Gravel Dismisses CNN, WMUR-TV And Union
Leader Statement
Says Media Censorship
Moving from Orwellian to Kafakaesque
Washington, D.C. March 19, 2007 Presidential candidate and former
United States Senator Mike Gravel rejected a statement CNN, Hearst owned
WMUR-TV and the Union Leader issued Friday, March 16th in justifying its
censorship of Senator Gravel by excluding him from a planned debate of
Presidential candidates. The Senator said, “This statement is woefully
ignorant, void of sound judgment and Kafkaesque in its conclusion.” Gravel
continued, “There are several points in the statement, the full text of
which follows, that cannot go unchallenged. First, when the statement says
that I have not demonstrated measurable public support, it reveals an abysmal
ignorance of the dynamics of political campaigns that is truly hard to
believe originated in such important media institutions. It is common knowledge
that polling numbers at the outset of a campaign, ten months before the
first of many state elections reflect little more than name recognition
and are simply not measures of public support. This does not mean that
other candidates do not have some public following but rather that such
support has not been tested by the crucible of a long campaign in which
these supporters are given a chance to assess other options. The only accurate
measure of public support is election-day. Finally, for what it is worth,
I have, in a recent Harris poll improved my standing from February to March
and exceed, in one test, one of my rivals for the nomination who I believe
has been invited to the New Hampshire debate”.
The Senator continued, “The statement said that there are literally
dozens and dozens of declared presidential candidates. That is true but
out of those dozens of candidates, how many are former United States Senators
who have been given the stamp of legitimacy by the Democratic National
Committee, SEIU, AFSCME, ABC, the Nevada Democratic Party, the Center for
American Progress Action Fund etc? Only two, former Senator John Edwards
and myself.
“Though this is not the only criteria for deciding the legitimacy of
a candidate as other aspirants may have contributed distinguished public
service as an appointed official or as an officer of an NGO or excelled
as individual public figures such as Ralph Nader, the Reverend Jesse Jackson
and the Reverend Al Sharpton making them eminently worthy, it is one indisputable
criteria for defining a legitimate candidate.”
The Senator continued, “The statement confirmed that I had not received an invitation but said that I nor anyone else has been excluded from the debate. It went on to say that if I meet their criteria between now and the debate, I will be invited. What was Orwellian in my not meeting certain criteria which the media organizations would not divulge becomes Kafkaesque when I am now told that I have not been excluded and can still be invited if I meet this mysterious criteria. CNN, WMUR-TV and the Union Leader sent out invitations weeks ago. I did not receive one. I am told I have not demonstrated measurable public support, which, besides being a galactic misunderstanding of polling numbers ten months before an election is also a self-fulfilling prophecy since being included in the debate would provide me and any other candidate who may have not been invited an important opportunity to secure such public support.”
Senator Gravel concluded, “CNN, Hearst’s WMUR-TV and the Union Leader have been important sources of news for their listeners and readers. Why they want to deprive their audiences of differing political voices that aspire to the highest level of public service by exercising a form of insidious censorship, unbecoming a free society and a state with the motto 'Live Free Or Die' is a mystery.”
Mike Gravel, a resident of Virginia, is a former two-term Senator from
Alaska with a distinguished record that includes successfully ending the
military draft with a five-month filibuster, releasing the Pentagon Papers
risking both prosecution and jail, playing the leading role in making the
Alaska pipeline a reality, and ending nuclear testing in Alaska. He is
the driving force and author of the National Initiative for Democracy,
a proposal to bring the ballot initiative lawmaking process––already proven
in many states as an effective and necessary check on unresponsive representative
government––to the Federal level.
STATEMENT BY CNN, WMUR-TV AND THE UNION
LEADER
The three debate partners, closely following Federal Election Commission
guidelines, established objective criteria to determine who we invite to
the debates. Because there are literally dozens and dozens of declared
presidential candidates, most of whom we have never heard of, we have to
have a method of determining who is invited. Our criteria simply identifies
candidates that have measurable public support for their campaign. Because
Mike Gravel has not demonstrated measurable public support for his campaign
to date, he has not received an invitation. But we have not excluded him
(or anyone) from the debate. If he meets our criteria between now and the
debate, he will certainly get an invitation.
Gravel For President 2008
Elliott Jacobson