Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, former advisers to Bill Clinton and Al Gore, do get around. And they don't mind sleeping with a strange bedfellow now and then. We blogged here the other day about calorically-challenged filmmaker Michael Moore's hiring the two to establish a "war room" to fight off anticipated fact challenges regarding his new Bush-bashing movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." Now they -- and their old partner in crime Hillary! -- are jumping in bed with Clinton nemesis Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation in a well-orchestrated attack on Nielsen Media Research: "The fight over whether Nielsen's new ratings system will severely undercount black and Hispanic viewers has brought the rapid-fire tactics of political campaigning to what began as a business spat," reports The New York Times:
The News Corporation, some of whose media properties are known for conservative views, and its allies -- including people who advised or worked for President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton -- have built a sophisticated political campaign to mobilize public opinion against Nielsen's plan [to modernize the way it measures local television viewership].
In tight coordination with its Democratic advisers, Mr. Murdoch's company has spent nearly $2 million organizing news conferences and demonstrations, employing phone banks and buying advertisements in major newspapers and television stations around the nation, according to people who are closely involved in the campaign.
They also helped bring together an assortment of black and Hispanic civic leaders and groups who had long protested Nielsen's plans but who had not been all that organized. These black and Hispanic leaders, in turn, displayed the discipline of politicians in adopting a single message, one that is summed up by the name of the umbrella group they formed under the direction of the News Corporation and its political allies: "Don't Count Us Out."
Murdoch and its political advisers "wasted little time in making their case to the public," continues the Times. If the theme they chose sounds familiar, think Florida 2000. The Democrats still aren't over it, and Murdoch appears to have no qualms about aligning his own interests with this hoary VLWC charge:
They placed full-page newspaper advertisements around the country, aiming quick and simple messages at the public in general and at black and Hispanic communities in particular, where the issue of voter disenfranchisement has great political resonance.
"If Nielsen is the ballot box for viewers, then shouldn't every vote count?" asked one advertisement.
Some Democratic activists who joined the campaign against Nielsen acknowledged that they were uneasy about Mr. Murdoch's involvement, "But more troubling to us is the Nielsen ratings system because everything starts there," [rationalized] the president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
Oh, and speaking of rationalization, "filmmaker Moore said Friday he wasn't sure he did the right thing by saving footage of U.S. American soldiers' cruelty toward Iraqis for his controversial documentary, 'Fahrenheit 9/11,'' instead of releasing the evidence earlier when it might have helped halt such abuse," reports SFGate:
"I had it months before the story broke on '60 Minutes,' and I really struggled with what to do with it,'' Moore said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. "I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I'd be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie. That prevented me from making maybe the right decision.''
[via Drudge Report]
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