American mass media is a marvel of technology. It is whiz bang, sparkle glitter, and satellite wizardry. It is a master plan of methods to communicate, and a pauper’s worth of substance. With such technology, how are people so woefully misinformed? The average American neither knows nor cares about the vast world beyond the nation’s border. The average American student knows little math, no history, and very little geography and nor does he or she want to know. Americans have computer in school, dozens of TV stations, and the most aggressive news media on earth, does that mean they’re better informed?
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?
David Gaither is an associate editor at Pacific News Service (PNS), where he works on The Beat Within, a weekly newsletter by and for incarcerated youth in the Bay Area, as well as on New California Media: In Search of Common Ground, a television talk show aimed at members and readers of the ethnic press; Youth Outlook, a journal of youth life in the Bay Area; and the PNS wire service. He is a graduate of the 1997 Bay Area Mentorship for Reporters of Color (BAMROC) program, a month-long intensive internship that combined advanced journalism skills training with briefing sessions on issues important to local communities of color. The 22-year-old journalist and community activist lives in San Leandro with his wife, Karrima, and their eight-month-old daughter, Kalimah. Continue reading TAKING JOURNALISM TO JAIL: an interview with David Gaither, by Elton Bradman→
Originally appeared in Studies in Political Economy, Fall 2000.
Reprinted by permission of the author.
Of all contemporary popular struggles, the struggle to democratize the communication media is arguably one of the most important and least recognized. In this article, I first argue for the importance of placing media democratization higher on the progressive agenda, and briefly sketch its normative commitments. Then, I explore the potential social and political obstacles and bases for a media democracy movement, concluding with a few strategic suggestions. Continue reading TAKING BACK THE MEDIA: NOTES ON THE POTENTIAL FOR A COMMUNICATIVE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT. By Bob Hackett→
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.→
DB: Talk about evolving U.S. policy in Colombia. The Interhemispheric Resource Center in Albuquerque has issued a statement: “U.S. Policy in Colombia: Towards a Vietnam Quagmire.” Do you think that’s an appropriate analogy? The New York Times writes in an editorial titled “Dangerous Plans for Colombia” that the aid to Colombia “risks dragging the United States into a costly counterinsurgency war.” Continue reading NOAM CHOMSKY: BEHIND THE HEADLINES ON COLOMBIA. AN INTERVIEW by David Barsamian.→
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→
