Whitney Faces Media Bias

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 23, 2006

WHITNEY FACES WIDESPREAD MEDIA BIAS, REQUESTS FAIR COVERAGE

CONTACT:
Dave Sacks, Office Manager
Whitney for Governor, 773-557-9411
office@whitneyforgov.org

Rich Whitney, the Green Party's candidate for Illinois Governor, claims that he is facing widespread media bias and is requesting fair coverage.

"While this campaign has been gratified by the favorable response by many front line reporters, the fact is that when it comes to the top of the institution, we're seeing a different story--one of institutional bias. It reflects the fact that these institutions have a economic and political sink in the same two-party system that most Illinois voters, as well as the green party, see as part of the problem--not part of the solution," said Whitney.

Some examples of media bias that the Whitney campaign is reporting include the following:

- Omissions from stories covering both of Whitney's opponents.
- Language suggesting there are only two candidates (i.e. "opponent" vs. "opponents".)
- Exclusion from debates, interviews, and other broadcast programming.

Citing two specific examples, Whitney pointed to recent endorsements of gubernatorial candidates by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Even though the Tribune hosted Blagojevich and Topinka, neither editorial board invited Whitney to be interviewed before issuing their endorsements.

"Both the Tribune and the Sun-Times are doing the voters a tremendous disservice by failing to provide them with all information needed to make an informed decision on election day. I believe that this is a reflection of the fact that both papers are themselves sizable media corporations, indebted to other corporate interests, that are literally invested in the Blagojevich and Topinka campaigns," said Whitney.

Whitney has also been arbitrarily excluded from broadcast programming, such as the debate sponsored by the Illinois Radio Network and CBS2 Chicago's "Straight 2 The Issues" segment, airing between now and Election Day. When asked for equal opportunity, the Illinois Radio Network indicated that Whitney would not be invited without permission from the Democratic and Republican candidates; and even though the most recent Zogby poll shows Whitney's support in the double digits and growing, CBS2 Chicago indicated that Whitney was "not polling high enough" to be included in their segment. When asked how high Whitney would need to poll in order to be included, CBS2 Chicago was unable to provide any type of pre-established, objective criteria for inclusion.

"CBS2 Chicago claims that the decision to exclude Rich Whitney was based on their good-faith news judgment; but unless their judgment is incredibly bad, I don't see how that is possible, considering that the most recent Glengariff Group poll showed that 70% of Illinois voters want Rich Whitney included," said Tim Tacker, Communications Director for the Whitney campaign.

"Media corporations are unique in that, not only are they themselves corporate entities, but most of their revenue comes from advertising from other corporate entities; so they have a very big material stake in maintaining the corporate status quo. The Green Party, and this campaign, represent a challenge to that status quo, which is why were are seeing this type of institutional bias against us and why these same media conglomerates are not serving the public interest," said Whitney.

MORE INFORMATION:
www.whitneyforgov.org