New Broom Coalition

1) The Unconventional Convention: Going Green in the Windy City by Bryan Miller

Bryan Miller even brings up the obligatory Nader/Gore 2000 election reference seemingly required whenever a story is written about the Green Party and actually dispels the myth that Nader was the spoiler. It's nice to read a story where the writer is well researched and is actually dispensing truth, not a pack of lies.

http://users.midwestmail.com/nightlife/cdalerocks/nightlife/00NightlifeI...

2) Letter to the editor from Patrick Kelly, ILGP Media Coordinator

Patrick Kelly blasts the Tribune writer for blatantly showing his political bias and just re-hashing old clichés rather then just reporting what actually happened at the convention.

Chicago Tribune:

This past weekend's Chicago Tribune articles on the Green Party
National Convention in Chicago may indeed go down as some of the
laziest, least informative articles on any political convention this
year.

Instead of portraying the event as it was, reporter Rick Pearson
rehashed old cliches, both about Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney
and the Green Party itself in his July 11 article, "Seeing Green at
the party's convention in Chicago." After counting off the ways
McKinney has been "controversial," Pearson dredged up some so-called
expert on third parties who made the point that the Greens exist only
to make a some kind of narrow point that will be eventually co-opted
by the major parties. I've got news for you both. The Green Party, in
fact, does not exist to change other parties. We're here to win
political office and set this country back on track.

The Sunday, July 13, article "McKinney to represent Greens on ballot"
reporting on McKinney's nomination told us little about her background
or platform -- not even that she had served in Congress for 12 years,
that she's an African American woman, that she's different from
Obama-McCain on so many issues, like that she's against the death
penalty, against expanding nuclear energy and would end the Iraq
occupation immediately. The article missed the historical significance
of vice presidential nomination of Rosa Clemente, the first ever
Puerto Rican on a national ticket. Having two women of racial and
ethic minorities on a national presidential ticket -- is that not even
worth mentioning?

Years ago, when I first got into journalism in high school, we were
taught on day one this basic principle: "If your mother says she loves
you, check it out." For many in today's media, that spirit of dogged
pursuit of getting beyond widely held notions in search of the truth
has given way to the mere confirmation of what is already widely
believed. Clearly Pearson believes the Green Party doesn't matter, so
there is nothing that could have happened at the convention that would
be worth reporting, right? Hence the non-news articles.

The Chicago Tribune ought to be embarrassed. This was not only a
national story, it was a local story, and the Tribune dropped the
ball. For those who want the real story, the highlights and lowlights,
the inside information, the behind the scenes acount -- check out the
many other news outlets that did a good job of covering the Green
Party convention. Here in Chicago, our own NPR affiliate, WBEZ/Chicago
Public Radio, picked up the Tribune's slack and then some, and it's
all available on their Web site archives. Even a weekly nightlife zine
called CarbondaleRocks.com produced a much more compelling and
accurate account of the event.

A final thought. It's little wonder that newspapers everywhere are
seeing their circulation plummet. And it's not that people don't like
diving into their morning newspaper at their breakfast table or on the
train. But readers are becoming more and more aware that the major
newspapers are only serving up half the story, and that the only way
to get the full story is to seek it out in an increasingly accessible
independent media. I don't want to see the major newspapers fail, but
it's their own bloated self-importance -- the idea that they decide
what shall be considered important -- that makes failure inevitable.

Patrick Kelly
Media Coordinator
Illinois Green Party

--
Steve Alesch, Green Party Nominee for Congress (IL-13)
http://www.votesteve.org