Starting a Movement

The TPM community's movement to establish mechanisms for media consumers to challenge media bias, distortion, and lies is going forward.

raider99 is fine tuning the Sudden Citizens' Action Against Media Distortion (SCAAMD) mission statement before sending it to Dan Rather (through a contact).  Here is the mission statement as it now stands:

To develop or encourage the development of tools to facilitate immediate, large-scale citizen action against media distortions, lies and propaganda, and to create a viral campaign to inspire people to speak out.

I think it's a good, succinct statement.  The tricky bit, of course, if how to implement the tools to do this and keep it going.  The best way to do this, I think, is with the help of already established individuals, groups, or organizations that care about keeping the MSM honest and would support a group of people outside of the industry who care as well.

That's why raider99 is going to contact Dan Rather, is establishing contact with Thom Hartmann (though Hartmann's wife currently), and has corresponded with Josh Marshall about working through a TPM site.

CarolBG has written to Media Matters to see if they'd support a landing page for SCAAMD.

Ripper McCord's great post on trying to break through the wall around the AP is both inspiring and a warning about the frustration we will all be facing in much of this crusade.

I've written to Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone of NPR's On the Media and, spurred by research by gettex, Columbia Journalism Review.

I may well have omitted other efforts, and if so, I apologize.  I want everyone who is demonstrating commitment to this crusade to be acknowledged and to know that I appreciate their actions.

A Consumer's Crusade

I've referred to SCAAMD's project as a crusade twice, and I've done it pointedly.  A crusade usually comes about because like-minded people recognize the need to change something that has political or social relevance.  The distortions, lies, and propaganda we are all seeing and hearing in the MSM may well be clear to us here at TPM, but they are not to those who rely on the MSM for all of their information about this election in particular and the world in general.

Media Matters' posts just for yesterday included these stories:

<blockquote>In an editorial about the pay gap between male and female workers, The Washington Times falsely asserted that "the relevant factors that affect pay—occupation, experience, seniority, education and hours worked—are ignored by those citing the wage gap." The editorial also asserted that "women tend to place a higher priority on flexibility and personal fulfillment" than on higher pay. In fact, a GAO study found that a pay gap persists even when controlling for work experience, seniority, education, industry, occupation, race, marital status, and job tenure.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Since July 13, the Associated Press has produced four separate articles that have described Sen. John McCain's position on immigration reform without mentioning that McCain's current position that the borders must be secured "first" represents a reversal from his previous position that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective. Nor did the articles mention that McCain said in January that he "would not" vote for the immigration reform bill he co-sponsored if it came to a vote on the Senate floor.</blockquote>
<blockquote>On MSNBC Live, Mika Brzezinski failed to correct Mitt Romney's false assertion that Sen. John McCain "said that [Donald] Rumsfeld needed to go." Although a McCain spokesman reportedly acknowledged that McCain "did not call for his resignation," MSNBC hosts have repeatedly failed to correct guests' assertions that he did so. </blockquote>
<blockquote>NPR's David Welna quoted Sen. Joe Lieberman saying "I don't have any intention" of joining the Republican Party "before the end of this session of Congress," to which Welna added: "Which still leaves unanswered what Lieberman might do in the next session of Congress." But Welna did not note that if Lieberman joined the Republican Party, he would be breaking his promise during the 2006 campaign to caucus with the Democrats if re-elected to the Senate.</blockquote>
<blockquote>In his July 7 Focus on the Family broadcast, James Dobson insisted that he and co-host Tom Minnery were "not throwing stones at Senator Obama for his faith" during an earlier show. However, later in the same broadcast, Minnery questioned if Obama is "even sincere with the way he talks about religion." </blockquote>
<blockquote>The Weekly Standard's Matthew Continetti falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama opposed designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. In fact, Obama said he would have voted against the bill Continetti referenced—the 2007 Kyl-Lieberman amendment—because it "states that our military presence in Iraq should be used to counter Iran," not because it designated the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Indeed, Obama co-sponsored a different bill in 2007 that also would have designated the group a terrorist organization.</blockquote>

Media Matters performs an important service by reporting these instances poor journalism, but they remain merely information unless employed.  It's all a game of insiders when professionals critique professionals about the quality of their work.  The objects of criticism can accept it and make changes or they can easily blow it off.

It's a different story when the consumers of this careless or malicious journalism say they won't accept it any more.  We have more power than we sometimes realize, and we can influence everything from how news is reported to who gets to report it.  We are the ones who can make the examples above and all the examples of lies, distortions, propaganda, and bias count for something by taking action with them.

I'm not sure how all of this will play out, but I'm committed enough to doing something to push the MSM into making immediate corrections to stories and make more effort to get them right in the first place to offer my time, energy, and ideas to the project.

Take a look at raider99's post with the mission statement and tools for action and see if it matters enough to you to join in the effort.