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This week on NOW:
- If voters are relying on local television news to help them make
decisions in this important election year, recent studies show that they
may be left in the dark. By some estimates, more than half of local
news broadcasts may not cover politics at all in the weeks before the
election, and important local races and issues are often completely
ignored. In a nation where the public owns the airwaves, are local
stations driving corporate profits at the expense of the communities
they are supposed to serve? David Brancaccio takes a hard look at how
local broadcasters are covering politics. With stations expecting
record earnings from political ads, the program examines the winners and
losers in the battle for localism and profiles one station that is
getting it right.
- Everybody's talking about the 9/11 Commission report and what it means
for this country's security in the future. But for all the talk of a
bi-partisan effort on getting to the bottom of what went wrong on 9/11,
partisan and political struggles were rife throughout the process. Bill
Moyers gets the insight of author and political analyst Kevin Phillips
on the success or failure of the commission, and the other news of the
week, including what Kerry might say at the Democratic Convention and
the realities of the so-called economic recovery. Kevin Phillips was
the chief political strategist for Richard Nixon's victory in 1968 and
wrote the bombshell book EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY. Ten years ago his
best-selling book on the politics of rich and poor influenced the 1992
elections and his recent WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY: A POLITICAL HISTORY OF
THE AMERICAN RICH looks at how big money and political power are the
invisible hand in the hidden story of the American experience.
- This Monday when the lights go on in Boston at the Democratic
convention, speakers will be center stage and working hard to deliver
messages that connect with voters. Analysts say that for two decades
conservatives have done a much better job than progressives to frame and
talk about their values and some say the convention could be a make or
break moment in the election. Do words really have the power to win not
just hearts and minds, but votes? David Brancaccio gets a few words on
the subject from world-renowned linguist George Lakoff. Dr. Lakoff is
a founder of the Rockridge Institute, a new political think tank set up
to reframe the terms of political debate to make a progressive vision
more persuasive and influential. Lakoff is a professor at UC Berkeley
and is the author of 8 books, including the influential MORAL POLITICS:
HOW LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES THINK and most recently DON'T THINK OF AN
ELEPHANT! WHAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT VALUES AND THE FRAMING
WARS, which is due out next month.
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