Prometheus 6

To correct some erroneous information, please note that Dr. Frank Luntz is NOT appearing on Thursday night's Presidential forum.

Uh-huh.

Immediate public feedback on the performance of the candidates will be conducted by noted pollster Frank Luntz, who will also appear on "Tavis Smiley" on PBS the following evening to discuss his findings.

I did say I was cool with Luntz appearing the next day on Mr. Smiley's show.

Okay, 'cool' is an overstatement. The quote is I could shiv a gitz. But in the end Mr. Smiley et. al. are entitled to pick their guests, just as we're entitled to smear people with the truth. If you really want things to work you have to let the truth have first crack at folks' minds.

I still want to know how he got the spot, though. I want to know how a lot of guys get their spot...it always amazes me when some major news outlet hires the likes 'o him. How does the NY Times decide to run an op-ed blaming Black people for segregation? When the Heritage Foundation launches some new offensive (proper word, that...), who decides that rhetoric is fit to print and why?

I have almost concluded the space to present these things is bought.

Anyway, for now I'm cool with people being able to absorb the candidates' responses in this forum overnight, and I'm pleased the producers got tired of the credentialled bloggers smacking them up responded to us even though they feel compelled to pretend there was never an issue (we and they know better).

From: Laurel Lambert <llambert@xxxxx>
Date: Jun 27, 2007 10:24 AM
Subject: Producer's statement on Frank Luntz on Tavis Smiley
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following statement has been issued by Neal Kendall, executive producer of Tavis Smiley, regarding the appearance of Frank Luntz on Friday's Tavis Smiley latenight program:

The "All American Presidential Forum on PBS" moderated by Tavis Smiley, airing this Thursday, is an unprecedented watershed event for millions of Americans who will be seeing and hearing the candidates respond to specific issues that directly affect their quality of life.

To correct some erroneous information, please note that Dr. Frank Luntz is NOT appearing on Thursday night's Presidential forum.

Dr. Frank Luntz is a guest the following-night, Friday, June 29th on Tavis' regular late-night PBS program. He will be joined by a focus group of 30 people who watched the forum the night before. This group dialed in their instant responses to the candidates' positions, using people meter technology. The primary goal of our Friday program is for Tavis to take the opportunity to converse with these 30 people and hear directly from them their thoughts and opinions on what the candidates had to say. Dr. Luntz, a consultant for many major broadcast news organizations, has appeared on our show in the past. He will discuss some of the data from the forum as part of Tavis' conversation with the focus group.

Neal Kendall
Executive Producer
"Tavis Smiley" on PBS
"The All American Presidential Forums on PBS" moderated by Tavis Smiley

Press contact: Laurel Lambert KCET 323 376 7985
Laurel Lambert
Director, Advertising and Promotion
llambert@kcet.org
323 953 5246