Zogby poll falsely claims Lloyd wants FCC to "force" replacement of whites in broadcast industry with minorities
A Zogby poll commissioned by a conservative activist included a question falsely claiming that Federal Communications Comission official Mark Lloyd "wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions." In fact, in audio clips conservatives have circulated of a speech Lloyd made four years before joining the FCC, Lloyd does not suggest that the FCC or any other government agencies should do anything -- let alone require white people to "step down" -- to increase diversity in the broadcast industry.
Zogby poll question distorted Lloyd's comments
A Zogby Interactive poll conducted October 23-26 asked respondents:
Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions. Do you agree or disagree that this presents a threat to free speech?
Lloyd has not said FCC should "force good white people" to step down
Lloyd made comments years before joining FCC, did not address role of FCC in increasing diversity. According to audio circulating on conservative blogs and aired on Fox News' Glenn Beck, at the May 2005 National Conference for Media Reform, Lloyd -- then a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and currently FCC associate general counsel and chief diversity officer -- did not say the FCC should "force good white people in positions of power in the broad cast industry to step down." Indeed, Lloyd did not mention the FCC or government agencies in his discussion of the need for diversity in the broadcast industry. Rather, he stated:
There is nothing more difficult than this, because we have really, truly good white people in important positions. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem.
We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.
Poll reportedly commissioned by right-wing activist with history of ordering misleading Zogby polls
O'Leary reportedly commissioned poll. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's Peter Hart reported that he received an email on the poll from conservative activist Brad O'Leary's public relations outfit with the subject line "President Obama's Attacks on Free Speech Opposed by Most Americans, Zogby/O'Leary Poll Finds." According to his website, O'Leary is "president of ATI-News, an online magazine and information Website that provides links to more than 750 English newspapers and magazines worldwide," "Chairman of the Board of PM Direct Marketing, one of the country's leading Perception Management firm" and "bestselling author of twelve books," including the WorldNetDaily-published The Audacity of Deceit: Barack Obama's War on American Values.
O'Leary previously commissioned Zogby poll asking slanted questions about stimulus. As Media Matters for America senior fellow Eric Boehlert noted, in February, O'Leary sent a press release highlighting an "ATI News/Zogby International poll" which included the following questions:
"Some people say that the nearly one trillion dollars in debt and subsequent interest incurred by the stimulus bill during an economic downturn will make the recovery hard to achieve. Do you agree or disagree?"
"Some Republicans say the Obama stimulus package spends too much and stimulates too little. Do you agree or disagree?"
"Most Republicans oppose the currently proposed stimulus bill supported by President Obama because they say there is too much money being spent for non-stimulus items. Do you agree or disagree that too much money is being spent on items that won't improve the economy?"
"There is nothing more difficult than this, because we have really, truly good white people in important positions. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem. We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power"
we
important positions
limited number of those positions
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<sarcasm> Wow, that does look like he wants to remove all white folks from power </sarcasm>
And poll questions framed in present time that use words spoken several years ago BOGUS.
Sounds pretty forceful to me.
But the words you highlighted didnt' even reference the government, or anyone who works for the government! Omigod you're thicker than a brick sometimes.
Lloyd was talking about positions of power within private companies that own media outlets! The words you highlighted were related to those people losing their jobs because Lloyd has advocated that the near-monopoly of media ownership be broken up, and he believes that if there's more local ownership, there will be more minorities in positions of authority and in broadcast roles.
This would be how the people in positions of power would lose those positions of power, not by the FCC forcing the replacment of any of those people. Those individual companies could employ whoever they want to - there would be no forcing involved.
"We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power"
Sounds pretty forceful to me.
By the way, you sounded pretty forceful when you use to claim to hate race-baiting. Knowing you're OK with it as long as it's in a misquoted right-wing poll question gives me just enough cause to dismiss your parsing nonsense.
He never wanted the FCC to force replacement of whites in management or broadcasting positions.
He wanted the industry to be diversified by breaking up the near monopoly that exists currently in the marketplace. That would allow for local ownership, which he believes would lead to more minorities being owners, executives and broadcasters.
And The Cat has already provided the links necessary to back this up. Why should someone else have to duplicate that work?
Look, are you a deflection troll, because it sure looks like you are trying to deflect away from what Lloyd said to what you say he wanted. Better watch that Suzy, MMfA doesn't take kindly to trolls and may get banned (again), you may be on the hunt for another screen name, and you've about run outta 'dem.
You might be interested in knowing that there's an entire book by Lloyd about the exact topic he was speaking about in 2005. Not once does he call for FCC or any other government agencies to "force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions."
Nothing about the FCC forcing any media company to hire or fire anyone. You're totally wrong here, and you won't admit it. But we're used to your stubborn refusal to admit you're wrong. It's one of your prominent characteristics.
The poll question is "Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good white people in positions of power in the broadcast industry to step down to make room for more African-Americans and gays to fill those positions." But he never said he wanted the FCC to do that. You're lying when you claim that the poll indicates what he "said". Truncating a comment or adding other words to change the meaning of a comment is not "what he said".
I am not trying to deflect anything. You, on the other hand, are trying to derail the conversation with a personal attack because you know that your behavior being called out is a disadvantage to you. Too bad, so sad.
The poll question was not accurate in the least. Lloyd never wanted the FCC to force the replacement of any whites in favor of minorities.
He wanted the corporate ownership by a few groups of almost all the media outlets across our nation to be diversified. If that happened, then local control would wrest that domination from white heterosexual men and allow a greater diversity in on-air personalities and ownership and executive positions.
These are the real meanings of his words.
But as you did yesterday, you tried to pretend that only you know the real meaning, and no one can convince you otherwise. Despite the evidence that was placed in front of you numerous times yesterday, you refused to acknowledge your error, your misinterpretation, your cropping of a comment to distort its meaning. You are doing the same thing here today.
From poster The Cat.
Now, on to Mr. Lloyd's remarks. In the face of this loss of local opinion and voice, Mr. Lloyd has suggested that major corporations and conglomerates be divested of their radio and TV station holdings to the extent that there are opposing voices in all markets where this is possible. What does that mean? Well, for one thing, it means that a white national programming director of many stations may lose his job, but that this position will be filled by available local programming directors that more closely resemble the community in which the station exists.
Is he talking about walking into boardrooms, firing all the white employees, and forcibly replacing them with people of color, or different sexual orientation? No. He is pointing out the stranglehold that a very few men hold over far too much of our media, and is proposing returning to rules that encourage local stations to be locally owned and operated. Network affiliation will likely continue, of course, if only for news and prime time hours of operation, especially in the land of TV. However, it will not be nearly as easy to drive from New York to LA listening to the same program the entire way.
Regardless of what the guy said, this Zogby question is a perfect example of push polling-- it's a leading question designed to get a built-in response.
What does anyone think people will say when posed with a question like this? And what's this thing with "good" white people?
But the damage has been done. The smear is already out there, despite the fact that it's pretty quickly debunked.
And that's why the nonsense from FoxNews, et al, needs to be called out. Eventually, they will either quit in shame, quit because their audience deserts them, correct their behavior, or become a fringe group trusted by almost no one except true believers. I don't care which way their nonsense gets stopped, but it needs to happen. Our nation and our citizens deserve better. We deserve a fair debate of the issues, undistracted by this nonsense.
Should we be talking about imaginary death panels or should we be talking about how end-of-life counselling would provide our seniors with much needed advice that will be paid for by Medicare? Should we be talking about this nonsense about Lloyd wanting the FCC to force replacement of whites in positions of power, or should we be talking about how centralized ownership of our media by a few groups has been a net negative for the industry? I think the answers are clear.
Did he say this several years ago? Yes. Was it before he got his job with the FCC? Yes. But guess what? He is now in that job and he now has the power to make his wishes come true. Will he actually he do it? Who knows? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, the poll question seems perfectly valid to me. Why blame the messenger? This person has voiced an opinion which many people, myself included, would consider to be racist. In this day and age, those words will come back and bite you.