It’s a typical Wednesday evening in November and it’s raining again. I hear loud chants outside my office window, the same ones that pierce that air three times a week, every week: “Union–Yes! Marriott–No! Union bashing’s got to go! What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now! Hey there Marriott, you’re no good! Sign that contract like you should.” When I first heard the demonstrations, I searched the newspapers for an explanation. None was forthcoming, and by now I’ve nearly incorporated the chants into the usual street sounds wafting up from Fourth and Mission Streets. Still, I wonder: Why is a major, ongoing union demonstration not news? Continue reading FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS: why labor actions are not news, by Akilah Monifa→
Media bashing has become a reflex for many, but critical analysis of what we read, listen to, and watch is what’s essential. As Media Alliance’s mission statement puts it, “To ensure the free and unfettered flow of information and ideas necessary to maintain a truly democratic society, media must be accessible, accountable, decentralized, representative of society’s diversity, and free from covert or overt government control and corporate dominance.” The basic principle here was stated more succinctly by Jim Hightower, quoting unknown cowboys: “Always drink upstream from the herd.” It is with these thoughts in mind that we assembled this media criticism reading list. Continue reading READ ‘EM AND THINK (CRITICALLY): A media criticism reading list, by Gabe Martinez and Akilah Monifa→
Three Bay area organizations, Retro Poll, the Youth Media Council (YMC), and If Americans Knew have been using monitoring tactics to challenge mainstream media’s reporting patterns. Their efforts take media criticism a step beyond analysis and are beginning to turn frustration at the lack of unbiased information in the mass media into productive steps towards media democracy and public access to balanced news. “We’ve found the media is failing to deliver honest, accurate, and full coverage, hence creating a misinformed American public,” claims Scott Campbell, coordinator for If Americans Knew an organization dedicated to providing accurate information on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.The organization focuses on this issue because according to Campbell, “ Americans have a vested interest in the region and must be accurately and adequately informed about the issue.” Through their monitoring, If Americans Knew has found that the media highlight Israeli deaths while barely reporting on Palestinian deaths. The organization hopes that making these findings available will move the America public to “act in accordance with morality, justice and the best interests of their nation and of the world.” Continue reading BAY AREA GROUPS MONITOR MAINSTREAM, by Samantha Calamari.→
American newspaper readers traditionally haven’t taken much interest in “foreign” news. Nevertheless foreign news has been on newspaper front pages for a long time. And America has had foreign policy ever since the USA was formed. Where do the ideas and intents of those policies —– and the news shaped by them —– come from?
When it comes to the question of why most progressive national media outlets reach such a small percentage of their potential audience, progressive activists are conflicted. On the one hand, we’re exhilarated when we reach large numbers–whether it’s the Independent Media Center website getting 1.5 million hits during the protests against the World Trade Organization, or the Chronicle running a rare cover story on an issue we care about. On the other hand, we insist that progressive media must hold firm to their progressive missions regardless of how large an audience they draw. Continue reading NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE MEDIA: WHO’S LEFT? by Andrea Buffa.→
Robert McChesney’s contention that democratizing the mass media must become a central–perhaps the central–concern of progressives is hard to dispute. However, the ways in which progressives are currently approaching the issue seem unlikely to substantially change the status quo. Continue reading DEMOCRATIZING THE MASS MEDIA: AN ASSESSMENT AND PROPOSAL. by Randy Baker→
During the action against the National Association of Broadcasters last September, a small group met to discuss a Communications Bill of Rights for the United States. Our aim was to start envisioning a democratic media that was accessible, inclusive, and accountable to everyone, and independent of both corporate and government control. Continue reading WHOSE MEDIA? OUR MEDIA! by Dorothy Kidd.→
“You get what you pay for,” was the opinion of one reader looking at the first edition of the “new” San Francisco Examiner. The first few editions of the newspaper had so many mistakes that a message on the website www.mediagossip.com called it the “joke of the journalism profession.” The errors and other problems could have been overlooked if this were the Fang family’s first publishing venture. But the Fangs are experienced newspaper publishers who have printed the San Francisco Independent three times a week for a decade, and the award-winning Asian Week for about the same period. Continue reading FANG’S EXAMINER. by Harrison Chastang.→
