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Daily NebraskarT
Thursday, March 1, 1934
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A LOT Cr FOLKS
In an election year, people become increasingly
aware of opinion polls and projections. Everywhere
voters.turn (Time, Newsweek, Gallup, CBS news),
someone is polling voter preferences.
The polls not only compare candidates to each
other, they compare candidates to people who are
not even running; they decide the most important
issues; they decide how many black voters will turn
out; and what effect a well-qualified woman for vice
president would have on a Democratic presidential
ticket.
These hypothetical polls are making news, not
reporting it. a
Network television coverage of the Iowa Demo
cratic caucuses was criticized at a House hearing
Monday for projecting caucus results before the
candidate selection process had begun.
The rules for Iowa caucuses prohibit participants
from expressing a preference among the field of
Democratic presidential candidates until 8:30 p.m.
However, CBS projected results of the caucus at
8: 1 2 p.m, NBC, 8-1 8 p.m., and ABC, 8:46 p.m., accord
ing to a chronology presented at the hearing. .
Dave Nagle, chairman of the Iowa Democratic
Party, said latecomers heard the projected results
before coming to the polls, and wondered aloud why
they were there. It seemed that the outcome already
had been decided. ,
By reporting "projected results" before the pro
cess for selection had even begun, journalists may
have had an effect on voter participation. When"
journalists declare the outcome of an election
before it is over, -or even weeks before, they discour-
age, not inform, voters.
Projected poll results also may sway some people,
causing a snowball effect for the current leading
candidate. .
During the 1980 presidential campaign, President
Reagan was declared the winner in television broad
casts while polls still were open in the West.
In the house hearing, CBS Vice President Ralph
Goldberg defended the early projections, saying
that journalists should report, not withhold informa
tion. -
The role of journalists should be to report the
news and inform people so they can make their own
decisions. By reporting probable winners before an
election is held or finished, journalists influence, not
inform. Journalists must wait for news to happen
before reporting it as a fact.
Vicki Ruhga
Unsigned editorials represent official policy of
the spring 1984 Daily Nebraskan. They are written
by this semester's editor in chief, Larry Sparks.
, Other staff members will write editorials through
out the semester. They will carry the author s name
after the final sentence.
Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of
the university, its employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
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Sexist economy upholds inequity
Reaching for pay equity among jobs could even
out the sexual discrimination so prevalent in the
American economy. A bill has been introduced in
the Legislature by 18 co-sponsors to study pay
equity for state employees.
( I : . Eric
X . Peterson
- - - 1 1 1
That women collectively earn 59 cents for every
dollar men earn in this economy is a fact as familiar
as it is disturbing. One of the main reasons for this is
the economic and social depreciation of jobs women
traditionally hold. Registered nurses earn salaries
on the average of $4,000 less per year than-mail
carriers. Sexism goes bone deep in this economy,
and it's clear that "the jobs that women hold tend to
be underpaid because they are held by women,"
writes Susan B. Garland of the Newhouse News
Service.
Pay equity considerations would link jobs that
require comparable skill, effort, responsibility and
working conditions to each other, and require equal
pay for them. Although these factors obviously are
not easy to pin down, and the evaluation of just
what a job is worth can only be a subjective judg
ment, some sort of pay equity plan Is needed to
assure women a measure of justice.
The Nebraska pay equity bill would establish a
commission to study sexual discrimination among
jobs in state government, excluding the university
system, according to Lynn Mongar of the Unica
meral Information Office. The seven-member com-,
mission would consider "legitimate supply and de
mand," and recommed levels of parity for jobs which
have similar responsibilities and require parallel
skills.
The bill, sponsored primarily by Sen. Bernice
Labedz of Omaha, has been given second-round
approval. Sen. David Landis of Lincoln spoke on the
legislative floor in support of the study: "If we wait
for somebody else to tell us that it is wrong to pay
women as a class far less for their labor...than we
pay for men, then our consciences must be puny
indeed."
A federal judge in Olympia, Wash., recently order
ed the state government to stop downgrading "wom
en's" jobs "forthwith": Washington has to give back
pay to some 1 5,000 employees, unless a state appeal
is upheld. Officials for the Washington Federation of
State Employees, AFL-CIO, called it a triumph for
working women. "It's what we've been wanting all
along," said Mark Brown of the federation. "We just
thought the state should pay for it now, instead of
waiting 10 years."
- Continued on Pege 5
The honeynioon never ends for RALPH
New York City is the headquarters of
some of the most powerful and wealthy
corporations, organizations and asso
ciations in the world. But over on Long
Island is the world headquarters of a
little-known organization that just may
appeal to more of us than any of the
others.
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.Q) Bob
fe Greene
It is called RALPH the Royal
Association for the Longevity and Preser
vation of The Honeymooners.
RALPH- named for Ralph Kramden,
the Jackie Gleason character in The
HoneymoonersTV show is dedicated
to honoring that show and assuring
that there will never be a day when it is
not seen on American television sets.
"There has never been a show like
The Honeymooners? said Peter Cres
centi, a co-founder of RALPH. "Anyone
who watches television knows that
nothing today can even come close to
it."
The Honeymooners, of course, was
the story of life in a Brooklyn apart
ment building that housed Ralph Kram
den (Jackie Gleason), a bus driver who
had the Madison Avenue route in Man
hattan; his wife, Alice (Audrey Mea
dows); his upstairs neighbor, Ed Norton
(Art Carney), who worked in New
York's sewers; and Norton's wife, Trixie
(Joyce Randolph).
"What Lehnon and McCartney were
to music, Gleason and Carney were to
television," Crescenti said. "Television
has never seen genius like the genius of
th ose two men working together." .
RALPH has members all over the
United States, Crescenti said and
the comedy of The Honeymooners works
jas well. for people who never saw it
during its original run as it does for
those of us who were around at the
beginning. "We have members who are
5 years old," Crescenti said. They love
the show just as much as our oldest
member who is 93."
The key td the success of The Honey
mooners, Crescenti said, was that it
was truer to life than most of the other
comedies of its era.
"Yes, Ralph Kramden was always
yelling at Alice," Crescenti said. "He
never had very much money, and, the
apartment was tiny, and he was strug
gling to make a living. But I think more
people identified with that even if
they identified with it secretly than
identified with Father Knows, Best,
where everyone always smiled at eve
ryone else, and all the bills always got
paid on time.
"Ralph would get angry at Alice, and
he would cock his fist and go, "Bang!
Zoom! Right to the moon!' You'd think
that, in the '80s, people might be offen
ded by that. But they're not.
A surprising thing about The Honey
mooners,' according to Crescenti, is
that it existed es a self-contained half
hour show for only one season the
television season of 1955-56. Before
that and after that, Honeymooners
sketches were part of Gleason's one
hour variety show. But, he said, there
were only 39 episodes of Hie Honey
mooners and as amazing as it seems,
those 39 episodes are the only ones
that are seen in syndication on local
stations year after year.
"It's true," he said. "And the feeling
that we get when we see The Honey
mooners is not nostalgic at all. It's been
around for 25 years in syndication,
and how can you get nostalgic about
something that's never been gone?
"When one of those 39 episodes comes
on, the feeling we get is one of familiar
ity, of camaraderie. We know those
shows inside out. We know every line '
every acial expression each of tho
shows is like an old pair of shoes. Do we
ever get tired of seeing them? No. Do
2? GeLget tired of seeing your best
friend? Of course not. We look forward
to these shows with great expectancy."
Although each member of RALPH
has his or her own favorite episode of
The Honeymooners, Crescenti said that
there is one show that virtually eve
ryone remembers and loves.
"It's the one where Ralph and Ed buy
1,000 kitchen gadgets for 10 cents
each, and decide to go on television
and do a live commercial to sell them
for a dollar," he said. "As soon as the
camera goes on, Ralph loses his cool,
and he blows the whole thing. For
some reason, everyone remembers that
show."
RALPH will hold a national conven
tion on March 10 at the C.W. Post cam
pus of Long Island University in Green
vale, Long Island. More than 2.30U
members are expected to attend.
"Well show old Honeymooners epi
sodes from the Gleason variety show,
skits that haven't been seen in years,"
Crescenti said. "We've invited people
from the production staff of the show
to tell us what it was like working on
The Honeymooners. "
Mostly, though, the convention will
provide the chance for Honeymooners
fans to say, collectively, to the old cast
and crew:
"Baby, you're the greatest."
1SS4, Tribune Ccsipsny Syndicate, lac. -