WGRZ-TV/WECK/WNYMEDIA.NET

[GeorgeKramer]

Curious what people who read this board think about all of this as it relates to the 26th Congressional District race in Buffalo/Rochester.

This Ian Murphy guy sounds like a lunatic, but did Channel 2 do the right thing in un-inviting him to their debate and how will WECK "cover" this on their talk shows since they have a relationship with Channel 2 and WNYMedia.net?

I have mixed opinions, but to be on the safe side I think it was wise to not invite him to a debate that will be broadcast online and I think eventually shown on Channel 2.

I think Brad Riter has to walk a fine line here because of the relationships with the other two media entities and how it goes with credibility factors for covering and discussing political races.

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Channel 2 WGRZ-TV un-vites me from debate because I write satire

I got another letter today from local NBC affiliate WGRZ–this time it was unopened, in the mailbox. It reads:

As you are aware, WGRZ-TV and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle invited the candidates for the 26th congressional district to a debate at the WGRZ-TV studios on May 12th. In fact, after a certified letter to your business, the Buffalo Beast, was returned to our station, we sent Scott Levin to your home to personally make sure you were given every opportunity to respond and participate.
Yes, I recall that letter. Dated April 15th, received April 28th, requiring RSVP by April 30th, which fell on a Saturday. So I was given every opportunity to respond in one day. I did that. The letter continues:

Since the letters were mailed to all four candidates, two major situations have developed. First, a Siena poll shows you garnering only 1% of the vote, while the other three candidates have substantially higher and much closer poll numbers. The Siena poll would indicate you are not considered a serious candidate by the residents of the district.

Fair enough, I’m shit in the polls. No surprise there. Radical atheist, leftist, socialist not polling well in blood-red NY-26. However, this doesn’t speak to my seriousness as a candidate. It only speaks to my relatively unpopular positions. I advocate Medicare for all; I advocate taxing the rich; I advocate ending these pointless wars in which we’re engaged. These are unpopular ideas in my district. That, however, does not mean they are not serious positions. What else then?

That indication was supported this past weekend with your latest post on your latest Buffalo Beast blog, dated April 29th. In that blog, you wrote about Scott delivering you the invitation, and refer to Scott as a “tall, orange robot.” You wrote that you were “stoned,” and “a little drunk.” You referred to Scott Levin’s face as “covered with wierd [sic] orange puddy?” You made crude references to the condition of your home. You also greatly distorted the conversation you had with Scott to the point of turning it into a vulgar satire.

Whoa! Hold on now! A satire writer writing satire?! How ****ing dare I?

You make it clear in the way you present yourself that you are not a serious candidate in this race. WGRZ-TV, the other candidates, and the residents of the 26th congressional district ARE taking this race seriously. As such, we no longer offer you an invitation to the May 12th debate.

Best regards,
Jeff Woodard
News Director
WGRZ-TV

Shit. I barely know how to respond to this. It was pretty clear from the timing of the original, opened, letter that I was somewhat less than welcome. It’s also pretty clear that if calling their orange news robot orange was enough to get me booted, they would have used any excuse to exclude me.

And that 1%? Well, WGRZ-TV, it’s not your ****ing job to interpret poll numbers. It’s not your ****ing job to censor one of the candidates. It’s not your ****ing job to tell people who is and who is not a “serious” candidate. It’s just not your ****ing job. In case you forgot, your ****ing job is to present all the information available to your viewers, on any given subject, and let them decide. That is your ****ing job. And, you know what? Maybe I’d have a little more than 1% if the local media did its ****ing job to begin with.

Like me or not, what WGRZ-TV has done here is an insult to our democracy. Local news stations, no matter how awful, have no business excluding someone who is officially on the ballot from taking part in a debate. Since, for the most part, the local media has not done its ****ing job, this debate was one of the few opportunities for me to speak directly to the residents of NY-26. But WGRZ-TV doesn’t think much of folks around here, apparently. Not enough to let them decide for themselves, anyway.

At any rate, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Scott Levin. Scott, you are very orange. This is not in dispute. But calling you a robot was wrong. You’re at least partially human. Cyborgs have it rough in our society, and I didn’t mean to pigeonhole you in with fleshless robots. Robots are never that orange. I should have known.

I have a local CBS affiliate interview to do. Later.


http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5916

 

[Paul_Warren]

This candidate would probably have taken himself out of contention with his own mouth if allowed to participate. Unclear why debate organizers felt the need to do it ahead of time. Sounds like it could have been a more interesting debate.

His foul mouth might be a risk for the station, especially if federal candidacy prevented bleeping his comments.

But I'm with him 100% on the idea that in the early going, management of broadcast media using the public airwaves has no business deciding who's viable. Perhaps only those who've raised money to buy a schedule of campaign ads are "viable?" I doubt I share much philisophical ground with the guy, but this stinks.

What's that old saying about "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?" Anyone who dares to fix the mess that is federal and NY state government is probably going to be called a "lunatic." If nobody off-center gets to be heard, that's pretty sad.

 

[jas2525]

While I can appreciate how provocative Murphy is, I too wouldn't invite him to the debate, if for no other reason than all he's going to do is disrupt things....and has no real chance of winning anything anyway. Let's be realistic about this.

The "rent is to damn high" guy was comic relief in the gubernatorial debate, nothing more. If I was ch. 2, NO WAY would I allow that nonsense to go on, unless you just want a circus-like atmosphere.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

I find it so funny to hear this guy say it's not Channel 2's job to interpret poll numbers. I guess this guy, who is editor of his own political blog, doesn't understand what the media do and in particular, what an editor's job is. Otherwise, he wouldn't say that. The media, and their editors, make editorial decisions -- in this case, whether or not to invite fringe candidates to a debate. It's done thousands of times a day at newspapers, TV and radio stations and web sites every day. There's no law that says every candidate who has a spot on the ballot has the right to participate in a debate. Look what happened during the gubernatorial debate. All these fringe candidates took time away from a serious discussion between the major candidates for that office. Andrew Cuomo said nothing that night. And because we had to get through seven other candidates, he didn't have all that much time to be questioned. He was probably laughing all the way to his landslide election. The only memory most of us have from that debate is that "the rent is too damn high." Yeah, each of the eight minor party candidates had their chance to present their case to the voter. And in the end, they still received just one or two percent of the vote.

The reality is we have a two-party system in this country. And until that changes, third party candidates have little shot at winning any election, regardless of whether they're invited to debates. And in the rare cases when third party candidates are competitive -- Jack Davis in this instance -- they're invited. Which brings me to Ian Murphy. Just look at his diabtribe against Scott Levin at Buffalo Beast. That's not political satire. Jon Stewart does political satire. This guy is still stuck on high school, unless throwing the F-bomb in every other sentence or boasting how drunk you are is now considered clever satire. Look, I probably agree with Ian Murphy's stance on the issues more than I disagree. But based on what I read, he is not fit for public office.

So, to bring this back to George Kramer's original premise, there is no "fine line" for Brad Riter and other WECK hosts. WNY Media is not affiliated with Buffalo Beast. Though some of their writers are sympathetic to Murphy, I don't think that means Brad has to hold back on any opinion he may have on this issue. I doubt Channel 2 would even care if Brad happened to disagree with their decision.

 

[Element9]

Hmmm... guess Channel 2 isn't on Ian Murphy's side. Could be the WGRZ suits feel that Mr. Murphy would be a distraction or contribute to the debate in a way that could jeopardize the station's license. Maybe they think Murphy is this election's version of Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is 2 Damn High party. Then again, they may feel Murphy is just inconsequential. The outcome of this election will affect the WNY and NYS Congressional coalition. It may also make the political landscape a little more interesting when new congressional districts are drawn. One thing's certain, a May congressional race is helping the bottom line of the Buffalo and Rochester TV and radio stations. They should send flowers and a hefty gift certificate to Chris Lee. Cha-ching.

 

[leelee]

Seeing how awful the debate turned out to be, both from the weak candidates and amateurish, softball questions, WGRZ should have invited all the freaks.

The insanity over this meager House seat in a heavily red district that the GOP would have to purposely screw up, is like nothing I've ever seen before.

 

[John C]

Seeing how awful the debate turned out to be, both from the weak candidates and amateurish, softball questions, WGRZ should have invited all the freaks.

The insanity over this meager House seat in a heavily red district that the GOP would have to purposely screw up, is like nothing I've ever seen before.

After the whole You Tube/Jack Davis "ambush" staged by the Corwin people it almost looks like the GOP IS trying to give the seat away.