Andrew Zajac
Respected Cleveland muckraker Roldo Bartimole offers a parting thought on the just-concluded Ohio primary.
Writing on Cool Cleveland, a local news and arts web site, Bartimole notes that Cleveland State University had to pick up a hefty tab for hosting the Democratic debate on Feb. 26 and wonders why.
Here's his take on the bill-paying arrangements:
"Are we all stupid or what?
Cleveland State University, a college of working class and middle class students, had to raise $300,000 to help put on the Democratic debate last week at the Wolstein Center.
Why?
Debate sponsors NBC-TV, its affiliate here WKYC, and its cable network MSNBC are all profit making entities. They all enjoy government-anointed, semi-monopolies using the public air waves. They are being fed by millions and millions of dollars of election advertising. Yet CSU had to go take $300,000 out of this community to host the event. I don’t understand why the profit-makers didn’t pay their own way.
The Cleveland debate drew 7.78 million voters, a historic best for MSNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research.
So shouldn’t NBC pay CSU, rather than the other way around?
MSNBC has been running ads saying that the debate in Cleveland got it great ratings, but CSU had to pay some of the cost of providing the network a stage.
Doesn’t seem right to me. However, it does seem just the way the private sector operates here and everywhere. It’s all take, take, take."
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Comments
NBC should pay. Heck, since this debate was basically free air time for Obama and Clinton, Obama and Clinton should pay.
The last people who should pay are the poor soaked taxpayers.
Posted by: Alice Palmer | March 5, 2008 5:48 PM
Ohioans are proving why they're all unemployed.
What did CSU think - people would remember them for the great debate?
The only college known for hosting a debate is Knox College - site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | March 5, 2008 5:57 PM
Whiny little commie crying poor mouth. Naturally, the Swamp gives him an outlet for his sour grapes.
Posted by: Jeff | March 5, 2008 6:01 PM
The idiots are giving away tax payers' money and he blames the private sector for taking it? Don't fret though. It was to foster a hope of change for the children and to unify in the fight against those who would divide us.
Posted by: whatnow | March 5, 2008 6:08 PM
What do you expect from lying liberal Democrats and their mainstream media supporters?
Posted by: james Kehl | March 5, 2008 7:37 PM
The college probably (or was told) it would be good PR.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | March 6, 2008 6:55 AM
you guys are really mean.
How could you walk around being so negative and mean to everyone?
Posted by: shi | March 6, 2008 2:16 PM
Cleveland State Univesity funded the debate with sponsorships from Cleveland businesses and the like. None of the money came from student fees or tuition. The debate was an historic event that provided the student body with a chance to get excited about politics. A record number of people voted in the primary election, most likely due to the attention to debate brought to the election for so many disenfranchised voters. The bottom line is the importance of demacracy in action. After 7 years of apathy, the public is uniting and exercising their constitutional rights, thanks to events like this debate.
Posted by: Meghan | March 21, 2008 12:46 PM