George,

For once, a member of the media elite ran an item that uncovered a deliberate effort on the part of the media to discredit a person who didn't let them run the show. On the "Good Morning , America" show one day this last week , Diane Sawyer did a segment on what really happened at the Dean Rally in Iowa, showing that using the type of mike he had allowed the media to cut out the background noise so that all the viewing audience heard was Dean shouting. What was not shown, until Sawyer revealed it, was the tape with the noise of the supporters in the room which was so loud , that any man would have had to yell (scream) to be heard by even a few. I salute Sawyer for standing up to the image makers and doing the right thing to reveal their manipulation of opinion. Not the first time the media has done a number on someone they couldn't control (witness the Bill and Monica clip), but maybe the first time the duplicity has been shown on a morning show with millions of viewers.

Martha Wood (electronic mail, February 1, 2004)