Workin' it at Fox
Reported by Melanie - October 7, 2004 -
Midway through Dayside w/Linda Vester today (October 7, 2004) Vester ran a segment on the team of lawyers both sides are lining up to monitor voting and vote counting on November 2.
The tone of the segment was that nitpicking and paranoid Democrats are sue-happy and causing all the trouble and the poor Republicans are gearing up to spend precious time and energy responding.
While on the surface, the segment appeared "fair" in that both guests got roughly equal time to speak, the viewer was left with the clear impression that Democrats are being unreasonable. I noticed a few things which Vester did during the segment to promote that notion.
First, she introduced the two guests this way (notice the difference):
"Barry Richards will be lead counsel for the Bush/Cheney campaign if this election gets contested. That was his job during the Florida drama in 2000 so he's ready."
"Speaking for the Kerry campaign is congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. She is the Co-Chair of the Democratic National Committee."
Turning to Jones for the first question, Vester asked it this way:
"All right, I'm going to start with you, ah, Congresswoman. Is this really necessary? We haven't even gone to the polls yet?"
At one point during the segment, Vester stopped to read a viewer email, which, of course she selected from the hundreds she probably gets. That email read:
"Particularly odious is the Kerry camp's cry that 'we can't be outspent again.' If they were serious, they would focus on just winning, and not suing."
At the end of the segment, Vester's last question was addressed to Ms. Jones and it was:
"With that point in mind, I have a question for you because some of our viewers have also said that they suspect the Kerry camp, or Democrats, are trying to suppress votes by keeping Nader off the ballot in certain states. Is that happening?"
Jones answered in the affirmative, was laughed at loudly by the audience and was essentially discredited.
