Blog for Iowa :: Counterpoint

By Caroline Vernon

This Saturday, June 9th, progressive leaders, legislators and activists from various organizations across Iowa will come together for the first DFA-Iowa Networking Summit.

We will be gathering at the Iowa City Public Library from 9am to 3pm (the last hour will be devoted to DFA-IA administrative business).

Some of our great leaders who will be in attendance include Charlie Chamberlain from Democracy for America, Ed Fallon, Denise O’Brien, and Senator Joe Bolkcom, just to name a few…

Once again, the purpose of this gathering is to establish a Progressive Iowa Network which will serve to better unite progressives across the state in order to support each others efforts around important issues, particularly if we hope to be more effective moving into the next legislative session. Besides providing an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow progressives, one direct benefit of an Iowa Network would be the enhanced ability to articulate our progressive world view by creating a state-wide echo chamber that will carry our unified message to all Iowans.

As previously indicated, we have identified 5 issues in Iowa that require urgent action:

1.   VOICE (Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections)
2.   CAFO regulations / Farm Bill
3.   Fair Share
4.   Healthcare
5.   Media

Also, due to the recent vote on the Iraq supplemental bill, it is our hope that peace activists from across Iowa will take advantage of this opportunity to come together to discuss potential state wide initiatives that will effectively pressure those in Congress who voted for the bill.

In addition to addressing the above issues, we are tracking organizations by their particular area(s) of focus. This list has also evolved since my last blog:

1.   Policy / Research
2.   Lobbying
3.   Media & Blogs
4.   Grassroots Organizing

These 4 areas have been added:

5.   Direct Action
6.   Education
7.   Funding (to identify potential sources of funding)
8.   Political Campaigns (organizations who can be involved with                                campaigns)

We are working on compiling a comprehensive list of all participating organizations, including contact information, primary areas of focus and primary issues of concern. If you or your organization will be attending the summit, we ask that you submit your information using the example below (4 stars = primary focus)

Example:

Organization: Progressive Action for the Common Good
Address: 3707 Eastern Ave, Davenport, IA 52807
Contact Information: (name/position/phone/email):
Caroline Vernon, Organizer, 563-676-7580, carolina1961@gmail.com.
James Lee, Executive Director, 563-650-3922, jlee6367@yahoo.com

Areas of Focus                Rating                Issues                  Rating

Policy/Research                                    VOICE                ****
Lobbying                        **                 CAFO/Farm Bill      ***
Media/Blogs                                         Media                **
Grassroots Organizing      ****               Fair Share            **
Direct Action                  ***               Healthcare           ***
Education                       **
Funding                          *                   Other: _Peace _ ****
Poltical Campaigns

Please send the above information to carolina1961@gmail.com by Thursday, June 7th so we can be sure to include your information in the hand-out.

It is important to note that we encourage ALL progressive organizations to attend this meeting and become part of the network even if we may not be focusing on your specific issues at this time. The goal of the network is to create a framework designed to support all progressive initiatives. We need everyone’s participation in order to succeed.

If you have any questions, please call Caroline Vernon at 563-676-7580.

Hope to see you Saturday!

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Monday, September 26

Letter to Sinclair Broadcasting: 37 Cents. Taking Back Our Airwaves: Priceless

by Trish Nelson on Mon 26 Sep 2005 06:00 AM CDT

Letter to Sinclair Broadcasting: 37 Cents. Taking Back Our Airwaves: Priceless

Ted Remington (above) is seen by many as a pioneer in the campaign to expose Sinclair Broadcasting’s corporate excess. This guest opinion, which appeared in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on June 4, 2004, made many eastern Iowans aware for the first time that a local station, KGAN, was owned by a huge media conglomerate, the already-notorious Sinclair Broadcasting - the company that refused to allow its local stations to air Ted Koppel’s “The Fallen.” To start off Blog for Iowa’s Focus on the Media Week, here is Ted’s landmark piece.

~~~

Individual and PAC contributions by Sinclair Broadcasting Group executives to Republicans: Nearly $250,000.

The opportunity to foist off canned editorials on eastern Iowans from half a continent away: Priceless.

If you flip by KGAN at about 10:30 on any given night, you’ll see someone named Mark Hyman delivering his daily editorial, “The Point,” at the tail end of the nightly newscast. Hyman is not a journalist. He’s not a KGAN employee. He’s not even an Iowan. So why is he prattling away on our airwaves?

The simple answer to that is because he can. Hyman is the vice president of Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc., a Baltimore-based company that aims to do to local news what Wal-Mart did to local shopping: offer low-cost, low-quality products in homogenous outlets across the country to maximize profit. Sinclair owns or operates 62 local television stations across the country, including Iowa stations KGAN, KFXA, KFSB and KDSM.

Part of Sinclair’s modus operandi is to gut local news operations and replace them with a one-size-fits-all broadcast. In many markets, much of the “local” news is actually created in Sinclair’s studios in Baltimore, beamed to its stations, and presented as homegrown product.

No longer homegrown

Thus far, Iowa viewers have been spared the worst of Sinclair’s excesses, but we’ve hardly gone untouched. If you’ve noticed that Tiffany O’Donnell anchors not only KGAN’s 10 p.m. news but also the 9 p.m. newscast on KFXA and KFXB, you’ve seen Sinclair’s handiwork. And if business takes you to Des Moines and you feel a little homesick, just tune in to KDSM’s nightly newscast, hosted by your “local” news anchor, the indefatigable Tiffany O’Donnell.

Has O’Donnell conquered the laws of time and space in order to hold down three anchoring jobs simultaneously? Not exactly. Sinclair uses its stable of KGAN talent to create a generic newscast that is shown on KFXA, KFXB and KDSM. The good people of Dubuque have suffered most from this news cloning. The city no longer has a newscast of its own but must do with the generic Sinclair-cast that pays virtually no attention to stories of particular interest in Dubuque. For all intents and purposes, KFXB no longer is a local station.

Once upon a time, Sinclair could not have pulled this off. Media ownership regulations ensured that no single company ran multiple television stations in the same market. But the current incarnation of the Federal Communications Commission, with the approval of anti-regulation crusaders in the White House and Congress, relaxed these restrictions, delighting companies such as Sinclair, which can now scoop up multiple stations at will.

And this brings us back to the droit du seigneur that is “The Point.” Not content to merely profit from owning scores of television stations, Sinclair’s executives use the rights of ownership to compel stations such as KGAN to run their prefab political editorials. Regardless of how out of step such commentaries might be with the views and concerns of local viewers in specific markets, all Sinclair-owned stations must submit and provide Hyman access to their audience.

It’s true that Hyman’s editorials are predictably conservative, far to the right of the average KGAN viewer. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Given that republican politicians and appointees spearheaded media deregulation, one can understand why Sinclair’s views (and money) support GOP concerns almost exclusively. But that’s not the problem.

It’s also the case that Hyman’s ramblings rarely rise above the level of talk-radio blather, relying on name calling, hyperbole and shading of the truth to create what passes for an “argument.” But that’s not my primary concern, either.

Not an Iowa Discussion

What should concern all of us in eastern Iowa is that Sinclair, a corporate conglomerate based on the east coast, is exploiting a local resource. If KGAN wants to take a right-wing editorial stance, that’s fine. If KGAN decides to allot precious minutes of airtime to the musings of a mid-level management type rather than a bona fide journalist, that’s its prerogative. But “The Point” isn’t a KGAN product. It’s the brainchild of a corporation as far away from eastern Iowa in temperament and values as it is in geography.

We the people own the public airwaves, not KGAN, Mark Hyman or Sinclair Broadcasting Group. I, for one, would welcome greater use of local broadcast time for the discussion of topical issues, but let it be a truly local discussion. Let’s talk about school board elections, local referendums and proposed city ordinances. Let’s talk about who we want to represent us in Des Moines and Washington. And when we discuss national and international issues, let’s do it with an Iowan accent.

“The Point” represents a misuse of a public resource, a resource too scarce to be given away. Certainly, there are larger issues of media conglomeration that bode ill for truly local news, and these issues need to be addressed.

But let’s begin the fight here. Write KGAN (Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc., 10706 Beaver Dam Road, Hunt Valley, Md., 21030) and ask them to stand up for their viewers by standing up to their bosses in Baltimore. Better yet, write directly to the Sinclair company and tell it you will not watch its programming as long as it takes advantage of their clients: us.

Sending a letter to Sinclair Broadcasting Group: 37 cents.

Getting back our public airwaves: Priceless.

~~~

Ted Remington is an assistant professor of English and associate director of writing at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He holds a Ph.D. in communication studies from The University of Iowa, where he specialized in rhetorical studies. He has written articles and presented papers on a range of topics, including using the Internet to teach writing, the political rhetoric of marginalized groups, and the role of rhetorical critics as political activists. He is also the author of the weblog "The Counterpoint," which features near-daily refutations of "The Point."

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Sunday, July 24

Counterpoint Extra: Introducing the "Hyman Index"

by Trish Nelson on Sun 24 Jul 2005 04:00 AM CDT

Counterpoint Extra: Introducing the "Hyman Index"

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country.

by Ted Remington

In previous installments of “The Counterpoint,” we’ve seen examples of how Mark Hyman often uses propaganda techniques to make his arguments. Given the central role these tactics play in his rhetoric, I thought it helpful to come up with a way of A) pointing out that nearly every edition of “The Point” makes use of standard propaganda techniques, and B) comparing individual “Point” commentaries to each other in terms of how much they rely on propaganda techniques.

The result is what I’m calling the Hyman Index.

The basic formula is to count up the number of statements in a given commentary that are examples of propaganda techniques (P) and divide this number by the length of the commentary in words (W), not counting the obligatory signoff (i.e., “And that’s The Point.”). The result is then multiplied by 100 and rounded to the nearest one hundredth (P/W * 100).

This allows us to get a fairly objective read on how much of the content of a given commentary is devoted to propagandistic appeals.

The major variable is what one counts as propaganda techniques. There are any number of lists of emotional appeals and examples of misleading or faulty logic that we could use. I think the best approach, however, is to keep things simple. In my count, I’m using the list drawn up in the 1930s by the Institute of Propaganda Analysis. Their list of different types of appeals is fairly short, and some might argue that the categories are overly broad as a result. However, I think using an abbreviated list will make things easier to understand and will allow us to more easily discriminate between persuasive appeals and true propaganda (some lists of propaganda techniques are so vast and detailed that almost any statement more subjective than a mathematical equation would fall under one of the categories).

The IPA list is as follows:

Word Games
Name-calling
Glittering generalities
Euphemisms

False connections
Transfer
Testimonial

Special Appeals
Plain Folks
Bandwagon
Fear

Logical fallacies
Bad Logic or propaganda?
Unwarranted extrapolation

For our purposes, logical fallacies will include fairly standard examples of bad logic, such as post hoc reasoning and “slippery slope” arguments.

So let’s see the Hyman index in action! Here’s the text of a “Point” commentary from a week ago that I didn’t comment on at the time because it was taken off of the Newscentral website, then suddenly reappeared. I’ve placed the names of propaganda appeals in brackets after the relevant statements. I’ve tried to be as generous as I can with Hyman’s rhetoric; you might feel I’m being a bit stingy in what I’m labeling propaganda. You might also not agree with my particular label, given that the IPA categories are broad enough that there is bound to be some overlap. However, I’ve tried to be as reasonable and careful as I can in making my calls.

Earlier this month the Portland, Maine School Committee adopted a policy that advocates discrimination. [NAME CALLING]

The committee voted 6-3 to direct its lawyer to rewrite the policy regarding the distribution of fliers to students. Their intention is to ban Boy Scouts literature. The reason? The Boy Scouts do not allow openly homosexual Scouts or leaders. The city of Portland has an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

You know those nasty old Boy Scouts. They've been the scourge of American society for years. [PLAIN FOLKS]

So what's next? Banning evangelical Christian, Catholic and Muslim students because of their religious views on sexual orientation? Will servicemen and women family members be banned from attending school functions because of the military's policies? [UNWARRANTED EXTRAPOLATION]

The city's website proudly displays a colorful boast that "Portland [is] where diversity works." But this is code meaning that only a narrow set of views are accepted. [NAME CALLING] Fail to embrace them and you are banished forever. [FEAR]

You don't have to agree with the Boy Scouts' policy on the exclusion of openly homosexual Scouts and leaders to recognize theirs is but one viewpoint. In other words diversity. [BANDWAGON]

The irony is that tailoring a policy to ban certain groups - groups such as the Boy Scouts that have accomplished more good than most - is just an officially sanctioned form of discrimination. [NAME CALLING]

You can share your views with the Portland School Committee at (207) 874-8100 or at superintendent@portlandschools.org.

Dividing the number of propagandistic appeals Hyman uses (7) by the number of total words in the commentary, multiplying by 100, and then rounding to the hundredths place, we get a Hyman Index of 2.98. After doing a number of test runs on other editions of the commentary, this seems to be about average (the range being from about 1.5 to 4.5).

I’ll include a Hyman Index, whenever applicable, to future Counterpoints and comment on them when they reveal something particularly interesting.

(Source)

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Saturday, July 9

The Counterpoint Translates 'Hymanspeak'

by Trish Nelson on Sat 09 Jul 2005 07:49 AM CDT

The Counterpoint Translates 'Hymanspeak'

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country.

by Iowa's Ted Remington

Hyman loves to try to portray progressives and liberals as hypocrites by accusing them of participating in exactly the same sorts of narrow-mindedness they criticize in conservatism. Hyman’s latest attempt is his explanation of what he terms “euphemisms” of the left. Through his bizarre definitions, he charges liberals with being racist, anti-Semitic, and intolerant. (Paging Dr. Freud . . . Doctor Sigmund Freud . . . A severe case of projection in Baltimore, Maryland.)

Hyman offers no examples of anyone using these terms in the euphemistic way he claims they are. I can’t say that I know anyone who defines these words the way Hyman does, either. I won’t speak for others, but below I’ve described what I mean when I use the phrases Hyman defines. Afterward, I offer a list of terms culled from nearly a year of Counterpoints that are tried and true examples of Hymanspeak and offered translations for you English speakers out there.

Affirmative Action: policies that attempt to provide a level playing field by counteracting hundreds of years of discrimination that artificially kept talented and motivated people from realizing their full potential.

Neoconservative: a politician, government official, or public intellectual who believes, among other things, that democracy is best spread through unilateral military action and that the U.S. should ignore its commitments to other countries when they seem bothersome.

Diversity: The range of experiences, beliefs, and personal backgrounds that has led the United States to be the most culturally vibrant nation in the world.

Tolerance: Accepting the right of others to be who they are, including the right to be bigoted; does not include the right to openly discriminate against others on the basis of that bigotry.

Undocumented immigrants: people who entered the U.S. illegally, but who are not themselves “illegal.” Actions can be illegal; individual people are not.

Patriotism: love of the ideals and people of your nation without respect to specific policies of those currently in power; OR willingness to speak and act in the best interest of your country even if it contradicts the positions of those in power.

Hymanspeak to English Translations

War on Terror: Preemptive invasion of Iraq (which, by the way, had no ties to 9/11, Osama bin Laden, or al-Qaeda).

Non-partisan: conservative

Partisan: reporting facts that conservatives would rather you not know about

Flat tax: work tax in which working people bear the greatest tax burden

Sales tax: consumption tax in which working people bear the greatest tax burden

Tax simplification: making the tax system more regressive

Middle class: those making over $100,000

Immigrant: brown person

Terrorist: brown person with a gun (or, sometimes, just a brown person)

Liberal: anyone who disagrees with Hyman

“Hate America crowd”: anyone who disagrees with Hyman

“The Angry left”: anyone who disagrees with Hyman

Communists: anyone who disagrees with Hyman

Whack-jobs: anyone who disagrees with Hyman

Elite: People with education and/or money who aren't conservatives.

Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys: The people who saved our bacon in the American Revolution and gave us the Statue of Liberty.

Liberal media: the corporate owned media controlled by a handful of giant conglomerations and run by those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and pursuing a conservative economic agenda.

Local news: Prefabricated news from Sinclair headquarters in Baltimore

News: Partisan propaganda (when applied to “Stolen Honor”)

Disgruntled Employee: Principled employee (Jon Lieberman)

Tolerance: allowing the majority’s opinions and values to trump those of the minority

Supporting the troops: supporting the Bush administration, even when its actions harm the soldiers and help the terrorists

Supporting the terrorists: criticizing the Bush administration, even when its actions hurt the soldiers and help the terrorists; OR reporting news stories that suggest anything is less than hunky-dory in Iraq

Dishonoring the troops: Honoring the troops

Koppelgate: Sinclairgate—Sinclair’s decision to order its ABC stations not to run the episode of Nightline honoring troops that died in Iraq which prompted condemnation from Democrats, Republicans, families of the troops, Sinclair’s own viewers, etc.

Public Interest: the interest of the Bush administration and/or Sinclair Broadcasting

Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich: longtime friend to Sinclair Broadcasting, former employer of Mark Hyman when he was a Representative, receiver of illegal campaign contributions from Sinclair Broadcasting executives, and unethical lobbyist for deregulation of broadcast ownership rules that benefit Sinclair.

Academia: college teachers of courses in the humanities and some social sciences (although not the hard sciences, economics, business, engineering, etc.) who teach critical thinking skills, present students with new ideas, and prompt them to self-reflection

Fringe thinker: yours truly, along with anyone else who disagrees with Hyman

And that's The Counterpoint.

You can experience "The Point" by tuning in to your "local" evening "news" program on KGAN-TV Channel 2 in eastern Iowa or KDSM Channel 17 in the Des Moines/Ames area.

Mark Hyman

Join these Iowa Media Reform groups:

Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response - Iowa

Click here to join Iowans for Better Local TV (IBLTV)

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Saturday, June 18

Counterpoint: Sinclair's Mark Hyman Marches in Lock Step with the Far Right

by Trish Nelson on Sat 18 Jun 2005 10:52 AM CDT

Sinclair's Mark Hyman Marches in Lock Step with the Far Right

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country.

by U of Iowa's Ted Remington

One of the purposes of what David Brock has termed the “Right Wing Noise Machine” is to not simply participate in ideological conflict, but to choose and define the rhetorical battlefield before the first shot is fired.

Despite the claims by Sinclair Broadcasting that Mark Hyman is simply a single employee expressing his personal views, it’s obvious to even the most casual viewer that he marches in jack-booted lock step with the far right establishment. Given this, one of the recurring dynamics of Hyman’s commentaries is his attempt to help frame issues in a way that will give his fellow conservatives higher rhetorical ground in an anticipated struggle.

This sort of malignant synergy is on vivid display in Hyman’s recent commentary on the Supreme Court. Suggesting that both Justices Rehnquist and O’Connor might step down soon, Hyman predicts the “mother of all confirmation battles.” (By the way, Mark, could you please get some new writers for your commentary)? The phrase “mother of all . . . whatever” jumped the shark around January 22, 1991. Of course, “jumped the shark” has jumped the shark by now, too, so maybe I shouldn’t cast stones!).

Laughably, Hyman advises Senate Democrats that supporting a conservative justice to replace Rehnquist will make them look “statesmen-like” and help build “good will.” After all, Hyman argues, replacing a Rehnquist with a conservative will be a “one-for-one” replacement.

I’d like to offer Hyman some advice in the same vein: Hyman ought to embrace the idea of inviting Al Franken, David Brock, or even me to share time on his “Point” segments. Such a move would make him look statesman-like and help build good will.

(click here to read the entire story)

You can experience "The Point" by tuning in to your "local" evening "news" program on KGAN-TV Channel 2 in eastern Iowa or KDSM Channel 17 in the Des Moines/Ames area.

Mark Hyman

Find out what's happening in Iowa on Media Reform:

Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response - Iowa

Contact: Iowans for Better Local TV (IBLTV)

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Monday, March 21

Counterpoint Extra: Ted Remington Now Appearing Weekly on Sinclair Action

by Trish Nelson on Mon 21 Mar 2005 11:55 AM CST

Counterpoint Extra: Ted Remington Now Appearing Weekly on Sinclair Action

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country.

Congratulations to Ted Remington whose conscientious analysis of Sinclair Broadcasting's "The Point" by Mark Hyman can now also be found weekly on Sinclair Action. Go Ted!

by Iowa's Ted Remington

I'm proud to announce that beginning this week, I am contributing a regular "Counterpoint" essay for SinclairAction that will appear on their website. However, I will still maintain [The Counterpoint] blog independent of SinclairAction or any other organization.

The Counterpoint feature that appears on SinclairAction will be a "kinder, gentler" version of what you see [on the Counterpoint]. On a weekly basis, I'll write a response to a chosen edition of "The Point" from the previous week and/or comment on general trends in Mark Hyman's rhetoric. There will be less snide asides from me and more pure fact checking and analysis. However, the goal is the same - to provide a balance to "The Point" and to identify and critique Hyman's simplifications, distortions, and falsehoods.

Like what you see [on the Counterpoint], the commentary that appears courtesy of SinclairAction represents my individual point of view, not the editorial voice of the organization (i.e., I'm not on the SinclairAction payroll). However, SinclairAction is offering me an opportunity to contribute to their ongoing efforts to monitor Sinclair Broadcasting and keep them honest (to the extent that's possible).

I'd like to thank the good folks at SinclairAction as well as Media Matters for America for the encouragement and support they've provided!

Click here to view a recent segment of "The Point" where Mark Hyman defames Ted Remington.

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Monday, February 21

COUNTERPOINT EXTRA: Props to Media Matters for America

by Trish Nelson on Mon 21 Feb 2005 11:51 AM CST

Counterpoint Extra: Props to Media Matters for America

The rational counter to "The Point," "The Counterpoint" critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country.

by Iowa's Ted Remington

Before resuming normal Counterpoint activity, I just want to take a moment to publicly thank David Brock and the good folks at Media Matters for America for having my back concerning Mark Hyman's attack on me. Not only did Media Matters do a stellar job in pointing out the distortions and falsehoods concerning me, but they thoroughly debunked Hyman's smears of other college teachers he committed in the same commentary.

More importantly, MMFA is taking a leading role in keeping the heat on Sinclair Broadcasting, particularly in their participation in Sinclair Action, a group of progressive organizations that are working to educate people on the reality of Sinclair's business and "journalistic" practices. They've just revamped their website, and it looks great. I highly recommend that everyone take a look and take action.

Finally, thanks to the posters to [the Counterpoint], anonymous and otherwise, for the words of encouragement. They are truly appreciated!

Cheers,

Ted

Listen to Ted talk with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Michael Papantonios on Air America Radio's weekly program, Ring of Fire aired February 12.

Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response - Iowa

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*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country

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