It is now evident how controlled and dictated the
journalism is in the San Jacinto Valley; so much so that I wonder if we call it
journalism? We have seen campaign funds
thrown at local and national media sources, successfully curbing the outcome of
elections. Journalism and media is not
what it used to be and this is problematic if we are to preserve our democracy
and constitutional rights. This problem
is not unique to the San Jacinto Valley.
This problem is plaguing our nation.
I listened to a lecture given by Robert McChesney (radio host of Media
Matters) about his book The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media
Revolution that Will Begin the World Again, co-authored with John Nichols (The
Nation), at Boston College. The preface of
the book begins by explaining the state of journalism in 2010. Karen Dunlap testified before the Federal Communications
Division in April 2010 that since 2000, the newspaper industry had lost 30% of
its reporting and editing capability (McChesney and Nichols) . That percentage equates to $1.6 billion
dollars. Enter what is in my opinion the
greatest threat to American Democracy; the imminent death of journalism.
Journalism is dying and democracy right along with
it. There is a direct correlation (McChesney and Nichols) . We all know that the number of employed
journalists has been and is on the decline.
According to McChesney and Nichols’ research, we had PR reps
outnumbering journalists, 4 to 1, possibly more now. The majority of news articles originate from
PR reps for politicians and corporations reaching out to journalists asking
that a particular topic or event be covered.
This now dictates the majority of our news and is manipulating our free press
and democratic values. The original
stories that journalists used to write, the ones politicians and corporations didn’t
want covered, are no longer the majority; they are the minority. This has not
always been the case. There has been a gradual
decline in original/investigative journalism.
What they also found in their research is that in 2000, about half the
stories covered were original stories. In
1991, a majority of the stories covered were original stories.
The “old model” of journalism is decreasing and
nothing is stepping in to adequately replace it (McChesney and Nichols) . Subscribership to newspapers are continuing
to fall, as subscription fees continue to rise.
When you look at the news, most of it is either incidents or reprint of
a story that originated elsewhere. Is the internet to blame? With print, the volume of readers depends on
how fast and far the paper can travel. With
the internet, our news is instantaneous.
It can also spread much faster and farther than print ever could. We now have the ability to reach a larger
audience in less time. I think what happened
is that news became more efficient and no one was really prepared. Now, we just need to make what is efficient,
effective.
So, how do we obtain reliable, free press as it was
intended by our founding fathers?
According to McChesney and Nichols, we cure the 3 media
myths.
- Government should play no role in our media system.
- Press should mimic the free market economy. If it can’t make money, then it should disappear.
- Any government subsidy of journalism is worse than no subsidy at all because it leads to tyranny and genocide.
They make the point that historically, these three
views are inaccurate (McChesney and Nichols) . We need to stop thinking of media as a business;
it is a public service. This view was shared by our founding
fathers. The first 100 years of American
journalism was arguably the best journalism in the world at the time and it was
subsidized by the government. Our
founding fathers believed that in order to have a democratic state that free
press had to exist. What assisted in
providing our nation with the world’s best journalism? The printing contracts were bankrolled by the
government. The post office also helped
subsidize our nation’s early journalism.
Advertising emerged after the civil war, becoming the dominant subsidy
of American journalism. It was an “opportunistic
relationship” that is still alive today but is also on the decline (McChesney and
Nichols) . This tells me that unless we start demanding
journalism, we will lose our country simply out of complacency for free press.
One very important factor is the media monopoly. When the bottom line is profit, the product is
going to sway in the direction to support that profit; threatening free press, particularly
when a multitude of media outlets are owned by one corporation (McChesney and Nichols) . These media conglomerates are also heavy money
contributors in the campaign world.
Meaning, ‘news is fast becoming propaganda’ (McChesney and Nichols) .
The US government allocates about $400million/year of
the GDP to free press (McChesney and Nichols) . If government were to subsidize free press to
the point it did upon its first hundred years, we would allocate $30
billion/year of the GDP to free press. Do
we need to spend that amount? Absolutely
not. The internet gives us the advantage
of lower operating costs. The one cost
that cannot be eliminated or dramatically reduced is manpower. In order to provide good quality journalism,
you need good quality journalists. How
do you maintain a free press if it is subsidized by the government? Simply
remind people that free press is protected by the 1st Amendment.
“Bad men increase in knowledge as fast as good men, and science,
arts, taste, sense, and letters, are employed for the purposes of injustice and
tyranny, as well as those of law and liberty; for corruptions as well as for
virtue.” --John Adams
Work Cited
Robert McChesney, John Nichols. The Death and Life
of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again.
Nation Books, 2009.
1 comment:
I'm wondering about Citizen's United that allows unlimited funds to be donated to any campaign with no record of where the money comes from. That's how elections are bought and subsequent votes bought in government policy and say.
Flora J
Post a Comment