Inside Media Reform Conference, Day One

At the opening reception, the Mayor of Memphis specifically invited the local media to attend some of the sessions at this conference. He clearly saw that they would benefit from going to this conference. There are over 3000 people from nearly every state in the union here.

The opening speech was from Bill Moyers. He spoke about the redistribution of wealth to the wealthy and the redistribution of power to the powerful. He said that media consolidation is going up, and the few remaining voices were under great economic and political pressure. He said that the pursuit of personal gain and power turns lies into truth and truth into lies. Moyers said all media matters but some matter more than others, and print media (newspaper) are the overwhelmingly most important at this time, for covering and uncovering important stories. He also commented that the nation’s newspapers are purposefully are dumbing down.

Moyers is producing a documentary called “Buying the War” to be released later this year. He commented again on how major media in our country contributed to ignorance leading up to the war. He said that people have to see how money and politics works to understand. An example of this NOT happening is pundits on TV discussing bill, some for and some against, without anyone discussing whose financial interests are being advanced with the passage or defeat of a bill in Congress.

Moyers said that others have been writing our story – and we had better take the pen from their hands. He spoke about how powers are working to control the internet for the ‘plantation’. He also commented on the “swhooshing” sound in DC- as someone shows up to serve the public and then move on to serving the interests of the powerful instead.

Under what to do – continue to petition congress to stop media consolidation, which has shown success so far. He feels we need to have equal access provision for the internet and feel that we (the public) changed the nature and direction of the debate. He also felt that we should all petition our local Public TV to carry Democracy Now! That way people can get access by TV on real news and real information, not spin, on what is going on.

Finally, Moyers said we have to get alternative content out there or our country will die from too many lies. He advised that we not depend on the hope of good results, but concentrate instead on the truth of what you are doing.

I guess that last one means we have to try, no matter if we have good prospects of achieving success. More later on the Media Reform Conference.

UPDATE: Jessie Jackson’s speech

He said Bush needs a rope, instead he has a shovel and is digging the hole deeper. (Presumably the rope is to get out of the hole, not to do a Saddam execution tape imitation. Seven children around the world have died from watching Saddam’s execution on TV and then imitating it.) Mr. Jackson spoke about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his stand against humans killing one another…. King said he would not be quiet and he would be heard. King was confronted by his colleagues to continue to work on civil rights instead of stopping the war. King did not follow their advice.

Jessie Jackson will be in DC for the January 27, 2007 MARCH ON WASHINGTON.

Jackson has been to many countries in the Middle East, and has met Saddam Hussein. He raises the question of why he is asked about the Duke Lacrosse team incidents, but not what he thinks about the war or the Middle East.

Jackson said that what we see on TV is “all day, all night, all white”. He said Iraq was like a ‘cross-eyed archery’ since we went after Saddam instead of bin Laden. Jackson’ says his analysis was right, Kissinger was wrong, but they still go to Kissinger. (I have a theory that pundits have to be wrong for a decade or two before they are offered a position. I cannot explain why anyone would still listen to Kissinger.)

Jackson said that Bush makes a women or black president much more plausible. If Bush can be president twice, anyone can be president once. He also said we need bold leadership, not baby steps. He said at the end to REINVEST IN AMERICA.

INSIDE CORPORATE MEDIA: CAN IT TELL THE TRUTH?

This panel consisted of Jeff Cohen (FAIR), Phil Donahue, Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now!) and Laura Washington (In These Times).

Jeff Cohen commented that a lack of accuracy, a lack of truthfulness, is not a barrier to get on the air – it may actually help you! Jeff Cohen mentioned that some of the more egregious errors – and said the more pundits are off (with the data) – the more they are ON (TV, that is). FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) looks at various groups are represented on TV – which is a study that right wing groups would never do. News Hour had five “stay the course” pundits for every “get out now” pundit. Donahue had to have two “pro-war” pundits to every “anti-war” pundit. Here are the three things he says we need to do:

1. challenge mainstream media – go for balance and diversity
2. promote independent and non-profit media
3. reform of media structure is important – net neutrality, and bust up media control.

Laura Washington talked about her background and how she worked inside and outside the media. She does a lot of freelancing and has an impact that way, even if she is not getting paid well. She said that corporate media is in TERROR, especially newspapers, because they are losing people and because they have been wrong so much. She commented that CONTENT is king. She commented on how in the early 1990’s African American communities were not discussing AIDS, but she came out with a story the day after Magic Johnson said he had HIV and that story got a lot of attention, because people want information.

Juan Gonzalez was introduced as someone who is a pain in the ass to corporate and media elite in our country. Juan said that mass media is a component of modern industrial society. He said it is essential for a democratic society, because all are equal on voting day – so mass media needs to get information out and control that information and control the sentiments to keep the benefit to the elites. Our nation, when new, needed newspapers to get organized and to get information to people. As people moved west, they started up their own newspapers in the new areas. He said that our press was part and parcel of the elites in this country, and later working people started up their own media. Development of media chains came from the development of the elite media. He then spoke on press and the war. Poor coverage of the war in nothing new in the press. It is very rare that commercial press will go against governments. He said in every war, governments sought to justify war - and in all cases, at least one side was wrong. Sometimes, all sides are wrong. During war is the toughest time to stand up to your government. It is the job of the press to try to get the “subjected” peoples stories told, but they fail in doing that. Today, technology is able to outstrip ability to provide CONTENT and we have an opportunity to use this as inroads to confront governments and corporate elites.

Juan Gonzalez’s comments reflect my own belief: All wars start with lies. And generally, the one starting the war is the one doing the lying. I stopped Juan as I was writing this up, and told him thank-you for all the good work he does and then told him my belief about wars and how they start. I wish all children could be taught this simple fact while in school, that all wars start with lies – maybe we could get more people to oppose their governments when they start wars.