How can we Improve the Media? Ideas for What To Do

"What I have gathered from people by talking with them is that they are. . . fed up with the media . . . one person said, 'It's supposed to be news about our nation, so it should not sound like it's coming from the National Enquirer. . . we must look to the people and what interests (them) as individuals. The most common subject is other peoples dirty laundry.' This is a response from one of the people I interviewed about his opinion of the media." WI

"Another responsibility of the media's, which is sadly not observed, lies in making sure the transition from uncovering dirt to creating dirt is not made." SD

". . . the media needs to only take statements directly from each candidate's platform documents. This allows the public to know exactly what each candidate says. It also forces the candidates to actually write their opinions out instead of talking their way around the issues." IL

"The media should be concerned more about relaying the facts of not only who is running for office but what plans that person has for the future of the U. S." OK

"With less focus on scandal and more focus on the determining issues, the nation can best decide who to choose to lead its country." OR

"The people want the reporter to cut beating around the bush and get into the issues that really count, such as issues on the economy, defense spending, foreign policies, and health care." NY

"The good news is that the public grasps the distinction between real news and mere campaign issues. It was this clear sense of what is important, more than all of the media's analysis of Bush's charges, that kept all of the media hype from seriously harming Clinton." MA

"The final decision . . . to communicate garbage or information, rests in the hands of the heads of every major news service." PA

"The media must start putting the rights of the candidates to be left alone above the right of the public to know." SD

"I personally feel that if the candidate has a problem that will affect his ability to run (for) office then the press should let it be known, but if it has no relation to the presidency, then give him a little privacy." CA

"In the 1886 novel The Bostonians by Henry James, the author created the character Matthaid Pardon, a nosy and insensitive newsman who thought that everything was the public's business. The character caused quite a controversy, and led to the 1890 Harvard Law Review article concerning the right of privacy of an individual by future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and the Boston social and business figure, Samuel Warren". MD

"Many of the politicians that were ruined because of the media's probing, might have been really good presidents, senators, and such. The only things that really might affect someone's campaign is having a drinking problem or tax problem. The media should stay out of any other issues or else we are going to lose some very capable individuals." MN

Candidates' personal lives should be kept out of the public eye. . . Candidates should be chosen for what they do or will do while in office. They should be known for their strong points, not their faults. Nobody is perfect. Even the best presidents in the history of the United States made their mistakes. We just didn't hear much about them because the media wasn't as influential as it is today." PA

"They should start leaving out the candidate's personal life unless it is something that will affect his job in office." OH

"I feel that the most pressing issue involving political campaigns is the media's constant allusion to the candidates' personal lives. All of their trials and tribulations, misfortunes and mistakes are promulgated throughout the nation." PA

"First, exactly what degree of proof is required to consider a story (true)? Second, even if the story is true, should it . . ., out of respect for the candidate's privacy, (be) kept behind closed doors? And ` third, are the candidates' private lives really relevant to their ability to function in office?" MI

"The media should not dig into the past records of the candidates." IL

"Not only are personal lives non-relevant to the job an official can and will do, the sources that are used to obtain these personal stories are often unreliable and, in the cases above, often deceitful and misleading." OR

"The candidate's private lives should stay just that, private." SD

"The real question is whether the private lives of public figures matter." OH

"The press has not always stooped to sensationalizing the private lives of candidates; in fact, that area of candidates' lives has been pursued more in the past 20 years than ever before." OK

"Sometimes I feel I receive more truth and facts in the Enquirer than in the daily newspaper. At least in the Enquirer it's fun not having all the facts and truth but in a newspaper it's expected to have the whole story. Until the press cleans up its act and gets its head out of the trash it should only play a minimal part in national elections." PA

"The media should not pry into the private lives of political candidates. The public is more concerned about the issues at hand and how the candidate responds to them. The media should just tell the facts and not rumors that cannot even be proved. The media has several roles to fill and prying into private lives is not one of them." OR

"The private lives of some are exploited, while others' private lives are hidden and explained away. Although regulation of this is difficult, it needs to be addressed. Much of the information dug up by journalists has absolutely no relevance to the office for which the candidates are contending. Some things are better left alone." SD

"The private lives that the public wants to hear about are their own. They want to know if they will have a job next year and whether or not they can get an abortion, not if George Bush had an affair with his secretary 20 years ago." OR

"Their (candidates') personal lives should be exactly that, personal, not juicy table conversation for every family nationwide. I believe in freedom of the press, but I also believe in the candidate's right to privacy." OH

"I think the media should bring out the helpful truth not the damaging trash." PA

". . . unbalanced and biased reporting may indeed be the exception to a respectable rule, but the media will have to work to eliminate such reports if they wish to regain the public's trust and respect." OK

"In my opinion, sexual allegations should meet the same standard of proof as allegations on any other subject. Most sexual allegations are very difficult to prove. And this is, I think, the reason not to print them." SD

"The press has not always stooped to sensationalizing the private lives of candidates; in fact, that area of candidates' lives has been pursued more in the past 20 years than ever before." OK

"Andrew Jackson lost a large number of votes because of rumors that his wife was married to two men. But even though this scandal was a major problem for him, obviously many people were concerned with his ability to be a good president, not with his private life. Only recently has a politician's private life become a main issue." PA

"I believe that the media should take part in presenting to the public how each candidate is doing in the election, what they intend to do for our country and how they are going to perform these tasks." MN

". . . the woman writer who did the New York Time The Faces Behind The Face That Clinton's Smile Masks; you know she was either pro-Bush or pro-Perot from the way she talked and ripped apart Governor Bill Clinton. That shouldn't be allowed or permitted to happen." NY

"Giving an unbiased report of a candidate should be the goal of every member of the media. Those who have different goals are either in the business for sensationalism or money. . .When people want an advertisement they can get one from the campaign headquarters of a candidate, but they should not be getting an advertisement from their newspaper--especially when they are expecting unbiased truth. What the media can do (and still be unbiased) is show two advertisements for opposing candidates and then point out the fallacies in each." OK

"Politics can influence the media even as the media manipulates the political scene." PA

"The media shouldn't worry about things in the private life or stuff that happened in the past. It should just report on the present, and how it will effect us." MN

"Some action needs to be taken to return media to its singular role as an informational tool." OK