To: Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company, Ben Sherwood, Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks; President, Disney–ABC Television Group, Channing Dungey, President, ABC Entertainment Group, James Goldston, President, ABC News, Leslie ...
Don't Throw the California Primary on June 7th
Please avoid declaring winners of nominations until after the polls have closed in all states holding elections on that day. Please also instruct your subsidiaries, program producers, and directors to avoid declaring winners of nominations until after the polls have closed in all states on that day. Please make this policy effective from now on, through all future elections.
Why is this important?
There are rumors that the media will announce at 8 p.m. EDST (5 p.m. PDST) that Hillary Clinton has won sufficient delegates to clinch the nomination before the California primary is over. This call will be based on adding super-delegates to elected delegates.
This will occur when California voters are still voting in a year when the California outcome is critical. The effect will be to discourage California voters from voting at that critical time.
The results of the California primary could also affect who the super-delegates will support. This is in keeping with the media announcing Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election before polls closed in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones and the sudden declaration that George W. Bush had won the 2000 election.
There was also a case where public furor caused one of the three corporate networks to avoid running a scene in a show that was to assert that President Clinton's White House passed up an opportunity to assassinate Osama bin Laden, something that did not happen. Media tampering with politics, unfortunately, happens and it could happen on June 7.
The media, including PBS, have also over-covered Mr. Trump and ignored, disparaged, or said 'he can't win' about Senator Sanders, suggesting a strong media bias that is fundamentally incompatible with the proper and vital role of news sources in a democracy.
The public needs to monitor what the media say to assure that all information needed by the public to make informed decisions is available without lies, spin and explicit or covert electioneering and that opinions are clearly identified as such.
This will occur when California voters are still voting in a year when the California outcome is critical. The effect will be to discourage California voters from voting at that critical time.
The results of the California primary could also affect who the super-delegates will support. This is in keeping with the media announcing Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election before polls closed in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones and the sudden declaration that George W. Bush had won the 2000 election.
There was also a case where public furor caused one of the three corporate networks to avoid running a scene in a show that was to assert that President Clinton's White House passed up an opportunity to assassinate Osama bin Laden, something that did not happen. Media tampering with politics, unfortunately, happens and it could happen on June 7.
The media, including PBS, have also over-covered Mr. Trump and ignored, disparaged, or said 'he can't win' about Senator Sanders, suggesting a strong media bias that is fundamentally incompatible with the proper and vital role of news sources in a democracy.
The public needs to monitor what the media say to assure that all information needed by the public to make informed decisions is available without lies, spin and explicit or covert electioneering and that opinions are clearly identified as such.