Wednesday, May 11, 2022

John Archibald, TV ads & TV stations

Email to @abc3340 @WVTM13 @cbs_42 @WBRCnews @waff48 @whnt and @WAAYTV 
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: comments@abc3340.com <comments@abc3340.com>; programming@abc3340.com <programming@abc3340.com>; Susana.Schuler@hearst.com <Susana.Schuler@hearst.com>; blong@hearst.com <blong@hearst.com>; wcromwell@cbs42.com <wcromwell@cbs42.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>; collin.gaston@wbrc.com <collin.gaston@wbrc.com>; shannon.isbell@wbrc.com <shannon.isbell@wbrc.com>; jama.killingsworth@waff.com <jama.killingsworth@waff.com>; julie@waff.com <julie@waff.com>; paul.caron@whnt.com <paul.caron@whnt.com>; mwright@waaytv.com <mwright@waaytv.com>; sgallien@waaytv.com <sgallien@waaytv.com>
Sent: Wed, May 11, 2022 8:03 am
Subject: TO: AL TV stations RE: John Archibald & the TV ads that candidates pay you a lot of money to run
Yesterday, al.com published an opinion column entitled "Alabama political ads tell a truth about the state", written by John Archibald.
Archibald's column is about TV ads for which your TV stations are paid a lot of money by the candidates and their PACs to run for them.
If you haven't already read Archibald's column, I think you should.
Archibald's column may raise your self-awareness about what your individual TV station is and is not doing related to the TV ads of the candidates and their PACs, and cause you to reflect on how journalistically comfortable you are with what you are doing and not doing related to the TV ads
I have offered my own critique of the journalistic respectability of how Alabama TV stations have been covering the 2022 elections and the candidates. My critique is most recently indicated at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/wsfa12-candidate-profiles.html.
I hope what John Archibald says, and what I have said, have effect on your TV stations.
After I send this email, I will post the email on my blog at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/emails-to-tv-stations-re-2022-elections.html.
Thank you.

 

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Sunday, May 8, 2022

WSFA12 candidate profiles


My critique
WSFA 12's announcement briefly says,

"WSFA 12 News wants to keep you informed about who the candidates are and what platform they’re running on. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be introducing you to candidates from Alabama’s U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races. Each profile will highlight the candidate and important issues on their platform."

This sounds as if the candidates' profiles will be maybe 5 to 10 minutes each.

In contrast to the 5 to 10 minute profiles, WSFA viewers have for many weeks been bombarded over and over and over with TV ads of the candidates and their PACs, and for the running of which TV ads WSFA has been paid a lot of money by the candidates and their PACs

Those TV ads implicitly blare to WSFA viewers "this is what important in this election; this is what you need to know about what is important in this election; and this is what you should base your voting decision on."

The ferocious bombardment of WSFA's viewers by the TV ads of the candidates and their PACs will continue for the next two weeks and, if there is a run off, for four additional weeks after May 24th. 

I submit that the importance to Alabamians of matters  the TV ads blare about are actually less important than the ads suggest, and that claims made by the ads are false or misleading and call for the posing of questions about the claims and getting answers to the questions for Alabamians to hear.

I further submit that the TV ads omit bringing up numerous matters that are very important to Alabamians and that should be discussed by the candidates and about which the candidates should be questioned.

I suspect that WSFA's candidate profiles will be brief pablums of, from, by or about the candidates that will not cure the serious impairments to the democratic electoral process that the TV ads of the candidates and their PACs inflict.

Worse, WSFA's candidate profiles could be felt by voters as an imprimatur by WSFA of the playing out of the democratic electoral process on their TV station and the participation of the viewers in watching WSFA.

Suggested prefatory statement
[Based on what I say above, I think WSFA should, before each candidate profile it airs, make a prefatory statement to viewers along the lines of the following:]

WSFA12 believes in the democratic electoral process in which voters should have accurate and relevant information related to their voting decisions. Further, in this WSFA12 believes it has an important journalistic role to play for its viewers, and WSFA12 desires to perform this role as best it can.

In judging the candidate profiles WSFA12 is presenting, WSFA viewers should reflect on the bombardment they receive over and over and over from the TV ads of the candidates and their PACs, and viewers should reflect on WSFA being paid a lot of money by the candidates and their PACs for the TV ads that WFA runs.

Those TV ads implicitly blare to WSFA viewers the campaign message of "this is what important in this election; this is what you need to know about what is important in this election; and this is what you should base your voting decision on."

The ferocious bombardment of WSFA's viewers by the TV ads of the candidates and their PACs will continue for the next two weeks and, if there is a run off, for four additional weeks after May 24th. 

WSFA thinks that viewers should consider that the importance to Alabamians of matters the TV ads blare about is actually may be less than the ads suggest, and that claims made by the ads may be false or misleading and may call for the posing of questions about the claims and getting answers to the questions for Alabamians to hear.

WSFA thinks that viewers should also consider that the TV ads may omit bringing up matters that are actually very important to the viewer and that should be discussed by the candidates and about which the candidates should be questioned.

WSFA's candidate profiles are not intended to, and will not, help viewers reach conclusions about whether the TV ads attribute more importance to things in the ads than their actual importance; or about whether  the claims made by the ads are false or misleading ot deserving of questions being asked and being answered by the candidates; or whether the TV ads omit bringing up matters that are very important to the viewers, that should be discussed by the candidates, and about which the candidates should be questioned.
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Wes Allen


5/10/22
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: wcromwell@cbs42.com <wcromwell@cbs42.com>; rmartin@cbs42.com <rmartin@cbs42.com>
Sent: Tue, May 10, 2022 8:30 am
Subject: Wes Allen TV ad
This email is prompted by my seeing on CBS42 this morning the Wes Allen campaign ad that is on youtube at https://youtu.be/-4Ast2XtJdY.
After I send this email, I will tweet to CBS42 and post this email on my blog at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/wes-allen.html and at https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/wsfa12-candidate-profiles.html.
Thank you.
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Friday, May 6, 2022

How deplorable is Alabama

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Thursday, May 5, 2022

Pressing AL Supreme Court candidate Greg Cook


From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: info@cookforcourt.com <info@cookforcourt.com>
Sent: Thu, May 5, 2022 6:37 pm
Subject: Please, in your campaign, offer instruction to ALvoters
Dear Greg,
I think the Alabama legal community has a civic obligation in the 2022 elections to offer instruction to Alabama voters regarding the constitution and the rule of law.
In that vein, I have appealed to the Alabama State Bar and to Alabama law school professors. See, inter alia, https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/04/alabamastatebar-civic-obligations-re.html and https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/september-2021-ua-first-amendment.html.
I have sought to draw you into this, as indicated by tweets of mine at https://twitter.com/search?f=live&q=(from%3Arobshattuckal06)%20(%40gregorycook)&src=typed_query.
Your campaign website https://cookforcourt.com/issues/ shows your own belief in the importance of the constitution and the rule of law.
I hope that belief will allow you to elaborate publicly for the benefit of Alabama voters in the 2022 elections.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
From: Cook For Court <info@cookforcourt.com>
To: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>Sent: Tue, May 10, 2022 3:07 pm
Subject: Re: Please, in your campaign, offer instruction to ALvoters
Rob,
Thank you for reaching out to the campaign. Mr. Cook has read your email and is aware of your engagement on social media. Mr. Cook will do everything possible as a Supreme Court Justice to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. He is committed to this practice and, while he cannot respond to every engagement, supports your efforts. He is concerned by the political ads and interviews of his opponent, taking political positions on specific issues that could come before the court. For this reason, Mr. Cook is careful not to take specific positions that would require his recusal in important matters such as abortion, critical race theory, and transgender. As an attorney, this careful speech should give you confidence that Mr. Cook will uphold the values that you hold dear, including maintaining the independence of and confidence in the judiciary.
Best regards,
Greg Cook for Supreme Court Campaign

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>To: info@cookforcourt.com <info@cookforcourt.com>
Sent: Tue, May 10, 2022 5:23 pm
Subject: Re: Please, in your campaign, offer instruction to ALvoters
Thank you, Greg.
I will absolve you from anything further on the civic obligation that I think the Alabama legal community has in the 2022 elections to offer instruction to Alabama voters regarding the constitution, the rule of law, and other legal issues that I think are relevant to Alabama voters' decisions in 2022.
I will use my absolution of you to heighten my importuning in other quarters of the Alabama legal community, including the Alabama State Bar and Alabama law professors.
While I won't look for any further response from you, I will probably keep you apprised of other engagements that I am able to achieve in the legal community, for whatever effect the content of those engagements may have on your judicial thinking.
Sincerely,
Rob

6/7/22 

8/9/22
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Crying for Alabama


From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: dmsmolin@samford.edu <dmsmolin@samford.edu>; tgrove@law.ua.edu <tgrove@law.ua.edu>; phorwitz@law.ua.edu <phorwitz@law.ua.edu>; mbrandon@law.ua.edu <mbrandon@law.ua.edu>; aolree@faulkner.edu <aolree@faulkner.edu>Sent: Thu, May 5, 2022 7:40 am
Subject: I am crying for Alabama
Dear Professors Smolin, Grove, Horwitz, Brandon, and Olree,
I am crying for Alabama.
https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/crying-for-alabama.html
https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2021/04/guns-again.html
Sincerely,
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Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Carla Wade; Sarah Snyder and others

[Ed. 5/18/22. I am using this blog entry for posting communications directed to individual news anchors and reporters.] 

5/18/22 

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: iteam@abc3340.com <iteam@abc3340.com>
Sent: Wed, May 18, 2022 6:23 pm
Subject: Story Sarah Snyder reported this morning about 53% of Americans being "burned out" on politics
[This email is for Sarah Snyder. I am sending this email to iteam@abc3340.com because there is no email address for Sarah on her webpage at https://abc3340.com/station/people/sarah-snyder-09-14-2015.]
Dear Sarah,
The reporting you did this morning about 53% of Americans being "burned out" on politics appears derived from this: CNN Poll: Most Americans are concerned about the US and ‘burned out’ on politics.
The first two paragraphs of the article say:
Americans across political lines are united in their generally negative feelings about the US and its politics, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, with Democrats particularly unlikely to express political enthusiasm.
Just 14% of Americans say they’re either excited (4%) or optimistic (10%) about the way things are going in the country, with 65% calling themselves concerned and another 21% saying they’re scared. Only about one-quarter, 23%, call themselves “fired up” about politics, with 53% describing themselves as burned out. And roughly one-third, 32%, say they feel their side is currently losing more than winning in politics, with just 9% feeling that they’re mostly on the winning side.
ABC3340 should consider this very dispiriting for our country and our State and should wonder whether there is anything ABC3340 can do to counter in Alabama the negative feelings about our country and its politics.
I have been advocating that ABC3340 and other Alabama TV stations have election roundtable discussions among their news anchors and reporters before May 24th. See https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/al-tv-station-election-roundtables.html.
One thing the roundtables could discuss is the widespread negative feelings about the U.S. and its politics, why the negative feelings exist, and what might be done by Alabama's leaders (and citizens) to counter the negative feelings.
I think the leading leader in Alabama who should be called on to speak to Alabama voters about this is retiring Senator Richard Shelby. I have been urging an "exit interview" with Senator Shelby. See https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/04/dear-richard-shelby.html.
With your having been the one this morning on ABC3340 who reported the dispiriting news of 53% of Americans being "burned out" on politics, I hope you will forward this email for consideration by appropriate persons at ABC3340.
Thank you very much.

5/19/22 Lillian Lalo,  Courtney Chandler and Lee Hedgepeth
From: Rob Shattuck <rdshatt@aol.com>
To: llalo@contractor.nexstar.tv <llalo@contractor.nexstar.tv>; cchandler@cbs42.com <cchandler@cbs42.com>
Sent: Thu, May 19, 2022 12:06 pm
Subject: New polling shows Alabama primary voters split on abortion, Roe v. Wade
Thank you for the reporting of Lee Hedgepeth and yourselves about the recent polling that shows "Alabama primary voters [are] split on Roe v. Wade: 47% think the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade while 41% think the Supreme Court should uphold it. Twelve percent (12%) are unsure." https://www.cbs42.com/news/new-polling-shows-alabama-primary-voters-split-on-abortion-roe-v-wade/.
It would be nice if you could interrogate the Republican candidates for U.S. Senator from Alabama and for Governor about how completely they seek or want for abortion to be outlawed in Alabama, including such things as making it criminal for Alabama companies to pay travel expenses for an Alabama woman to go out of state or for a friend to drive an Alabama woman out of state to get an abortion, making it unlawful for an Alabama woman to get and use abortion pills, and holding an Alabama woman criminally liable for getting an abortion. https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/lets-find-out-about-abortion-in-al.html.
If the candidates will not answer specific questions such as the foregoing, and even if they do, it would also be nice if CBS42 had an election roundtable discussion by its news anchors and reporters that informed viewers of questions such as the foregoing that CBS42 tried to get answered and the candidates' answers or non-answers to the questions. https://al6thcongdist-ihaveuntiljan13.blogspot.com/2022/05/al-tv-station-election-roundtables.html.
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