Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Watkins was a reporter for the Chicago tribune who gained fame by confecting “human interest” stories about “Chicago’s most fashionable murderesses.” She went to the Cook County jail, interviewed women, dressed them up and told their storeis.

Or rather created their stories — and thus the play and thus the great Bob Fosse musical with songs by Kander and Ebb.

THIS IS THE TEMPLATE FOR ALL OF “MAINSTREAM” JOURNALISM !!!!

You can read Watkins’ play, and the pieces she created (complete with photos) in a volume published a few years ago by The Southern Illinois University Press.

and all that jazz.

It seems as if their appeals to racism, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, bitterness, hypocrisy, belligerence and other traits of our lower-selves would weary their audiences after a short while, but they have been selling this garbage for years and continue to have a following. What is the big attraction?

How can we recourse this conservative slant? By refusing to ever buy or link to those newspapers ever again. Their Republicanism comes from their ownership so :working the refs” won’t do anything. They simply have to die….I’m sorry,go out of business.

This blog would coordinate with all the progressive blogs in (at least) these areas:

1. Community Action – Set up local progressive/Democratic “Help Desk” for the community with food bank, job training, medical care assistance, job placement, etc. The center would also register people to vote, keep track of local initiatives, and organize community protests. Bloggers could help staff and fund these enterprises by promoting them on their blogs, listing events and seeking contributions as needed. The community action section of BAC would be organized by community, and each community could have a local blogger as moderator.

2. Media Action – Bloggers would keep a running list of stories where a response or criticism is needed. The list could be kept in the same general spot on each of the blogs. By clicking on the link to respond to the story, the BAC website would automatically give you a summary of the problem, and the addresses and phone numbers of who to contact. The bloggers would all contribute to this list. Democratic Underground keeps a very extensive list of media addresses and phone numbers that could be used to set up this part of the blog.

3. Political Action – this part of the blog would be separated into two categories, federal and state. It would list important pending legislation, appointments, and who to contact regarding these. It would also list protests planned, and other group political actions and meetings. All of the various political action committees would be asked to contribute. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m on the list for so many political action committees, I get so many emails on so many topics, I can’t keep up. Perhaps organizing this way would sharpen the focus and limit the scatter somewhat.

4. Topical listings – This would be a list of various important topics that are of interest to the progressive community, and the important articles and blog entries on each. For example, racism would be a topic, with David Neiwert’s brilliant writings from Orcinus. The Valerie Plame story’s best blog entries are found here at Firedoglake from Christy Hardin Smith. Again, Democratic Underground has already developed a really good listing of topics, used in a different manner (for current news, as opposed to generalized topical reading). This would allow someone looking for a full understanding of a particular topic to go and read all of the important progressive entries on that topic.

5. Talking Points – a list of good talking points compiled by bloggers regarding various topics of interest. This would give progressives a quick reference guide for winning the water cooler wars, and also could serve politicians looking for good ways to address significant points. Things like “Democrats believe in guarding our gates, not goading our enemies” are short, sweet ways to convey the difference between us and them. Bloggers are uniformily excellent at putting together such talking points, and if the rest of us had a quick reference guide, it would surely help a lot.

6. Blog lists – A full list of progressive blogs, and their specialties.

This concept would only work if the bloggers all got together to coordinate it. They would need to agree on the media stories to attack, the most important actions to take, etc.

When the Fourth Estate became corrupt and the priority changed to who was first with a story, and being first with the “proper” perspective meant access to developing stories, the power changed hands.

The news media weakened their ability to do investigative reporting when they changed their priorities to writing from the establishment perspective rather than the insightfulness of the writing; in so doing, they converted their journalists to reporters who seek to please by promoting the right wing perspective.

This mistake is based on the false notion that the right wing has better answers toward today’s problems than the left. If the right’s arguments held water it would not be necessary to be deceitful and secretive about everything from the economy to the environment, to the descriptions of personal actions.

One day it may be recognized that it is ignorant to further unsound arguments to support a corrupt government, because of the effect it has over “our” survival as a nation. Currently, the only concern held by some journalists is their careers. They claim that they are only being “realistic” or “pragmatic”. Before the “neocons” the synonym for both words would be “cowardly”.

One runs with the ideas of those in power regardless of the efficacy of their concepts. Ultimately, this is extremely harmful to our nation, because from such a perspective democracy and freedom are the first victims.

Reporters do what editors/bosses want because they want to keep their jobs/careers on track. And access is the wellspring of news, at least to these powerful people. TPM and others show this is false, but it’s CW for now. Let me add one further point.

If we want the long view answer about what will correct these weaknesses in the press, the answer is ultimately education. We cannot expect reform to come by revisiting the ethical codes of journalists, nor from the scoldings of the Ben Bagdikians and Arianna Huffingtons and Robert McChesneys of the world. They all help, but who has the ears to hear them? And what code can stand up to exigencies of keeping one’s job? The public must recognize that what makes news “news” is an Information-Action connection. If information is irrelevant to action, it is entertainment; if information is obfuscatory of action, it is propaganda. And education (of history, politics, logic) is what it takes to form and apply the criterion that divides news from propaganda or entertainment. Only education can provide that, and the people must demand it at the local level.

Critical thinking can be offered at a blog, but ultimately it is a habit. And habits require training, and training requires a guiding philosophy, both for its own guidance and for those who will repeatedly need to justify its funding.

Education, education, education.

My blog at: http://blog.davidhildebrand.org/