We citizens have one small chit in our Democracy--the vote. But without a robust and truly free news media, our vote is worth nothing. Knowledge is power, and in an age of moneyed interests—interests that control the media itself—it is the only power, as exercised through our vote, we citizens have a hope of possessing. Advance The Dialog is a tool for the public. It asks the media to follow common sense Rules designed to elicit factual data, Calls Them Out when they do not, and holds them accountable in the performance of their duty as The Fourth Pillar of Democracy.

So Welcome to ATD. I hope you will join me by commenting on my blogs and adding Your Input by Calling Them Out when they break The Rules!

Featured Video! (bottom): FOX News Reports on Carbon Dividend Act (and no one else does!)

The third Democratic debate is coming up, so it’s a good time to weigh in on some of my long-standing campaign and political news coverage pet peeves, many of which have been driving me crazy for years.  (Apologies for not precisely citing the basis for each one–calling myself out, shame on me!)

“When you’re ‘explaining’, you’re losing.”
This refers to politicians who are correcting or clarifying a position or statement of theirs, usually after it has come under attack from an opponent, or the press.  

News Hour, July 8, 2019 – Politics Monday (video)

Amy Walter (News Hour) invoked it … read more »

{ 0 comments }

The media coverage of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s first debate clash, and the events preceding and following it, offers a lesson (still unlearned!) on the kind of error-compounding pileups that can jettison common sense, and hijack meaningful debate.

First Democratic Debate: Biden & Harris on bussing

The first problem came with the press’s over-focus on Joe Biden’s reference to Strom Thurmond in his statement that he (Biden) ~“worked with segregationists to get bills passed,” while missing his overall point, the need for compromise in legislating.  While Biden should have anticipated the reaction he would get to the racially charged … read more »

{ 0 comments }

Maybe Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist who gained attention with her “school strike for climate” outside Swedish parliament last year, will finally be the one to sound the alarm on the rocketing rate of climate change, and the dire need and diminishing window for action on it. The ‘big 3’ broadcast networks, ABC, CBS & NBC, certainly aren’t doing it.

www.spiked-online.com

Thunberg, fearless and becoming ever more prominent, unabashedly rebuked ~200 attendees at the COP24 Climate Conference in Poland last December for their subpar record on global warming. 

“You say you love your children above all else, and yet … read more »

{ 0 comments }

There is a saying in the tech industry: garbage in, garbage out. It refers to computers and the fact that, because they cannot differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ input, simply process everything and produce commensurate results. In its description of the phrase, Wikipedia adds: “The principle applies to other fields as well.”

Yes… like our political system, perhaps?

Historically, the media has long favored covering ‘the horse race’ over actual issues in elections. It has been particularly pronounced this year, making Focus On Issues, Not Politics the biggest Rule break of the political season, by far.

On top … read more »

{ 0 comments }

Though I was shocked to realize that neither education nor healthcare—two giant issues—were chosen as topics for any of the 3 debates, in the end, it’s still ‘the economy, stupid’. Through all the diversions, and outrageous, unseemly and sad degradation of this election, that is still the take away for me.

hillary__trump_1

Whatever you think of the candidates, too many people really are suffering as the American Dream drifts further and further away, and that’s not going to change until we deal with our chronic reality of stagnant wages and low growth. That is why, though the official topics are Debt … read more »

{ 0 comments }