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By Danny Schechter
MediaChannel.org
NEW
YORK, May 9, 2005 — I wonder what the makers of the MGM
classic "Meet Me in St. Louis" would think of the conclave planned next
weekend in St. 'Louie' in that Red State many call 'Missoura.' The 1944
movie featured songs by Judy Garland depicting a slice of 1900's
America, as it awaited the 1904 World's Fair heralding the promises of
a new century.
Mass media had then yet to totally dominate our culture although we
have had experiences with the yellow journalism of William Randolph
Hearst and, yes, the man that endowed journalism's primo prize, Joseph
Pulitzer. Pulitzer founded his national newspaper company in St Louis
in 1878.
No one then could have imagined how thoroughly Big Media would affect
and infect our political life. Media has now become a key issue in this
new century.
The river town always had a rich media culture, The state's favorite
son and one of this country's great writers, Mark Twain, wrote for the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 1881, he published a letter he wrote
President Garfield to support anti-slavery crusader Frederick Douglass
for a public office. He later led the anti-imperialism league against
that Vietnam-before-Vietnam, the U.S. war on the Philippines.
It is a town with its own feisty Journalism Review
which reports this month: "A new set of rules at the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch on alcohol and drug use on the job is aimed at curbing a
longtime hazard for both employees and the company. But some employees
say the rules, which call for searches and forced drug testing, is a
violation of their civil rights."
I am sure the media activists responding to Free Press's call
for a second national Media Reform Conference will leave their drugs at
home because the assemblage of so many activists and "big names" in
media criticism in one place will produce its own high. (Your news
dissector will be on hand reporting for MediaChannel.org, showing "WMD" and participating on a panel ("Creating a Media Democracy Act," Saturday at 2PM). In the weeks ahead, MediaChannel will feature diverse comments on the media battle.)
In its first outing, the conference drew thousands of activists but tended to preach to the choir. I wrote at the time:
"we can't help but notice that the bulk of those attending hail from
one region of America's political landscape -- occupied by
progressives, Democrats and left-leaning independents. Yet, ironically,
the largest single constituency (more than 300,000) to respond to the
fight against the FCC rule changes was organized by an icon of the
right, the National Rifle Association. Others on the right equated Big
Media with Big Government and responded with understandable conviction
against too much power in too few hands."
Will this weekend's conference speak to some of these "conservative"
concerns? We all know we need to do more than stage rallies for the
converted. Can we bridge the partisan divide?
It now falls upon reformers to reach out to and include more Americans
who are disenchanted with media, be they conservative or liberal,
church going or not, in the campaign. Some surveys say that as many as
70% of the American people are, for differing reasons, very unhappy
with our media.
This is a popular mainstream issue.
What is promising is the formation of new coalitions with organizations
like Common Cause and others now enunciating new principles for what
kind of media order we want in a "Bill of Media Rights" -- not just
focusing what we are against. This is great leap forward. The full list
of coalition members can be found at citizensmediarights.org.
Since I was not party to the conference planning process, I don't want
to be a 'nattering nabob of negativity' -- to quote disgraced former
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. A great deal of hard work, aided and
abetted by lots of funding, has come up with an impressive event. (Why
foundations love to fund conferences more than media projects has also
mystified me, but that's an issue for another time.)
It also may be important now to try to consolidate the movement,
however disparate and uncoordinated, before broadening it too much.
("We go to war with the army we have," says Sec. of Def. Rumsfeld about a more visible conflict.) But as an organizer of the Media and Democracy Congresses
in the 90's I know it's easier to put on a good show than to undertake
the follow-up organizing that's needed. It's also easier to bring
together people you agree with than those you don't.
In the case of media reform, outreach is key if we are to win
legislative victories and make more inroads. So far, we have had some
big breaks in the courts with rulings slapping down the FCC. But there
are many battles to come in Congress, boardrooms and at the municipal
and grass roots level.
We need to involve or at least hear from outspoken conservatives on the issue like William Safire, the ex-New York Times Op-Edster
who opposed media concentration and Senator John McCain who spoke up in
the Senate. We need to connect with critical media insiders like Norman
Lear, Ted Turner and even Barry Diller who are in some respects moguls
for change. Have we done all we can to involve the Internet industry
and progressive bloggers? Defending the digital domain must be one of
our issues.
Is Michael Moore coming to discuss his impact and ideas and perhaps
interact with other independent filmmakers on building up a culture of
critical media? Will the documentary brigades and the IDA, ITVS and AIVF
be there? Can we get the proliferating number of film festivals to hold
forums on media issues? Can we hear from people who are launching new
channels?
And where is Jon Stewart who is as trenchant a media critic as there is
and a popular one to boot? Have we reached out to Hollywood and other
satirists beyond Al Franken?
We have many differences among us to debate. Will there be panels
within the activist world that discuss strategy and get at the sharp
differences and disagreements that exist? Will MoveOn be there to
dialogue with its critics or can competing media websites like Free Press, Media Matters for America,
and yes, MediaChannel, which has advocated a post-partisan approach, be
able to confront each other and perhaps find ways to collaborate? I'd
like to see NPR, Pacifica, low-power radio and Air America engage on
ways to get progressive voices to more listeners.
I would be fascinated to hear industry flacks like Benjamin Compaine
who argues there is no media concentration problem go mano a mano with
Bob McChesney who insists there is.
Will our teachers be there to discuss ways that media literacy can be
integrated into our schools at a time that leave no child behind seems
to be leaving all critical curriculums behind? We need to involve PTA's
because parents know most kids spend more time in the living room than
the classroom. They can be a formidable force in this movement.
How about hearing from the broadcast unions and guilds and involving
them and other media insiders in this fight? The same survey I cited
that found 70% public dissatisfaction with our media also found roughly
the same percentage of dissatisfaction within the media itself.
I would love to hear from critical mainstream journalists like Seymour
Hersh, Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and Helen Thomas. Did we invite
network correspondents-turned-critics Tom Fenton (ex-CBS), or Arthur
Kent (ex-NBC)? And also media critics from overseas including
representatives of Al-Jazeera and third world media activists could add
important perspectives. Are the more a-political citizen journalism or
public journalism folks involved enough? They represent the media of
the future.
Media reform is an issue that can unite so many sectors in American
life and energize global activism. Can we find ways to build on our
pervasive consensus of complaint with the media to build a critical
mass for change? Can we convince the anti-globalization movements to
put media power on their agenda in an era of global media cartels?
The media system is vulnerable as never before. Note how many of the
big media companies themselves are in crisis with credibility scandals,
profits falling, audiences disappearing and structures disaggregating.
Many are de-merging, admitting errors and being fined. They are in
disarray. "Desperate housewives" is a metaphor for their distress;
"Runaway bride" for our dissatisfaction.
This is the
time to act on behalf of an enraged majority that is being cheated by
greed in the executive suites and the crap on the air. Now is the time
to fight to for real news, to take back PBS, support independent media,
and reclaim the airwaves.
It is possible. This is a time when the tide of public opinion is
turning against the B Movies that rule our lives -- the Bushes, the
Blairs and the Berlusconi's. But also cBs, nBc, and aBc. Fox is not the
only problem.
Many in the public are rejecting their offerings along with the war they sold us in Iraq.
The tide is turning.
This is the time to offer a new vision for media change. Ultimately, we are talking about renewing our democracy.
Just before the last reform conference I wrote,
"Ours is an ambitious agenda. Can it be realized? Of course. But that
will take the kind of commitment, financing, and strategy that is often
missing in a movement that is more comfortable being critics of Big
Media than competitors for their mass demographic.
"Too often, our laments echo through the movement without reaching the
audience beyond. It is much easier to cling to alternative media
outlets that take our side than carry the fight on to popular radio
talk shows, local TV and radio outlets and the letters columns of our
newspapers. We also need to engage the mainstream, not retreat from it.
"We hope some of these issues will be raised in Madison, (read, St.
Louis). We hope that we can find ways to work together and get beyond
the rhetoric and recycling of old ideas to reach the new audience that
has risen to support of media reform."
Years ago Mark Twain wrote: "The first time ever I saw St. Louis I
could have bought it for six million dollars, and it was the biggest
mistake of my life that I did not do it." Today it is not for sale and
neither are we. But let's hope our media activists will use the time we
have there to put the issue on the agenda, make media matter and media
reform possible.
Missouri is the "Show Me State." Let's show America what we can do.
-- "News Dissector: Danny Schechter is "blogger-in-chief" of MediaChannel.org and director of "WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception)" a film about the media coverage of the Iraq war.
 Discussion: Is the media system "vulnerable as never before," as Danny writes? What role can bloggers and citizen journalists play in popularizing media reform?
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