After The ABC News Debacle: How To Change Media - Why Making Media The Issue Is Crucial For Saving Democracy
by Danny Schechter
How ironic that in the same week that the National Association of Broadcasters gave actor Tim Robins a platform to challenge media gatekeepers to open the airwaves to more perspectives ABC NEWS gave us all a classic example of how a network can dumb down a presidential debate and turn it into a disgraceful hit job rather than an enlightening hit.
Rather than advance the political high that so many are having with an exciting campaign, it set a new low in TV coverage and was a blow to our political discourse.
Oddly, the other big news revolved around the Pope's visit.
Benedict knew how to get attention in the US press--by talking about
sexual perversion. What he didn't discuss, and what the media didn't
remind us of, was the last concerns of his Saintly predecessor Pope
John Paul 11. That Pope focused on a subject that most media outlets
cover the least: their own performance.
That "holy father" focused on what the media should be doing in his last apostolic letter.
Let
me remind you since I was struck by the irony of Pontiff's last wish,
it was during the "live" coverage of the death of the Pope--one of the
major media moments of 2005, that brought an army of journalists to
cover the multitudes of mourners. In a sense it was his dying wish. I
was in Rome at the time but only found out about this revelation
afterwards. It seemed to have been buried with him or went over the
heads of most of those "covering" a spectacle that went on for a week.
His image was praised; his ideas were not.
That Pope expressed
several wishes calling for a greater sense of social responsibility in
the media, and for the media, too, saying:
- "Promote justice and
solidarity according to an organic and correct vision of human
development by reporting events accurately and truthfully, analyzing
situations and problems completely, and providing a forum for different
opinions. An authentically ethical approach to using the powerful
communication media must be situated within the context of a mature
exercise of freedom and responsibility, founded upon the supreme
criteria of truth and justice."
He also spoke about media ownership:
- "I
would like to recall our attention to the subject of media access, and
of co-responsible participation in their administration. If the
communications media are a good destined for all humanity, then
ever-new means must be found - including recourse to opportune
legislative measures - to make possible a true participation in their
management by all. The culture of co-responsibility must be nurtured."
Unlike other papal passions, however, implementing this wish cannot rely on faith alone - it will take practical steps.
Changing
our media demands action and ideas on many fronts, including the
legislative, regulatory, institutional, and educational. It's about
changing structures of power and ways of looking at the world. It
demands thought about what we want from ourselves, not just others. It
requires a new consciousness among those that make media and those that
consume it.
Some years back in discussing my media manifesto, The Death of Media, (Melville House Books) the editors of Buzzflash noted:
- "The
conventional media is such a huge part of the crisis we face as a
democracy that it is hard to even talk about issues. The corporate
media goes wherever the White House or the latest missing bride leads
them. The real news isn't profitable enough for the corporate-owned
press, so they don't really DO much news anymore. They do public
relations and entertainment.
- And they aren't going to go out on
a limb to report much of the truth about the Bush Administration lies,
deception and imperial presidency, because they are afraid that the
vengeance-driven Busheviks will sabotage their corporate bottom line."
Let's
admit that the problem goes deeper than just what THEY do
wrong--because they have been following the same ideological approach
for decades. Yes, it is also about the failure of what WE are not doing
right, of the refusal of political movements and activists to take up
this problem, not just as occasional reaction to some outrage such as
the George and Charlie Show but as an ongoing issue, a problem of
democracy as deep as lobbyists, money in politics and various policy
questions.
You cannot have a real democracy without a really
free media. Period. If the public is not being informed, and, in fact,
is continually misinformed, people will not vote in their best
interest. Period.
Most candidates and political parties raise
hundreds of millions to influence the media, to buy airtime, and get on
TV. They know that all politics is media politics in America. There's
even a word for it: "The air war." They know the media sets the agenda,
spins the news, and decides what will and will not be discussed. The
war in Iraq grinds on partly because the media promoted it and now
mostly ignores it.
Let's put it simply. More coverage like ABC's
impartial bla bla bla and Fox's GOP trench warfare and John McCain will
be our next president. Period. The media knows how to make Sh*t smell
sweet. That's their business.
It's good that MoveOn has launched
a petition asking the networks not to do what they will continue to do.
At least it's a start. But so much more is needed--a serious activist
campaign to challenge the "Views" business, lobbying not just at the
FCC but of all organizations on the ground to put media change on their
agenda, and also significant, to support independent media to challenge
and where possible compete with the corporate media agenda.
Let's
think about the kind of "Media And Democracy Act" that will include
funding for media makers and media literacy educators that we can all
agree on.
While obscene amounts of money are being raised to
fund political campaigns, the Indy Media sector is actually being
defunded as foundations pull back and donors give everywhere but into a
dynamic counter media.
We need to get anti-war activists to
start campaigning for honest coverage from media companies that are
complicit in the war. We need to challenge the media failure to tell us
that the economic crisis was coming too. And investigate its causes,
the people responsible for the plunder.
We need to get so-called
media reform "movements" like Free Press to stop putting their main
focus on Washington lobbying and internet petitions or holding rallies
they call conferences with little follow-up to mount an activist
campaign for media accountability. Let's put some organizers in the
streets, not more lawyers and experts in the suites.
The sad
truth is that many of the organizations engaged in media advocacy won't
work together or cross-promote each other's work and, instead, compete
for funding and bragging rights. That's been our experience at
MediaChannel which was set up as a network to promote the whole
movement. We are hanging on when we should be flourishing as media
concentration and media crimes persist --yes, the word crime is not too
strong, a crime against democracy is what many media outlets have
become.
These are some of the ABC's of media change. Anyone listening? Anyone willing to act?
News
Dissector Danny Schechter spent eight years working for ABC News. He
now edits Mediachannel.org. Info on his latest film at
InDebtWeTrust.com.
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