By Steve Rhodes
If CAN TV really is the black Chicagoan’s WTTW – as argued in a stupefying, offensive post on NBC Chicago’s often stupefying and offensive Ward Room blog – maybe the question NBC Chicago ought to be asking itself is why so many people in this city feel unrepresented by the likes of . . . NBC Chicago.
Meanwhile, how well has NBC Chicago done as the venue of choice for political news for dumb white people?
All you have to do is consider the Ward Room’s concept along with NBC Chicago’s noted pattern of embarrassing errors as well as the lost ethical compass of its boss men to dismiss it as unworthy of carrying CAN TV’s camera cables.
Among Chicago’s nine political influencers Ward Room purports to cover: Sandi Jackson, whose influence doesn’t even extend to the borders of her own ward, and Rod Blagojevich, whose influence isn’t even felt on reality TV anymore. The blog has mercifully dropped both Alexi Giannoulias, as if; and Lisa Madigan, finally realizing that her father is, um, sort of influential and that there was only room for one of ’em. For some strange reason only fathomable to the geniuses at NBC Chicago, Mark Kirk is one of Chicago’s nine influencers but Dick Durbin isn’t. The Ward Room also discovered Ed Burke somewhere along the line.
So not really in a position to feel superior.
[DISCLAIMER: As Beachwood readers know by now and as explained in the “lost ethical compass” link above, I left NBC Chicago after the most serious in a string of ethical violations and sloppy editing that imperiled both my reputation and my sanity; also, I rent my apartment in a home owned by CAN TV executive director Barbara Popovic. Nonetheless, my argument here is objectively unassailable.]
Let’s take a look at CAN TV’s coverage of the mayoral campaign, for example, and compare it in your mind’s eye to NBC Chicago.
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CAN TV has covered or will cover by campaign season’s end 11 mayoral forums throughout the City. Mayoral forums are broadcast every Sunday night at 5 p.m. on CAN TV19 – or you can watch them online here.
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Coverage has (and will have) included:
11/30/10: The UIC Chicago Mayoral Candidate Forum.
12/14/10: – The New Chicago 2011 Chicago Mayoral Town Hall Meeting.
Sponsoring Organizations: Action Now; ARC ’09; Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation; Brighton Park Neighborhood Council; Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois; Community Organizing and Family Issues; Community Renewal Society; Enlace Chicago; Erie Neighborhood House; Grassroots Collaborative; Illinois Hunger Coalition; Jane Addams Senior Caucus; Jewish Council on Urban Affairs; Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; Lakeview Action Coalition; Logan Square Neighborhood Association; Organization of the Northeast; Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation; Southwest Youth Collaborative; supporting organization: Albany Park Neighborhood Council.
12/15/10: – The Raise Your Hands Chicago Mayoral Forum on Education.
Sponsoring Organizations: Raise Your Hand, Illinois Policy Institute, Northside Democracy in America.
12/16/10: – The Chicago Teachers Union Mayoral Candidate Forum on Education.
01/11/11: A Mayoral Candidate Forum on Public Housing in Chicago
Sponsoring Organizations: National Public Housing Museum and the Central Advisory Council.
01/19/11: The Chicago Mayoral Forum on Community and Environmental Issues.
Sponsoring Organizations: SOAR and Friends of the Parks (FOTP). Also: Friends of Downtown, Fulton River District Association, New Eastside Association of Residents (NEAR), North Dearborn Association, River North Residents Association, as well as influential environmental organizations: Great Lakes Alliance, Chicago Recycling Coalition, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Chicago River, Openlands, Sierra Club, and Trust for Public Land.
01/22/11: The Chicago Mayoral Candidate Forum on Veterans Affairs.
Sponsoring Organization: Coalition on Veterans Affairs.
01/28/11: The Community PTA Mayoral Forum.
Sponsoring Organizations: Black Star Community PTA and Educational Village Keepers Community PTSA, with the Chicago Teachers Union.
02/08/11: -The Korean American Community Services Mayoral Forum.
Sponsoring organization: Korean American Community Services
02/09/11: The LGBT Mayoral Forum
Sponsoring organizations: Affinity Community Services, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Amigas Latinas, Association of Latino Men for Action (ALMA), Bisexual Queer Alliance Chicago, Boricua Pride, Center on Halsted, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Equality Illinois, Howard Brown Health Center, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Chicago, I2I: Asian Pacific Islander Pride of Chicago, Illinois Gender Advocates, Illinois Safe Schools Alliance, Join the Impact Chicago, Lambda Legal, Lesbian & Gay Bar Association of Chicago, LGBT Change, LGBT Immigration Project of Heartland Alliance, Orgullo En Accion, POW WOW, Inc., Public Pride Alliance, The Civil Rights Agenda, The Literary Exchange, TransActions, Video Action League, and Windy City Black LGBT Pride.
02/15/11: The Mayoral Forum on Violence Against Women.
Sponsoring Organizations: Chicago Foundation for Women, Rape Victim Advocates, CAASE, Center on Halsted, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network.
02/16/11: West Side Mayoral Candidates Town Hall.
Sponsoring Organizations: Blocks Together, West Side United, West Humboldt Park Concerned Citizens and Chicago Teachers Union
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And that’s not all. CAN TV’s election coverage has also included:
* Taped statements from five of the six candidates.
* Coverage of The Society of Midland Authors’ panel discussion, “The Chicago Mayoral Race.”
* Six public service announcements with the Chicago Board of Elections on “three ways to vote” and early voting in English, Chinese and Spanish.
* A Chicago Board of Elections program on navigating the challenge process.
* The weekly Chicago Newsroom with Ken Davis featuring Chicago journalists and bloggers discussing the candidates and the issues – airing every Thursday at 6:30 p.m on CAN TV19. (Watch for the Chicago Newsroom‘s post-election roundup on Saturday, Feb.26th, at 7 p.m. on CAN TV21 and online at cantv.blip.tv.)
* Coverage of the Green Growth Platform Questionnaire for Mayoral Candidates Press Conference.
Sponsoring organizations: Active Transportation Alliance, Alliance for the Great Lakes, Blacks in Green, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Chicago Recycling Coalition, Citizen Action/Illinois, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Environment Illinois, Friends of the Chicago River, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Friends of the Parks, I-GO Car Sharing, Metropolitan Planning Council, Nuclear Energy Information Services, Openlands, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago and Sierra Club/Illinois Chapter.
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Is there anyone in Chicago who’s been left out?
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Meanwhile, Channel 5 has Mary Ann Ahern and the Ward Room. You tell me which station is a joke.
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Comments welcome.
Posted on February 10, 2011