On October 31, the National Journal posted the following item, #6,
on its daily briefing (NJ Hotline):
FLORIDA FALLOUT: Just A Mere One Year Late
http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/hotline/h011031.ht m#6>
Final data from the media consortium's recount of the state of FL presidential results will be delivered to members of the consortium on 11/5. And according to various sources, the data will be made public on 11/11 or 11/12.
After the attack on September 11, the seven corporate members of the media Consortium announced that they would be unable to report the results of the Florida presidential ballot study because the war on terrorism would monopolize the time and attention of their political reporters. Richard Berke of The New York Times and Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post each wrote that their Consortium member employers did not feel any urgency to publish the results because the terrorist attacks had made the Florida election dispute "unimportant". On October 17, MakeThemAccountable interviewed Craig Coelen of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), which conducted the ballot coding and data accumulation for the Consortium. At that time, just two weeks ago, Coelen said that the Consortium might get back to the project, "around the first of the year".
Now, there is an announcement that the Consortium has decided to release the results by November 12.
The war on terrorism is still in progress. In fact, the Attorney General has predicted an acceleration in domestic terrorist violence during the next two weeks, the very time during which the Consortium members now say they will be busy working on the ballot study. There is no evidence that The New York Times or the Washington Post have been hiring additional personnel to focus on the Florida results. The calendar does not indicate that this is "around the first of the year".
Yet, following one delay after another that has been occurring since spring, and despite the fact that none of the "problems" previously offered as justification for keeping the truth from the American people have been resolved in any way, the results are now suddenly scheduled to be released by mid-November.
Or are they? When MakeThemAccountable contacted the NORC today, they refused to confirm or deny that the results will be released in November.
MakeThemAccountable deeply thanks all of the patriots who have contacted The Times, the Post, and the other members of the Consortium to demand that the results be released, and to let these media corporations know that this issue is not going to be forgotten. Unrelenting public pressure is the one effective antidote to the contemptible selfishness of those who place their own lust for money above the integrity of our democracy.
However, based on the Miami Herald experience, even if the NORC results are going to be released, the tough task still lies ahead. The Herald conducted a recount that showed a victory for Al Gore, then masterfully used misleading headlines to award the race to Bush. We have never written that the Consortium would not release the results; we have written that they did not intend to release the original, accurate results. If the Consortium actually does belatedly reveal the results of the ballot study, then the outcome will be presented only after the media conglomerates have had months to prepare their latest spin on why the winner is really the loser, and vice versa.
Having interviewed ballot study observers throughout Florida, in Democratic and Republican counties, we know that any report claiming something other than a decisive victory for Gore will be the latest mainstream media deception in their venal serial assault on democracy.
We will rejoice if the members of the Consortium use this opportunity to disprove our allegation that they value corporate tax cuts and deregulation windfall profits more than they value honesty and democracy. Their only ethical course of action is to unequivocally report that Al Gore was the clear winner in the Florida election.
Given the financial interests of these conglomerates, an accurate account will not happen without citizen involvement. Here is the contact information for the seven members of the Consortium - let them know that you are tired of getting jerked around with endless delays, ridiculous excuses, and unconfirmed promises. Tell them that you are strong enough to deal with the unvarnished truth about what happened in Florida, and that you are patriotic enough to demand it.
