Media

Stormland TV Censors congressional candidates at debate because of $$$

Wow. I guess KELO-TV just went and flat out said it;

5) In addition to the requirements of Sections 1-4 inclusive, a candidate for a state or federal office must have reported, on official forms filed with the appropriate election authority, accepting at least $50,000 in monetary, as opposed to in-kind, campaign contributions, at least 25 percent of which must be raised from in-state constituents.  For local offices, a candidate must have reported, on official forms filed with the appropriate election authority, having accepted at least $15,000 in campaign contributions.

This is the reason why 3rd party candidates NEVER stand a chance, because the media essentially shuts them out because they don’t spend ad dollars with them. Call that a conspiracy theory all you want, but there is a little truth in it, a least a few years ago. A TV media salesperson told me a few years ago, “It’s NO secret we charge the political candidates more during the last throws of the campaign than we do our regular clients, because we give them the best rotation.”

As a person who works in direct mail and has worked on MANY winning local races the place I work for charges the normal rate. The only thing we require out of the candidates is that we treat them with normal turnaround times like our other clients and that they pay COD.

What is frustrating is that candidates like George Hendrickson has a lot to say. I had a very engaging conversation with George at the PRIDE festival. He is extremely sharp and is just as much qualified as the major party candidates. He would have been great in the debate as well as Mr. Wieczorek and he probably would have not worn faded tan socks at the debate like Bjorkman did 🙁

No surprise coming from Stormland TV’s GM, Jay Huizenga, who was personal friends with our former mayor, and would invite him to the station’s Christmas party and would go with him to Packer’s games in private box seats. I guess George and Ron need to give up some NFL tickets to be able to participate in the debates.

We will NEVER see a change in DC as long as we have a complicit local media that censors certain candidates.

What does eliminating the daily opinion page in the Argus ‘really mean’?

I found this tidbit today in the Argus a little interesting;

For decades, though, curation of reader-created content has been at the center of the Argus Leader’s opinion offering. While today’s social media age allows for immediate sharing of one’s view, few individuals can muster the community reach that a letter to the editor published by the Argus Leader offers.

While there’ certainly value in continuing that platform, we’re making a few adjustments. Starting next week, we’ll increase the opinion presence in the Sunday paper while discontinuing the daily opinion page. As mentioned above, the Sunday Argus Leader has our highest print readership and is a natural place to highlight community views on issues of the day.

That said, without the daily opinion page, we will be more discerning on which pieces run. Letter writers will not have the guarantee of publication. We cannot uphold that promise. We’ll publish the pieces we elect to feature based on their local relevance and the strength of the argument presented.

It’s my hope that these changes, paired with more that are certain to come, will allow us to sustain our opinion-based platforms while keeping the Argus Leader news team focused on the daily delivery of news.

As mentioned earlier in Cory’s column, a third of the daily subscribers are digital only. I’m not sure what that has to do with eliminating the daily opinion page, especially with a month before the mid-term elections. I have thought for awhile that the Argus will reduce it’s dead tree version to 3 times weekly and the Sunday edition. But my bigger concern (besides their lack of daily advertisers) is that our last vestige of local media sharing people’s opinions will be gone. Sure we can comment on blogs and Facebook, but it isn’t the same. I’m just wondering who will be turning out the lights at 10th & Minnesota someday?

Thank you Mayor TenHaken for not talking about the golf tournament

If there is one thing I do appreciate about Paul, it is his modesty. Even a guy who is really into sports hasn’t graced our TV screens about the big event. Can you imagine what our former mayor would have been doing and saying? He even held a press conference once about the PBR event (with his cowboy hat on backwards).

Our local TV media has gone bonkers. KDLT has had the least amount of stories even with a former NCAA golfer as an anchor (maybe they are not getting the Sanford ad dough?) But KSFY and Stormland TV have been over the top.

Is it newsworthy? Sure. But not only do they do stories about the tournament but they tie in other stories like pheasant hunting, weather, cooking, parking and on and on. I’m surprised they didn’t tie the recent homicide to a story about the tournament.

And the ironic part is the tournament hasn’t even started yet.

Is Sioux Falls that boring that the only story is a golf tournament? Notice how there hasn’t been a peep about the ridiculous 85% passage of the school bond. NO ONE is investigating. I guess golf is more important than fair elections.

Let’s face it, I know I have been rebuffed by people that the newsroom and salesroom don’t talk to each other, but I can’t even imagine the amount of money pumped into the TV stations over this golf tournament. It’s sickening.

I also find it a little ironic that probably well over $10 million is being spent to bring this in to raise around $200K for a charity that is under the control of the tournament’s sponsor. Hmmm, wonder if they got some consulting from Hot Harley Nights? **SNARK**, **SNARK**

When you have to bring a helicopter ambulance on the course to dry it out, you have to start questioning our priorities in this community. Not just societal but within our health systems.

Pathetic.

Why is the local media being mysteriously quiet about Trump’s visit?

I’d Rather see this guy

Let’s face it, we all know the local media has talked to people attending the event (as I have). So why are they not telling us the location and time?

I will tell you that the location is no longer some gigantic secret. Just drive past the convention center and you will see noticeable traffic diversions. But we all kind of figured that.

What about the time? Well usually with a presidential visit, those things are always up in the air anyway, HA! Literally. But attendees were given a time to ‘be there’. As with most presidential visits they will have to stand around for a long time with their fingers up their butt waiting. Let’s just say it’s between 1 PM and 4 PM.

I also have been told (this is from only one source, so don’t wet your pants) that Noem sold 50, $5,000 tickets. This was the supposed limit, with a 100 people requesting). I have NOT heard how many people are showing up for the trailer park rate of $500.

As you know, I could care less about DC politics. It’s broke as F’ck and we all know the most valuable decisions are made locally when it comes to our lives, taxes, etc. A presidential visit to me doesn’t mean much.

But some have to wonder why our local media is being such chicken sh*ts about telling us the details of the President’s visit?

Oh, that’s right, media revenue. And we know Noem has a boatload of money (and even more tomorrow). We wouldn’t want to spoil tomorrow’s circus? Would we?

The Winners always Win, not because they are winners, but because they have more money. And when you hear that loud sucking sound tomorrow afternoon by the Convention Center, it’s not the elite dropping coin to see Trump, it’s our local media.

Oh, and if you want an alternative to the sh*t show, Tim Bjorkman is handing out FREE food at Terrace Park after 5 PM on Friday. Please Tim, no chili or hotdogs (unless it’s chili hot dogs).