Capital Times Editor and Madison uber-liberal John Nichols is attending the 2nd National Conference for Media Reform which concludes today. Nichols is a founder and board member of the organization Free Press, and it is his expressed desire that this meeting is the beginning of a movement to change the organizational structure of American Media. In the John Nichols view of the world, the problem is that news content is bad because the system is bad. Free Press FAQ: “Is the problem with the media bad or incompetent owners and employees?”
“No. … The main problem is that the structure of the media system makes socially dubious behavior — e.g. lousy journalism, violent and mindless entertainment, hypercommercialism — the rational outcome. … If we wish to change the nature of media content we need to change the cues so that good journalism and quality material will be the rational product of its operations. To do that requires that we change the government policies that shape and direct the media system. That is why Free Press exists.”In other words, the uber-left is convinced that a "for profit" structure of news delivery inevitably produces a product they don’t like. The structure of the American Media is spelled out in extensive detail in the 2005 The State of the News Media Report. This is a long detailed study but two phrases from the Executive Summary PDF capture the essence of the ongoing change.
“Today technology is transforming citizens from passive consumers of news produced by professionals into active participants who can assemble their own journalism. The era of "Trust Me" journalism has passed and the era of "Show Me" journalism has begun.”The Free Press website has speaker lists and links to bloggers covering the St. Louis conference and it strikes me the complaints distill down to a concern the capitalist system is allowing the public to decide what they want to know rather than what they need to know. In uber-left thinking, when a for profit corporation makes news product decisions based on what the public wants, the corporations are inappropriately acting as “gatekeepers” deciding what is important.
News Hounds Report: Naomi Klein: “She made the point that all liberal/progressive causes - environmentalism, reproductive rights, civil rights, anti-war sentiments, health care, increasing poverty, etc. - come up against the same wall, the mass media. Our concerns are not given coverage and debate, with the media gatekeepers deciding what is "important" to Americans and the world. Unfortunately they confirm and celebrate the very worst, they are credulous of power and contemptuous of powerless, they cheer bombs and jeer anti-war activists. … She said we don't need to reform the media, we need to revolutionize it!”It seems to me that every single “liberal/progressive cause” Naomi Klein references has been covered over and over and over and over and over and over. If the John Nichols liberals don’t like how the public has responded to the news coverage, I still don’t understand how that is a result of corporate profit concerns censoring “ideas”. The progressive left agenda is failing because their logic is flawed, but at least they have a good time when they do gather together to complain.
Wetmachine Report: “Bob McChesney spoke on how this is a broad movement not just limited to left wing progressives. Of course, 90% of the audience *are* left wing progressives. So when he rhetorically asked “Are we just trying to tear down Rush Limbaugh and put Al Franken in his place?” Some folks got confused and shouted “YES” and big applause.”PS: Kudos to Dummocrats Traffic Growth in an environment where Blog Traffic is Down Since the Election. As with all prior media incarnations, quality over time will prove out.
