Mayor Mick's Diet & NBC Nightly News

[Doug Loudenback]

'Nightly News' Praises Mayor Who Put 'City on a Diet'

'Nightly News' Praises Mayor Who Put 'City on a Diet'
NBC segment endorses Oklahoma City plan to spend tax money on physical fitness.

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
10/3/2008 10:02:54 AM

Fighting obesity with pork may not sound like the path to physical fitness – until you realize it isn’t “the other white meat,” but government spending.

The “NBC Nightly News” on Oct. 2 praised Republican Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett for using taxpayer money to encourage constituents to lose weight. Cornett claims to “have put the entire city on a diet.”

“Diet, anyone? Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett caused a racket last New Year’s Eve by challenging his town, one of America’s fattest, to drop some weight,” NBC correspondent Ron Mott said. “And it’s working.”

Rather than expecting people to make their own health decisions and assume responsibility for actions, Cornett said it’s up to him to change people’s behavior.

“We’ve got to get people out of their cars, out of those drive-thru windows, get them walking, get them in parks and get them more active,” Cornett said to “Nightly News.”

How did Cornett plan on getting there? By utilizing taxpayer dollars to further his fight against obesity.

“To help, the city’s adding 300 miles of sidewalks to promote walking and building new gyms at its elementary schools to get kids moving,” Mott added.

Using the government, rather than personal responsibility, to fight obesity has been a pet project of the broadcast media, as the Business & Media Institute report, “Supersized Bias,” showed. The media often criticize the fast-food industry – rather than the people who choose to eat there.

Oklahoma City has been castigated in the past for it frequent annual appearances on a “heavy-users list” compiled by Sandelman & Associates, a San Clemente, Calif.-based market research firm that tracks consumer trends city-by-city.

Mott’s story didn’t include any critics of the Cornett’s plan or use of taxpayer funds.

[metro]

more positive press!

[Midtowner]

Read the article.

It's not very positive, really. It seems like a hit piece claiming that the mayor is a 'big government' type who thinks it's the government's job to solve peoples' problems when personal responsibility might suffice.

The blog (or whatever) it's from is a very chamber-of-commerce conservative flavored site.

[Luke]

Oh, but Midtowner, Big Government is the Next Big Thing!

[jbrown84]

Yeah, well, I'd rather be praised by the NBC Nightly News than the "Business & Media Institute"...

[gmwise]

I think city government should focus on its mission.
City services, City parks,City streets,City sidewalks,City law enforcement.
If it happens people take up a more active health style.. good!
But making use of city network servers to boost Mayor Micky's ego, and stroke a very egomanical person by exposing him to the national limelight is not a good thing.
Not good at all.

[jbrown84]

That website's cost is a tiny blip on the radar compared to the sidewalks, school gyms, parks, and trails that are mentioned in the article.

[bornhere]

None of that stuff - sidewalks, gyms, parks and trails - has to with the mayor's diet plan. Most of it was in the planning stages before he became mayor.

And I'm pretty sure the web site is owned and operated by a consortium of diet clinics and health spas, not the city.

[Karried]

Mick Cornett caused a racket last New Year’s Eve by challenging his town, one of America’s fattest, to drop some weight

I so hate this part.

[Thunder]

One of the problems about the web site is that people out there could commit fraud. There is actually nothing placed to confirm the validity weight loss of each person. I wouldn't be surprised to see OKC ranked one of the fattest cities again with dire conflict to the total weight lost claimed on the web site.

The Mayor and the program may be in all the glory now, but it will strike back x10 in horror.

[LordGerald]

That website's cost is a tiny blip on the radar compared to the sidewalks, school gyms, parks, and trails that are mentioned in the article.

Actually, the website didn't cost the city or taxpayers a dime. It is maintained and hosted by a health care facility at Memorial and Hefner Pkwy., that volunteered their staff to design it and keep it going. They volunteered to do it, and had no idea how much media attention the concept would get.

It has already been co-opted by other cities and Dr. Ian, the "Celebrity Fit Club" guy.

[jbrown84]

One of the problems about the web site is that people out there could commit fraud. There is actually nothing placed to confirm the validity weight loss of each person. I wouldn't be surprised to see OKC ranked one of the fattest cities again with dire conflict to the total weight lost claimed on the web site.

The Mayor and the program may be in all the glory now, but it will strike back x10 in horror.

???

What incentive would someone have to post on that site fraudulently?

None of that stuff - sidewalks, gyms, parks and trails - has to with the mayor's diet plan. Most of it was in the planning stages before he became mayor.

Either way, I don't see how the city is doing anything but "focusing on it's mission" when it comes to this story.