Tilting at Media Windmills?
By Susan J. Douglas
In These Times
In April, the news media began a predictable turn to “image scandals” in the presidential campaign. And then it got worse.
ABC’s instantly scandalous April 16 “debate” — moderated by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos (who looked like newsmen, only smaller) — prompted an outpouring of protest and criticism. Public outrage — that it took 50 minutes to get to any issue of substance — became a news story in its own right.
These people do not think the news media is “too liberal.”
They think it’s too stupid.
The audience has grown more willing than ever to vocally criticize the corporate media and their refusal to serve our interests. Some of the credit for this goes to Bob McChesney and John Nichols, founders of the spirited media reform organization, Free Press, and to Josh Silver, its indefatigable director.
When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or Congress is about to offer yet another regulatory gift basket to conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, or to allow corporate interests to determine what you can and cannot get online, Free Press mobilizes hundreds of thousands and bombards the Feds with protests. In 2007 alone, it helped generate more than 1 million letters to Congress and the FCC — not bad for an upstart organization founded by an academic (McChesney) and a journalist (Nichols) and that includes media critics like me on its board.
Free Press started in 2003 as an effort to focus people’s exasperation over the inanities we saw on our TVs and the radio. (Remember when Clear Channel censored songs like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” after 9/11?) Its goal was to also address the corporate consolidation going on behind the screens.
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