Media Reform

Please Support Independent Media

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Article by Staff in the Daily Kos

Headline:  “The traditional media is not our friend.”

“That’s not a controversial stance, but the notion of the ‘liberal media’ has been a hindrance for progressive power-building. It’s not their job to be our friend, but unlike conservative donors, who never tire of building new friendly media outlets, liberal donors refused to do so because, you know, ‘liberal media.’

“This year, the progressive movement saw the folly of that belief. And it brings home just how important it is to support real progressive media like Daily Kos.

“Media critic Jeff Jarvis calls out the media in the starkest terms:

‘You have refused to recognize fascism at the door. You insist on covering authoritarianism as just another side in still-symmetrical American politics.

‘You let yourselves be exploited by these malign forces to spread their bigotry and bile, cushioned with your white-gloved euphemisms and sane-washing. . . ‘ ”

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/11/20/2287098/-Support-independent-media-support-Daily-Kos?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=from_markos_desk&pm_medium=web

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Something Wrong with Reporting?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jeff Jarvis, 10/29/24

Headline:  “Why Are Liberals Infuriated with the Media?”

Subhead:  “From sanewashing to false equivalence, many readers have had it with their favorite news publications. Editors would do well to listen.”

“Even before the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post overruled their editorial boards and, without warning or explanation, spiked endorsements of Kamala Harris—triggering resignations of journalists, a public uproar, and mass subscription cancellations—liberal disappointment and anger with some of the largest national news organizations was already boiling over.

“Of course, the right-wing has had it out for the press across generations and continents, labeling news media Lügenpresse (‘the lying press’) or ‘fake news.’ Donald Trump has attacked and threatened the press. That is not new. Nor is liberal loathing of Rupert Murdoch’s bully pulpits, which act as political agents (though the Wall Street Journal editorial board just mined fresh depths, dismissing the threat of fascism as merely a meme and marking Democrats as ‘the national socialists’.

“What is new and striking is the current wave of grievances regarding political coverage coming from once-devoted liberal readers as well as experienced journalists.”

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/liberals-infuriated-media-cancel-subscription-editorial-endorsement-times-washington-post-jarvis.php

Journalists of Valor Rewarded

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CPJ photo

Article by Citizens to Protect Journalists by Staff, 11.22.24

Headline: “CPJ recognizes fearless journalists at 2024 International Press Freedom Awards”

Subhead:  “Press freedom gala, hosted by John Oliver, honors journalists from four continents”

“The 2024 awardees were all honored for their courage in reporting on their communities while experiencing war, prison, government crackdowns, and increasing efforts to criminalize their work.

This year’s awardees were: Shrouq Al Aila, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza and director of Ain Media; Quimy de León, a Guatemalan journalist and co-founder of Prensa Comunitaria; Samira Sabou; one of Niger’s most prominent investigative journalists, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist and editor jailed by Russia in 2023.”

https://cpj.org/2024/11/cpj-recognizes-fearless-journalists-at-2024-international-press-freedom-awards/

 

 

No Progressive Media Machine?

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Article in the Raw Story by John Stoehr, 11/21/24

Headline:  “Until there’s a liberal media apparatus, the Democrats will live in Trump’s America”

“. . . critics are missing the real lesson from the 2024 election – that her policies were not the determining factor in her defeat. It was the ear-splitting volume of the accusations against her and the absence of equal and opposite accusations against him.”

“. . . It didn’t matter because what she said, the substance of her message wasn’t as important to the outcome of the election as the volume of it, which is to say, the substance of what she said could not be heard through the din of the rightwing media apparatus. As media expert Matthew Sheffield said today, nothing was going to get through that, not even the shared reality of the economy. “Through seven TV channels, more than 1,500 talk-radio stations, and millions of social media posts. . .”

“. . . Trump’s attack ads worked in tandem with thousands of media sites, including the one formerly known as Twitter, that have been operating around the clock since 2020, often in parallel with the Washington press corps. They were able to take one small thing Harris said years ago and turn it into a caricature so ridiculous that a convicted felon like Donald Trump could look like a viable candidate by comparison. . . ”

“. . . The volume of the rightwing media apparatus, especially when it’s in sync with the Washington press corps, is so loud that it can feel like the ultimate arbiter of our political reality. As one CNN anchor put it this morning, this is Donald Trump’s America. We’re just living in it. Until there’s a liberal media apparatus, one that can meet bad info with good info, the Democrats will continue living in Trump’s America, too.

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/liberal-media/

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Josh Hersh, 11/20/24

Headline:  “Why Traditional Media Can’t Have Its Own Joe Rogan”

Subhead:  “Vulture’s Nicholas Quah on the lessons from Donald Trump’s foray into podcast-land.”

” . . . sometimes when people say that these platforms are not journalistic, there is a very specific and very narrow idea of journalism they are referring to, according to the old rules. Whereas we now live in a world where there’s an increasing number of people who are just not familiar with, or maybe aren’t even exposed to the value of, the old rules. . . ”

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/why-the-media-cant-have-its-own-joe-rogan.php

We Need More Media Consolidation?

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Article in LA Times by By Stephen Battaglio, 11/21/24

Headline: “How Trump’s FCC chief pick could make life more difficult for media companies”

“President-elect Trump’s nomination of Brendan Carr as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is bringing both hope and fear to the media industry.

“For media executives, the hope comes in the promise of industry consolidation.

“Companies such as Fox Television Stations, Nexstar Media Group, Tegna and Gray Media are eager to buy more TV stations to better compete against deep-pocketed tech firms that are aggressively pursuing viewers and ad dollars. Carr is expected to support revisiting the rule on ownership of TV stations. Brendan Carr answers questions during a hearing.”

“. . . Big media companies are bracing for the possibility that he will do Trump’s bidding when the president-elect threatens retribution against media outlets that are unfriendly to him.”

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-11-21/how-trumps-fcc-chief-pick-could-make-life-more-difficult-for-media-companies

A Future for Independent Media?

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Feveb Marid, 11/22/24

Headline:  “The Promise of IndyMedia”

Subhead:  “Twenty-five years after its founding, a much-diminished community journalism organization may still offer a model for the future.”

After the Battle in Seattle in 1999 “. . . posts appeared on a website under the name IndyMedia, reaching more than a million people worldwide.”

“The site was intended to last only as long as the demonstrations. ‘The resistance is global,’ the opening post went. ‘The web dramatically alters the balance between multinational and activist media. With just a bit of coding and some cheap equipment, we can set up a live automated website that rivals the corporates.’ In the twenty-five years that followed, IndyMedia revealed the extent of that promise well beyond its early bloggers’ imaginations, as it grew into a full-fledged open publishing network of activist journalism, with some two hundred community centers and national and global online hubs.”

It still survives as this website:   https://indymedia.org/

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/local-news-indymedia-network-25-anniversary.php

 

More Media Abandon X

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Article in Common Dreams by Olivia Rosane, 11/15/24

Headline:  “Major Media Reform Group Says Goodbye to Musk’s ‘Toxic Twitter'”

Subhead:  “It’s clear that X will not correct course under Musk’s leadership, and it’s time for Free Press to exit.”

“Media watchdog Free Press announced on Thursday that it would leave the social media platform formerly known as Twitter over concerns about owner Elon Musk’s platforming of hateful speech, fostering an increase of disinformation, and his intensifying harassment of critics

“In doing so, the advocacy group joined the more than 100,000 U.S. users who have abandoned Musk’s X following Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election last week. Musk aggressively used the site to boost Trump and his campaign, promoting him with tweets worth $24 million and spreading disinformation about the Democratic Party and the integrity of U.S. voting infrastructure.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/free-press-leaves-toxic-twitter

Technofascism and the Media

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Article in The Guardian by Joan Donovan, 11/11/24

Headline: “First came the bots, then came the bosses – we’re entering Musk and Zuck’s new era of disinformation”

Subhead: “Tech leaders’ politics are encoded into their platforms – and with Trump’s ascent, they have direct access to the Oval Office”

“. . . When tech CEOs encode their political beliefs into the design of platforms, it’s a form of technofascism, where technology is used for political suppression of speech and to repress the organization of resistance to the state or capitalism.

“Content moderation at these platforms now reflects the principles of the CEO and what that person believes is in the public’s interest. The political opinions of tech’s overlords, like Musk and Zuckerberg, are now directly embedded in their algorithms.”

“. . .Whether it’s Musk’s strategy of overloading users with posts from himself and Trump, or Zuckerberg’s silencing of political discussion, it’s citizens who suffer from such chilling of speech.”

“If we are to disarm disinformers, we need a whole of society approach that values real Talk (Timely, Accurate Local Knowledge) and community safety. . . .  But most of all, it’s going to require that you and I do something quickly to protect those already in the crosshairs of Trump’s new world order, by donating to or joining community organizations tackling issues such as women’s rights and immigration. Even subscribing to a local news outlet is a profound political act these days. Let that sink in.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/12/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-disinformation

Falling Down?

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Article  in The Hollywood Reporter by Ales Wepring, 11/7/24

Headline:  “Media’s Crisis Point: It’s Losing Relevance and Scorned In Trump Era. A Reboot May Be Next”

Subhead: “Former President Trump’s decisive victory Tuesday will cause media outlets — particularly those that fashioned themselves as nonpartisan — to rethink their strategies.”

“Former President Trump’s decisive victory Tuesday led to a shockwave that was felt in newsrooms across Washington D.C. and New York. Everyone knew the polls were close and that a Trump win was a strong possibility, sure, but the scale of Trump’s win left one senior producer at a broadcast network stunned: “We are questioning our relevance right now,” they said Wednesday morning.”

“. . . Indeed, there are blaring red warnings signs for traditional media everywhere you look. Ratings for the broadcast and cable news channels saw steep declines in ratings from Nielsen (finals showed an average of 42.3 million people, down from nearly 57 million four years ago), with the lowest ratings in decades. The steepest drop was felt at CNN, which saw its numbers fall below MSNBC for the first election night since that channel launched nearly three decades ago.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/media-crisis-trump-era-1236055073/

Rich Men and the Media

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Thomas Nast Cartoon

Article in the New York Times by By David Streitfeld, 10/30/24

Hedline:  “Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and the Billions of Ways to Influence an Election”

Subhead:  “The world’s richest men have their own rocket fleets, their own media and their own schemes to succeed with Donald J. Trump.”

“Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos and other extremely rich people are confronted with unusual opportunities and invisible perils in the tightest, most dramatic, chaotic and highest stakes political battle in modern times. Everyone has a stake in this election, of course, but the very wealthy have so much at stake — or at least think they do — that they are perhaps inevitably trying to shape it, too.”

“. . . Many billionaires now are activists. One reason is there are more of them — the ranks of U.S. billionaires are up 38 percent by one estimate since Mr. Trump first took office in 2016 — and they have even more money. ”

“. . . On Friday, when The Post announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate, Blue Origin’s chief executive, Dave Limp, had a brief meeting with Mr. Trump in Texas. Mr. Bezos did not respond to a request for comment but said in a piece he wrote in The Post on Monday that he knew this “would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision” and that the whole thing was a coincidence.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/technology/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-election.html