» Selective Opinions

Luntz, Maslansky, is a “Strategic Research” company that does market research, focus groups and the like for corporations and politicians.  We’re signed up for their alerts asking for participants in these research projects, and they come in reasonably regularly.

Imagine our excitement at one received last week, for research being done (presumably) for Fox News:

You will be commenting on the presidential candidates for a cable news network. You will be shown on live television and then will make an appearance on the Hannity and Colmes show. This is your chance to get your opinion on one of the highest rated shows and networks on television and to be seen by millions of people.

So dutifully the application page was filled out, and we get a telephone call Saturday asking about availability!  “Yay!”, you’d think?  So did we - right up until Pat asks about wheelchair access.

Cue chirping crickets on the other end of the telephone, before a hesitatant “I’ll check into it and get back to you as soon as I can.”

I guess the lady on the phone never could, because she never did.

This isn’t the first time Luntz, Maslansky has been eager to get our opinions right up until they discover we’re in wheelchairs, so we’re curious:

1. Did Fox News tell Luntz, Maslansky that the opinions of voters in wheelchairs weren’t important and that people in wheelchairs be excluded?
2. Does Luntz, Maslansky think the opinion of people in wheelchairs is unimportant and have an internal policy of ignoring those opinions as a default (except, of course, should the issue be about disability - but since we’ve never seen a focus group about those we can’t really be sure)?
3. Or was this just another example of the seemingly continual decision by some faceless drone on a telephone to consider people in wheelchairs too complicated?

For a company headed by someone who self-styles himself on their website as “The nation’s premier communications expert”, there seems to be a huge lack of communication.  Perhaps this snippet from the invitation email is relevant, though:

Also, we are interested in hearing from people who will speak up and actively participate in the discussion. If you are going to remain quiet, you shouldn’t participate.

Perhaps there is some presumption at Luntz, Maslansky that people in wheelchairs are shy, retiring, and not interested in participating?  Given the number of times invitations to participate in focus groups have evaporated quietly when the issue of wheelchair access has been brought up, one has to wonder if their email should have “If you’re in a wheelchair, we’d prefer you to remain quiet, we don’t want your participation.” appended to that paragraph.

Their website says:

[w]e find the exact words and phrases that make a real difference.

Here’s an exact word they should consider adding to their vocabulary: Discrimination.

Tags: Colmes, discrimination, Fox, Hannity, luntz, maslansky, polling, wheelchair