TO DO: Government Shutdown/ABC, NBC, CBC, CNN
Source: CREDO Mobilize
http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/tell-the-media-don-t-blame-both-parties-for-the-government-shut-down?akid=9100.4584760.wVskcN&rd=1&t=4
DON’T BLAME BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES FOR THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
TO: ABC, NBC, CBS AND CNN
98,297
of 100,000 signatures
Campaign created by
Digby -- blogger at digbysblog.blogspot.com 
The government shutdown is not the result of a legislative breakdown or both parties refusing to compromise. It is a direct result of the right-wing House Republicans' legislative strategy of taking hostages and making extremist demands that are out of touch with the American people. Report the truth: House Republicans are solely responsible for the government shutdown.
Why is this important?
There is little doubt as to why the government has been shut down since Tuesday morning: The Republicans are trying to do everything they can to stop the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) from going into effect.
The Republican leadership in Congress has said as clearly as possible that it does not want people to have access to healthcare and will try to do everything it can to prevent it, including shutting down the government and possibly letting the government default on its debt.[1]
Predictably, the major television networks have largely ignored the Republicans’ own words and tried to imply that both sides are equally to blame for the shutdown.[2] They seem determined to make the story of the shutdown one of a partisan standoff where both sides are equally to blame. This is dishonest.
The facts are as clear as day. The Republicans have opted to use a shutdown as a way of pressuring President Obama to give up healthcare and other progressive priorities. Media coverage of the government shutdown and who is to blame should reflect these facts and inform the American people, but so far it has largely failed to do so.
The false equivalence and "he-said, she-said" coverage from major television networks and the dysfunctional DC press corps has dangerous implications for the proper functioning of our democracy. If Americans who watch television news don't understand the fact that Republicans intentionally created the government shutdown and debt ceiling crises in an unprecedented attempt to extract extreme legislative concessions from Democrats, they won't be able to hold those responsible accountable at the ballot box.
It is not the media’s job to cover up for the Republicans. It’s time for the media to come clean and report the truth: Republicans are solely responsible for shutting down the government.
REFERENCES:
[1] http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/1/reporting-governmentshutdowndemocracy.html
[2] http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/01/how-the-press-helped-cause-the-gop-shutdown/196187
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