysis:

As with many news pieces on US foreign policy, the voices presented in the story are that of a government or military spokesperson. No Iranian voices are heard n the story, nor are any independent or international voices heard. Also, the statements made by the government spokesperson are not subjected to any critical scrutiny. Nor is any information given as to what the Iranian pronouncement that it has enriched uranium actually means. According to an article by scholar Juan Cole, the president of Iran announced that his country had enriched uranium to 3.5 percent, using a bank of 180 centrifuges. Cole notes that in order to build a nuclear weapon, uranium has to be enriched to 80%, far more than what Iran has achieved to date. Estimates vary widely amongst experts as to how long it will take Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. None of these expert voices are presented in the story, rather, the newsreader states simply that Iran has taken “an important step for building an Atomic bomb”, a statement that implies that Iranian nuclear weapons are imminent.

Story:

WXMI Newsreader- …Condoleezza Rice asked the international community to help Iran stay in line. It comes after Iran’s president announced that they have enriched uranium, an important step for building an atomic bomb. Iran has been ordered more than once to stop experimenting. Rice says it’s clear they are not listening.

Condi Rice – I do think that the security council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran and that it will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the international community on this issue.

Newsreader – Iran says that their program is peaceful and for civilian power.

Analysis:

Both stories were rather short and according to our monitoring work, this was the first time this issue was mentioned in local TV news coverage. The WZZM story started “The University of Michigan is welcoming Coca Cola to its campus. University officials dropped Coke purchases in December over the pop company’s’ labor practices in India and Colombia. Today U of M officials said they were satisfied with plans for investigations into the soft drink company’s practices. Michigan was one of twelve schools in the boycott against Coca Cola.” The WOOD 8 story was about the same length but did note that the specific complaints about Coca Cola that “In Columbia labor groups have accused the company in conspiring with right wing paramilitary groups to harass and harm workers.”

Both stories ignored the fact that this boycott was the result of a campaign organized not by university administrators but by students. This effort, entitled “Campaign To Boycott Killer Coke!” is part of an ongoing effort to hold Coke accountable for its pratices in Colombia and elsewhere. This was not mentioned in the TV stories, nor was it mentioned that the University ended the boycott against the wishes of the students who had organized the boycott effort, or that the nationwide coalition of groups that make up the Killer Coke campaign were still calling for boycotts. Also not presented in the TV stories were the actual specifics of the claims against Coke. The WZZM 13 story totally glossed over this point merely stating that there were problems with Coke’s “companys’ labor practices.” The WOOD 8 story was more detailed in that is noted that Coke had ties to Paramilitary groups in Colombia. According to the Killer Coke campaign, eight union organizers at Colombian Coke bottling plants have been killed by Paramilitary groups, and “Hundreds of other Coke workers have been tortured, kidnapped and/or illegally detained.” The WZZM 13 piece does mention that complaints have been leveled at Cokes plants in Inda as well but does not give any specifics. According to an article by Michael Blanding of the Nation, Coke bottling plants in India have lead to “polluted and depleted water supplies.”

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – University of Michigan will buy Coca Cola again. U of M has agreed to resume the purchase of Coca Cola products. At least 12 schools that had joined a coke-boycott. They stopped buying Coca Cola products for vending machines in residence halls, cafeterias and campus restaurants on January 1st over allegations that the company commits human rights and environmental abuses overseas. In Columbia labor groups have accused the company in conspiring with right wing paramilitary groups to harass and harm workers.

—————————————-

WZZM 13 Newsreader – The University of Michigan is welcoming Coca Cola to it’s campus. University officials dropped Coke purchases in December over the pop companys’ labor practices in India and Colombia. Today U of M officials said they were satisfied with plans for investigations into the soft drink company’s practices. Michigan was one of twelve schools in the boycott against Coca Cola.

Analysis:

This story fails to consult any sources to verify President Bush’s claims about the situation in Iraq. Does President Bush provide any proof that “terrorists” and “former regime elements” are behind the violence in Iraq? The viewer would not know based on this excerpt, nor does WOOD TV 8 provide any independent investigation of this claim.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – President Bush blames Saddam Hussein for much of the violence in Iraq-not the US presence there. In his third speech in Iraq this month, he said insurgents are using Saddam’s tactics as they kill and terrorize Iraqis and exploit sectarian divisions.

Bush – Today, some Americans are asking why Iraqi people are having such a hard time building a democracy. The reason is that the terrorists and former regime elements are exploiting the wounds inflicted under Saddam’s tyranny.

Length: 38 seconds

Analysis:

This story frames the issue of the minimum wage by reinforcing the perception that minimum wage earners are primarily young people or people In entry level positions. The fact that 40% of the people earning the minimum wage are the sole breadwinner in their families is brushed aside at the beginning of the story as the reporter focuses exclusively on student workers. A spokesperson from Calvin college is interviewed on the impact that raising the wages paid to student workers will have on the school budget. While the school administrator notes that this increased cost may cause cuts to be made in other places, the costs of the new minimum wage are never put in relation to the total school budget. It is noted that the increase will cost the college $ 250,000. The total budget of Calvin College is approximately 83 million a year. That means this cost increase represents .3% of the total school budget.

Also worth pointing out is the misleading bar graph included in this story. By starting the vertical axis at $5 rather than 0, the graph gives the impression that the minimum wage increase is actually greater than it really is. Also problematic is that the values on the vertical axis go from 5 to 7 to 8, using the same distance to represent two different values.

Story:

WZZM 13 Newsreader – For the first time in nine years thousands of Michigan workers will get a raise. Today the governor signed a minimum wage increase into law. It’ll go from five dollars and fifteen cents an hour, to six dollars and ninety five cents an hour in October of this year. Then, in July of 2007, it will increase again to seven fifteen, and in July on 2008, it will go up to seven forty and hour. That’s a total increase of two dollars and twenty-five cents. WZZM 13’s Amy fox has more on what the change will mean for one segment of our society, colleges and universities.

Reporter – Juliet, according to the group Michigan Needs a Raise, forty percent of workers who earn minimum wage are the sole bread winners for their families, meaning most are not. But that doesn’t mean they can’t use the money.

Reporter – Luke Eising works at the cafeteria in Calvin College.

Luke Eising (college student) – A lot of times I do, it’s called beverage salad, I carry milks and stuff, uh, run line.

Reporter – He and his fellow student workers earn just more than the minimum wage.

Student worker – I earn 5.65 for now.

Reporter – They’re happy to know they’ll get a raise, 6.95 starting in October.

Luke Eising – Sounds pretty good to me, I won’t lie. I like the idea.

Reporter – Almost fifteen hundred Calvin students work on Campus, which means their raise will cost the school quite a bit.

Henry DeVries (Calvin Vice President of Finance) – The minimum case scenario for Calvin next year will be about two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars, and that would be if we simply raise anyone who’s below minimum wage to the minimum wage on the first of October. If we raise the entire wage scale by one point eight, a dollar eighty, then this could mean about a million and a half to about a million and three quarter dollars next year.

Reporter – Which could mean cuts in other areas. Calvin vice President Henry DeVries says the school still needs to decide just how much of a raise all students earning more than the minimum wage will get, he realizes the importance of helping students afford higher education.

Melanie Venema (student worker) – I use all this money as much as I can to pay my tuition and my rent and stuff here.

Reporter – So these student workers are thankful for the minimum wage raise.

Reporter – Governor Granholm will be in West Michigan tomorrow evening to attend a rally regarding the minimum wage at the Kent-Ionia labor council. She’ll also be live on WZZM 13 News at Six.

Total time: 2 minutes, 26 seconds