Up to 50 protesters at a time showed up at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, to protest the media blackout of Gary Johnson, who is the Libertarian Party’s presidential candiate for 2012.
A commenter named “Ken S” posted this to our July Open Thread:
Monday CNN protest is over with about 70 – 100 participating. Sunday’s crowd was smaller. There were a few run-ins with CNN security today, but nothing major. Police were irritable early in the day before the organizer with the permit showed up. There was a van with speakers attached that was an apparent hit with the crowds.
He continues:
Please go to the CNN Facebook site and leave a message asking about the exclusion of Gary Johnson from CNN coverage. Hopefully if hundreds of people use this forum as well as phone calls, perhaps CNN will take notice.
The CNN Facebook page can be found here:
Photo by Doug Craig
Thanks for being there and keep up the pressure!
I was there and it was FANTASTIC ! We definitely made some noise the photo was taken when we first arrived and during the day others filtered in and lined the whole block SORRY
Mark Hilgenberg if we didnt have a massive area photo WE DID OUR BEST! And the fact PA & OHIOIANS were there I actually think speaks volumes & TRUST ME THE CROWD WAS EXCITED! all faiths and races too 🙂 I’d not be discouraged one bit about numbers afterall he’s 5,3% without t.v. and it should be more alarming he’s not getting fair coverage rather than he’s not included thanks very much to all who participated .
Nice signs ED
Those are really nice yard signs. The large font, bright yellow on blue catches your eye and the bright white “Libertarian” really pops!!
I was pleased to see that at least one writer felt the event was newsworthy, besides me!
@23 Nice article. Let’s hope the momentum does not drop off.
Moral:
If you want to get media coverage, stop trying to get media coverage.
Instead, do something interesting but don’t tell.
Then, they will seek you out to cover you.
http://ivn.us/2012/07/17/gary-johnson-supporters-protest-media-blackout-across-nation/
More @17:
Dreamland. Many LPers live in this dreamworld where, somehow, having a message is SO important that the media just has to pick it up. We kick and scream and wonder why they don’t.
Reality.
They don’t care.
They won’t cover us if we are doing nothing.
So, we have to be perceived as doing something. Really, almost anything, if it seems to be interesting, but what’s the hook to get coverage.
You’re correct that they don’t care about our advertising, small spending and small budget – which is why we should NOT talk about it to the media.
DON’T tell them what we’re going to do. Then when they see it, it will look small, disappointing and un-newsworthy.
INSTEAD:
Do Something. Unannounced. Something that will surprise them and make them wonder what they missed. They don’t like being scooped or left out.
So, we raise money and run lots of TV ads in the cheap, tiny markets in the smallest states, where ads can be bought on major network broadcast TV for under $100 per spot.
But, we do NOT tell the media.
They will be surprised when they see we are serious.
They will know we are up to something, but they will wonder what …
They will call and cover us.
The following was cut and pasted from The Hammer of Truth website:
“Update: The name of the SuperPAC has been confirmed as the Freedom and Liberty PAC, a Johnson-specific PAC which had one other donation of $100K on June 28th”
The last post was for #17.
@16 I don’t think anything we do will change the media’s mind about not reporting Johnson.
I don’t disagree with anything you said zapper, except that my POINT was that this is the first candidate the LP has run with executive experience. The first real credible candidate in many ways. But some of the people commenting suggested that we shouldn’t see form a coalition with others because the others are a bunch of nobody’s, which doesn’t make sense because the LP has run “nobody’s” for a long time, and might do so again in the future. I don’t think having executive experience is “necessary” to run an effective campaign.
@17 and to the Johnson campaign:
RADIO ads are a giant Mistake.
The campaign should not waste a single penny on radio ads. This is a giant mistake that will prevent the possiblity of ever having enough to go on TV.
Broadcast TV on Major Networks must come first.
Plan for it.
Save for it.
Start with the small states that are cheap and affordable. The campaign can EASILY raise enough to do this.
Once the money is spent on radio there is no getting it back.
The $1 million dollar donation was from an anonymous donor to an anonymous super pac. While this super pac may support Johnson, since we don’t know which one it is, it is hard to judge what they may do with the money. And remember that the Johnson campaign cannot give any advice to that super pac.
@16 Money is starting to come in for the Johnson campaign in quicker and larger amounts. Note the $1,000,000 donation that Judge Gray announced Friday night. It is my understanding that the campaign is looking into radio ads that should be starting soon. Our own advertising and money is not newsworthy for a media outlet to cover though. Our expenditures should not deserve coverage (unless something really stupid is done).
Instead, the Johnson campaign has a unique message as opposed to the two major candidates. With the obvious dissatisfaction of the American electorate with the current political process – the message alone should merit coverage by various media outlets. Wow – what a story – a real alternative to the current political status quo.
Of course coverage would lead to discussion. Discussion would lead to action. Action is (apparently) not in the best interests of the news media and their advertisers and board members.
@15 Disagree with that as well.
To get media coverage we have to earn it. Our candidate has to be newsworthy. Our campaigns have to do things that show we are newsworthy.
Just being a candidate is not newsworthy.
We raise no money and run no advertising. What have we done to deserve to be covered?
Free media can be earned and leveraged if you have a strategy to get it.
The best strategy is to do something BUT do NOT tell the media you are doing it.
When we run ads in small states and SAY NOTHING to the media, they will be surprised, startled and amazed. They are always looking for something new and interesting to cover – so they will cover us.
If we complain about not being covered when we are doing nothing, it’s obvious that we are just beggars asking for a handout.
I understand the rational for saying the others don’t have as good of a resume as Gary Johnson, but what if it was R. Lee Wrights? What about past candidates like Brown or Badnarik? If we begin to use the argument that no one but Johnson is qualified, are we not hurting ourselves in potential future elections if we nominated someone else with a weaker resume then Johnson?
I agree with others that forming coalitions is a good idea. We should focus on campaigning for Johnson, but events that could easily include other candidates should be at least considered.
@5/6/7 — I agree with keeping the focus on Gov. Johnson. The Greens have nominated a nobody this time around, rather than a Congresscritter as in 2008. The Constitution Party still has a shaky ballot access situation. If Goode gets on upward of 40 ballots, then it might be worthwhile including him in such a protest.
As for all the others, the “sixth parties” out there… get real. We might as well picket IPR for disinviting President Milnes.
1000 people a day calling a news company 1 time and using 1 minute each call after they answer will cost that news company $150,000 between now and the election just in labor. now if 10,000 people do it each day…..
@7, i do agree build coalitions. but go check out the facebook cnn account for people posting on the cnn wall. The cnn phone opporators are getting frustrated with the calls coming in from Gery Johnson supporters.
This is the electronic age… you don’t have to walk the picket line. You just have to once a day pick up your cell phone and call a company. If a few thousand people do so… the companies phone system gets over loaded.
MH @ 7: I completely agree that we need to make coalitions in order to grow the party and get our message out. I’ve found that there are people out there who are just as passionate as we are in some issues, although we might not agree on others. Personally, it took me a while to understand the Libertarian message, and it was only by hanging out with active Libertarians for years until the whole picture made sense. If another group agrees with us on ending marijuana prohibition, they might start to really get our smaller government thing by seeing and talking with us at community events. I’m comvinced these coalitions will be the only way the party will survive in California because of our recent Top Two legislation..
vote every day
get people out on the street
best thing we can do is keep protesting week after week.
@6 I would agree if I didn’t see a picture of 20 people.
I look at events this like as another form of outreach. Unfortunately when we do events or protests, we always try and do them ourselves. What happens is you get the same handful of core activists and nothing more, it usually looks rather pitiful (not saying that about this event).
I found that coalition events and protests helped a lot, seeing hundreds of people, media and reports helps to draw attention. It also gives us the opportunity to outreach to the curious, unaffiliated and media.
We need to work with reality.
@5 Disagree.
We should support Gary Johnson alone and push for him to be covered and included.
Johnson, as a two-term governor, has a serious resume. Excluding him demonstrates bias and prejudice far better than excluding others who lack such a resume and who will appear on significantly fewer state ballots.
Pushing for Johnson to be covered has a better chance of succeeding without the others whose exclusion is more justifiable in the eyes of many and whose inclusion in our protest undercuts our message, our chance for coverage and our argument for deserved and earned coverage.
We need to join forces with the other third parties and build a larger protest.
CNN called the cops to get rid of the protesters. CNN uses the First Amendment and Freedom of Press to protect what they are doing, but they are ready to jump and squash other people’s First Amendment Rights such as the Right to Free Speech and Right to Peacefully Assemble. “CNN, hypocrisy you can count on.”
The Olde Media will do now to Gary Johnson what they have been doing to Ron Paul. They will do everything in their power to make people think the only candidates are their New World Order masters.
Thanks for reposting this. My information came from numerous online contacts as well as a telephone conference with the man who had the permit for the entire event. PLEASE do not let a day go by without posting a message on the CNN Facebook site or callling their Atlanta offices. The worst thing we can do is roll over and let them (CNN) get away with their arrogance.
Had a great time. saw lots of new faces that were not Libertarian party members but were supporters of Gov. Gary Johnson so he is getting new people fired up.