Sound Bites, Not Substance, Define Political Campaigns

October luncheon speakers: Bob Crawford (at podium), Cliff Kelley (from left), Thom Serafin, Jack Conaty and Don Rose. Photo by Ted Lacey.

MODERATOR

Bob Crawford
Retired WBBM Radio Political Reporter

PANELISTS

Thom Serafin
CEO, Serafin & Associates

Cliff Kelley
Political Reporter, WVON

Don Rose
President, Don Rose Communications

Jack Conaty
Political Reporter, WFLD - TV (FOX)

PRORAM SUMMARY

By David Brimm

Magianno’s became the site of “Election ’04” when a panel of political journalists and pundits gathered for PCC’s October program (a mock election also was held –details to follow). During a lively and informative discussion moderated by Bob Crawford, displaying the political acumen garnered during 40 years of political reporting – 33 of them with WBBM-AM and CBS Radio—PR pros gained new insights into the politics and the coverage of a presidential campaign.

Don Rose

Leading off the discussion was Don Rose, a savvy political consultant who has helped many candidates gain political office, including Jane Byrne, Carol Moseley Braun and Harold Washington. Rose admitted to being a “poll cat” who follows the polls with great intensity. “Polls have played a mighty, mighty role” in election results. Despite their importance, Rose maintains that the media have done a poor job of analyzing poll results, and they have become almost meaningless for the average voter. He warned that the organization conducting the polling is as important as the poll numbers, since many polling organizations have an agenda that might skew the numbers.

Jack Conaty

WFLD-TV’s political reporter, Jack Conaty, has followed Chicago and National politics for FOX Chicago since 1987, and has won an Emmy Award for his reporting. Conaty acknowledged that TV must make “tough coverage choices,” pointing out that he must “distill political news coverage into eight-second sound bites.” The result is that political advisers must hone complicated messages down to “sloganeering or snappy one-liners.” The exception is when he covers candidates still on the campaign trail, where he can gain greater access and he “can see candidates first hand both on and of camera. This is when you see the real candidates.”

Thom Serafin

Thom Serafin, president of Serafin & Associates, is a 25-year political advisor and communications professional, who is a frequent media commentator on the strategies employed by political organizations. Serafin noted that like many advances in communication spurred by the Internet, it has “revolutionized political discourse,” causing voters to “gravitate to sites that reinforce their own political beliefs.” Howard Dean really was the first politician to harness the inherent power of the Internet for fund-raising, be suggests. At the same time, he is concerned about the obvious bias among TV news operations such as Fox, whose right wing conservative orientation is well known, and is reflected in their news coverage. This filters down to the local affiliate level where the bias is still reflected.

Cliff Kelley

Cliff Kelley, who took the unusual career step from Alderman to talk show host for WVON, is never shy about his opinions. “There is a dumbing down of the electorate. Most Americans don’t know and don’t care about bigger issues, such as international news.” One of the causes can be traced to media coverage and their sound bite news orientation. Since Kelley has a four-hour call-in show, he can discuss issues in depth. But he warns that voters should not trust one news source, and should get opinions from a variety of sources.

Discussion

Bob Crawford asked the panel to legitimize the opinion held by many Americans t hat the nation is more divided than ever before. He challenged the belief that the “us versus them” mentality is pervasive and that we really don’t have a large electorate of undecided voters.

Rose opined that there really is a larger center of undecided voters “much wider than we think and with greater overlap.” He suggested that when poll numbers swing 14 percent in one day, it reflects that people are “moveable” and haven’t made up their minds.

Conaty added that as a result of the war in Iraq, domestic issues, which should be at the center of the debates, are being largely ignored. The media compounds the issue because it is hard to cover economic issues in small sound bites.

Kelley concurred, and suggested that the war and the economy are related since the cost of the war will impact the economic stability of the country, and could influence the employment outlook.

Returning to the topic of the Internet, Serafin reiterated that the Internet “is a valuable outlet for people, and much more important than other media. Newspapers cover poll numbers because it gives them something to write about.” What is being lost in this election, according to Serafin, is the ability for voters to interact with the candidates. Since candidates are spending all their time and resources on swing states, even an important state such as Illinois, is being ignored because there is a belief that one candidate has the state locked,” so spending time here won’t bring greater rewards. The upshot is that the issues being discussed keep changing, depending on where the candidate is speaking. “The candidates aren’t campaigning for the country, just for the states that they consider important.”

Speaking about the debates, Crawford believes that the current debates are a departure form previous debates. “Debates historically define already held perceptions about a candidate, but the debates today are now a place where voters are looking for answers.”

Kelley moved on to a discussion about the value of the electoral college system, brought into the spotlight after the controversy of the 2000 election. “It’s time to end the electoral college system. It doesn’t work.” However, he remarked that the electoral college system could really be exploited if African Americans turned out in big numbers in the contested swing states.

Rose disagreed, and felt that there are too many interest groups influencing the electoral college for the electoral college system to be eliminated. “Smaller states will vote against it because it diminishes their political clout.” However, this is not to say that the electoral college doesn’t need to be reformed, according to Rose.

Serafin commented on the way candidate appearances are “staged” for the media. “The staging of candidates gives voters an emotional impact, but it also allows the media to pay more attention to personalities than issues. News is being dumbed down. At the same time, access to the media is dependent on money to build a campaign , so younger candidates, without resources, are left out.”

Crawford ended the meeting by dispelling the belief that reporters are liberally biased. “I have been in this business for a long time and I can tell you that 90% of the reporters I meet are independent. Nobody has the corner on the best ideas, so reporters are always open to new ones.”

PCC MEETING ATTENDEES ELECT KERRY PRESIDENT

While Crawford maintains that reporters aren’t liberal, it appears that public relations professionals have a liberal bent. Attendees to the October meeting were given paper ballots to vote for their preferred presidential candidate. The results of the poll?

John Kerry	82%
George Bush	10%
Ralph Nader	less than 1%

We have not heard from any Florida public relations organizations.

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(Index to articles about monthly luncheons)