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Follow-Up - Our Voice and the Media Continued
I have written to both Media Matters and Free Press, the following suggestion (lightly edited for each one).
I would like to see if the people here agree with this idea. If so, please reinforce the plan by contacting them, and any other sites you think would be appropriate.
I have been blogging over at TPM recently, and I started a discussion about how we can make our voices loud and clear in telling the truth to counter the lies and distortions that have become the norm on mainstream "news" channels and programs.What I find about Free Press and Media Matters is that the idea is correct, but the process is too difficult for busy people. My suggestion follows:
A landing page that contains the most recent issue that has occurred in which a mainstream media program, talking head or panel has misrepresented the truth. The exact situation is described, preferably with video, but also with at text synopsis with quotes. Specific action alternatives are given, including but not limited to names and contact information (email/phone/mailing address) of SENIOR officials at the network in charge of these shows. Also, contact information for companies that buy advertising on those shows. All the information people need to make an immediate and ongoing impact.
The idea is to make a "today" page that contains these elements: 1. The story and why it's false or flawed. 2. The resources needed to protest it and demand correction.
The today pages can be archived so that people could see them in weekly digests, but the landing page should be very current and immediate, not requiring anything other than to see the issue and respond to it - assuming you agree. This streamlines the process, and we can suggest in all the blogs that people who want to be heard on the matter come to the [Free Press/Media Matters] site.
Comments? Improvements? New directions?
Comments (20)
Kudos to raider99 & ripper for their efforts to bring truth to & a quick way to stop the lies that currently occupy most,if not all of the MSM. If this effort succeeds there can be no better way to assure the election of Barack Obama.
This should excite any that are being fed the idea by the Rove element that the bloom has begun to fade from Obama & are starting to believe it & also the one point people who are willing to desert over visa.
These two have put so much effort into changing politics as usual they have undying gratitude from, I hope, most of us at TPM.
July 7, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the kudos. What I hope is to inspire lively dialog, more solutions and effective action from those assembled. It's all learning, but if people think the smears are going to bounce off Obama like water off a duck, I don't want to bet the farm on it. I want to see us taking action and spreading truth as thickly as they spread lies and distortions.
July 7, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am too new here to offer much on this topic.
But I wish all of us could be kinderto other posters we disagree with..and I'm not implying anyone on this thread has been unkind.
I know that within three posts of arriving here, someone called me an "asshole"! The provocation was saying something about FISA.
For a while I got harsh also, but decided to chuck that mode of being and just mellow out.
It sure makes posting easier for me at least, when I follow St Thomas More's dictum: "Do None Harm. Say None Harm. Think None Harm."
My two centavos. FWIW
July 7, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, love this! It's the kind of thing that shouldn't be at all difficult for one these advocacy groups to get off the ground and quickly. It's the kind of thing that interns could monitor each day and maintain. Low-cost, no fuss and a real public service that speaks to their mission. I'll get on their sites and send a message as well.
July 7, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic, Carol. That's what I'm hoping for. Maybe we can create a fast response method of countering the offensive MSM. Thanks for supporting the idea.
July 7, 2008 5:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Done! I'll share their response when I hear back. I asked if they'd have a representative post here to share in our discussion and provide some suggestions of how we could collectively and strategically use our resources to most effectively respond to the blatantly dishonest and slanted coverage of the candidates that we're seeing. I think there's a lot of potential in these internet networking groups. We just need to know how to focus what we have here to good effect.
July 7, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Somehow that got over to this thread: please disregard. It was intended to go on the tankard thread. [blush]
Still, good advice!
July 7, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
No harm, Lux. There are people who like to flame others, but the majority of people here are more interested in good discussion. It can be contentious at times, but never needs to be mean spirited. Hold your ground and stick to your principles. I'm not here to be right, but to engage in dialog, to learn, to share and hopefully to make us stronger in our support of human rights and the issues we all (or most) believe in.
July 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The more I think about this idea, the more I like it. I especially like it if executed in a high- profile, nonpartisan way so it becomes a mainstream, gold-standard propaganda- buster.
I picture a little daily propaganda-buster video icon that is featured on liberal, conservative and independent blogs, nonprofits and other sites. A simple and recognizable icon in a bright color, so if I'm at the Organic Consumers Association, or the League of Women voters, or the American Bar Association, this recognizable little icon stands out and I can just click for a daily update. All trusty organizations and blogs would want to promote this because the media misinformation gets in their way! So the possibilities are endless for a very large audience. I'm sure TPM would be receptive to the icon on its pages.
If this video was balanced and backed up with plenty of evidence...and many organizations began to put the icon for the daily video on their front page, would there also be pressure for places like the New York Times and MSM to show they were credible and sign on, too? (plus, lots of clicks is lots of money in the for-profit media world, right?)
Would a well-established, noncontroversial, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization with a politically diverse citizen membership be most successful with this idea? (sorry, each and every qualifier was necessary :) I can see things really taking off if this were done right so that a diverse and large audience could be maintained.
Maybe a panel of independent journalists with a rotating jury of viewers selected by lottery to make content decisions?
I would appreciate if TPM had a little icon I could click on to get a daily MSM propaganda buster that was well supported and unbiased.
Great way for people of all political persuasions to get a reality check on the mainstream media.
Whatever organization does this, I really think it should be nonpartisan, so as not to alienate those duped Republicans and others talked about on your last thread. Those are the people you want the most.
July 7, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love how you've visualized this movement. It's fairly ambitious, but that's the beauty of the internet. If we can conceive it, perhaps with enough cooperation, we can enable it. I am not sure how we would pull this kind of idea off, and how, for that matter, it could extend into the broadcast side of the MSM, but this is just the kind of creative thinking I was hoping for when I started these threads.
Thanks.
July 7, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Happy to hear I was on the right track. I think it will be pulled of if set up right as THE symbol of objective journalism when included on a blog or news site. The daily video icon could act as a stamp of credibility for those sites that carry it. So any news, blog or organization that offers something like this is saying "We are not afraid of being held to a high standard, we support good journalism based on facts and we welcome scrutiny and correction when we get sloppy."
I think you'd have ready participants as it would be useful to so many organizations whose missions are thwarted by media propaganda. Since this would be a novel way to raise credibility, attract readers and maybe even increase the diversity of readers, why not contact or meet with a few organizations, like the League of Women's Voters for help getting started.
Maybe also get feedback from places like Politico, The Nation, WatchingAmerica, TPM, nonprofits, etc.
If well done, it just seems like a win-win. The MSM makes it easy to forget that regardless of party affiliation, a great majority of citizens and organizations have very similar interests in promoting fact-based information. I'd argue that the minority who like to skew facts don't know what's good for them. There is no way for our country to be strong if policies continue to be made based on misinformation.
July 8, 2008 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
"There is no way for our country to be strong if policies continue to be made based on misinformation."
Exactly. The problem is, certain types of political forces prefer an uninformed or misinformed electorate. They don't care about the country - as in the citizens thereof - but their power. That's what we're fighting - the people who seek power over others, who naturally will dumb down education to keep people from having the skills to challenge them, and will continue to move the MSM from news to propaganda. It has already come a long way. We need reform - big reform - and we won't get it with Republicans in the White House and Congress. They like it they way it is. How else could they tank the economy, destroy our position in the world, bankrupt our national coffers, deny science again and again, make war on the environment that we all depend upon and lie to us at every turn - and still have any chance of getting reelected. Only by manipulation and propaganda, thanks to a corrupted MSM, can they have any hope of continuing their power-mad dreams.
July 8, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Josh Marshall does have creds among the political reporters that he termed "incorrigable morons" recently and is focusing attention on the way the media is covering and even moving memes damaging to Obama of late.
Perhaps he could devote some real TPM assets to exploring the phenomenon and naming/shaming names on a consistant basis. A permanent link on the Front Page to the latest examples of offenders and their offenses could provide their peers and colleagues with some giggles.
The egregious assholes really don't care what WE think but if their peers start to take notice, gossip among themselves and even worse, start sniggering about their "journalism", their status within the clique will begin to erode.
Resuscitate "The Horse's Mouth" and put someone other than Greg Sargent on the beat. Sargent is too compromised and his invaluable connections to the insiderdom of the politicals and their willing hacks would be damaged were he to take them on directly.
Perhaps there could be a weekly competition somewhat along the lines of the one by the deeply mourned "Media Whores Online".
July 7, 2008 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if Josh Marshall is listening.
July 7, 2008 10:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love this idea. I've been reading Media Matters and sending emails when I can, but I have longed for a simpler streamlined way to accomplish this action.
I've also wished for a way to see how many other people are emailing/phoning the msm about specific complaints to see if we are making any impact.
It would be fantastic to see an organized and full blown internet effort to force the msm to be factual and reliable in their reporting.
I believe your idea has merit and serious potential to alter the direction the msm has currently taken.
Just wanted to add my support.
July 8, 2008 12:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the comment. Since you are already a Media Matters reader, perhaps you can reinforce this suggestion by writing to them, as Carol and I have done. One suggestion may be ignored, but if we keep on them, perhaps they'll find a way to implement just what we're talking about here.
July 8, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is terrific and I will follow through with media matters today.
I know it's a lot to ask, but could you continue to post about this and give examples, updates, etc.? I know it would be greatly appreciated (and needed).
Thanks this post (and others).
July 8, 2008 11:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Aunt Sam. I see some refinement and new ideas coming out of these discussions, and I'd like to keep the idea alive. I don't want to spam the system, however. But the more people we have thinking and acting on this, I think, the better.
July 8, 2008 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
This post and the ensuing comments has given me some nice goose bumps. What great ideas/solutions/exchanges to brainstorm about actually deal with the infested MSM.
I wonder if we could have a second 'Muckrakers' site to highlight and then evoke collective work researching some of the MSM's mucky behaviors? I always loved how a bunch of savvy folks uncovered the truth about Jeff Gannon in a few short hours. I also so appreciate how Josh and his crew, with readers' help uncovered the pattern about the fired US attorneys, forcing the MSM to pay attention.
July 8, 2008 3:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is a wonderful idea. I reached my limit of MSM crap when I heard an interviewer on an NPR program ask a guest about the "problem with Obama giving his campaign money to pay off Clinton's debt". I really wanted to scream. I thought that any radio show host should be up on the facts and not asking/repeating misinformation. Jeezloueez.
July 12, 2008 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
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