More on news quality and media profits
In print in Mother Jones this month, more on the realization that newsroom staffing is good for the mainstream media's profits as well as content:It's not the Internet that's killing newspapers. It's the equity-chasing investors and their friends at the FCC who have put outsize profits before a free press.
The blogs have been all over this one for a few weeks (Dollars & Sense, Bob Harris), but MJ's print coverage is, of course, quite a bit more extensive.
Labels: media
Real news raises newspapers' profits
When the Boston Independent Media Center and encuentro 5 brought David Barsamian, Cynthia Peters, and various representatives of Boston-based independent media together to discuss media issues last month, one topic that came up was the trend among the big media and entertainment corporations that own most daily newspapers for cutting newspaper staff—especially editorial staff—and citing declining newspaper readership and profits as their reason. John Grebe, host of Sounds of Dissent on WZBC, pointed out that we should look beyond the decline in profits and look at the profits themselves before we sympathize with this trend. Grebe cited reports of phenomenal 19% profit rates among entertainment and media conglomerates in 2005. Dollars & Sense's Esther Cervantes responded that, in that case, newspaper-owning corporations have the flexibility to support their newspapers rather than eviscerate them—if they want to.It now appears that maintaining newspapers' editorial integrity need not involve a trade-off with phenomenal profits. Last week, Reuters reported on a University of Missouri-Columbia study that shows, based on ten years of financial data, that newspapers that spend more money on their content make more money. According to the study's author, Esther Thorson, "If you lower the amount of money spent in the newsroom, then pretty soon the news product becomes so bad that you begin to lose money."
If cutting newsroom staff isn't actually good business, then what are the real reasons behind the trend?
Thanks to Bob Harris for the link.
Labels: media
What can we do about the state of the American media?
The state of the American media has been on the Dollars & Sense mind a lot lately, with our publication of the second edition of Eesha Williams' Grassroots Journalism, the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis in January, last night's event at encuentro 5 with David Barsamian, Cynthia Peters, and local radio producers Linda Pinkow and John Grebe, and this afternoon's radio discussion of media matters on 88.1 WMBR's Spherio.Grassroots Journalism is, as its subtitle tells us, a practical guide to practicing grassroots journalism: journalism about and in support of the strength, knowledge, experience, hopes, and deeds of ordinary people. The National Conference for Media Reform was an inspiring and important gathering of 3,000 people to discuss media issues ranging from media concentration and FCC regulations to media criticism, writing op eds, and what's next for alternative media. The encuentro 5 event and the Spherio broadcast were lively discussions among alternative media workers about how to increase our influence. Through this book and these events, we've learned that the ownership of multiple media outlets by entertainment corporations fosters programming that makes it hard to tell not only where the entertainment ends and the ad begins, but also where the news ends and the entertainment begins. We've learned that media concentration destroys local coverage and makes news media irrelevant to peoples' lives. We've learned that media concentration tightens the institutional bonds that keep even the most earnest mainstream reporters bound to the wishes of their outlets' executives and advertisers. We've learned that such commercialized media encourage a similarly commercialized public, which is bad for democracy. And we've learned that the alternative media can only get us so far—and we're not sure in what direction.
The one question that keeps recurring, though, is this: All right. So the American media are in dire shape. What can we do about it?
Here are a few possible answers.
- Go to conferences. These aren't always the best places to find answers, it's true— but you will be inspired and energized, and you're bound to learn something. Two of the best conferences on media are the National Conference for Media Reform and Women, Action, & the Media (March 30 & April 1 at MIT). And find conferences on other topics, not just media, that interest you.
- Read, watch, and listen to independent and alternative media. Among other things, these media keep the spirit of those conferences alive during the times that we can't all be gathered together sharing ideas. No one is better than the alternative media at reminding you that you're not alone.
- Make sure that other people can enjoy your favorite alternative media, too. The most concrete action idea I saw come out of the National Conference for Media Reform was a campaign to get Amy Goodman's Democracy Now on more radio stations. I think this is good, but it doesn't go far enough. We need not only Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! but also David Barsamian's Alternative Radio, Linda Pinkow's What's Left, John Grebe's Sounds of Dissent, Lisa Rudman's Making Contact, Spherio... Ask for these programs on your local stations. It may not be easy, but it will be easier if you organize before you ask. You can also help spread independent print media. Need to give gifts to your friends and family? Make them subscribers to Dollars & Sense, Mother Jones, In These Times...
- Independent radio stations and cable access stations, as well as the Internet, are important and public resources that we must never let the FCC take from us and give to the corporate media. Get involved with Free Press' campaigns on these issues.
- Ask your local paper to reprint your favorite articles from the independent media. Most of independents would be happy to oblige. Again, don't expect this to be easy; but organizing will make it easier. It will also be easier to approach a neighborhood paper than a city-wide paper in a large city.
- Write letters to the editor or even op eds for your daily paper. At the encuentro 5 event last night, a woman in the audience pointed out that here in Boston we've got a quirky but indispensable resource in the free daily Metro. Tons of transit commuters read it each day, and it publishes a broad range of letters and op eds.
- Help make it possible for conscientious journalists to make a living as journalists. If you favorite independent magazine or radio station asks you to donate: DO IT. We can't survive without you.
- My personal favorite comes from The Nation's Roberto Lovato, who questioned how he ended up on a panel at the National Conference for Media Reform when what he wants is a media revolution. Lovato raised the question of why we never heard much in the mainstream media about last year's political unrest in Oaxaca. His answer? "They took over radio stations in Oaxaca. Do you think Clear Channel is going to tell us about people taking over radio stations? We might get ideas!" Direct action! (At the encuentro 5 event, another woman in the audience pointed out that the local Fox affiliate's tendency to film morning news segments on the sidewalk across from state house affords an irresistible opportunity to get your issue on the air as a backdrop.)
Labels: media
Good-bye, Molly Ivins
All of us here at the Dollars & Sense office are mourning the death of a great ally in the struggle for economic and social justice—and for wit, style, and conscience in journalism.I heard the news from Bob Harris, who links to the New York Times obituary. But visit Molly's journalistic home, The Texas Observer, for the fullest Molly retrospective.
Quintessential Molly:
There are two kinds of humor. One kind makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity—like what Garrison Keillor does. The other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule—that's what I do. Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel—it's vulgar.
And that's why we loved her, and will miss her and her work.
—Esther, the office Texan
Labels: media, Molly Ivins
Dollars & Sense talks about media
Tonight, Wed. Jan 31, 2007, 7pm at encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02111David Barsamian and Cynthia Peters: Who's Got Your Back? Alternative and Mainstream Media and the War without End
Panel of questioners: Linda Pinkow of WMBR, John Grebe of WZBC, and Esther Cervantes of Dollars & Sense
With this event, Mass Global Action & IndyMedia look at the antiwar movement and the media. Specifically, it considers the two media options open to the progressive movement: Extensive coverage in the alternative media, and marginal attention from the mainstream media
Going beyond this dichotomy, however, we ask how activists can use both forms media to get bolster the antiwar movement and generate a pro-peace agenda. Our roundtable is composed of longtime organizers who are also media professionals so that we may consider how these media forms interact.
The program is formulated to draw on the expertise of the panel and both the experiences and perspectives of the audience.
This program is organized to ensure that speaker has a chance to provide their perspective while ensuring that a meaningful dialogue can take place between speakers and also with the audience. The program will conclude with an informal reception and light music.
About David Barsamian:
David Barsamian is founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent award-winning weekly series based in Boulder, Colorado. He is a radio producer, journalist, author and lecturer. He has been working in radio since 1978. His interviews and articles appear regularly in The Progressive and Z Magazine. His latest books are Imperial Ambitions with Noam Chomsky and Speaking of Empire & Resistance with Tariq Ali and Original Zinn with Howard Zinn. His earlier books include Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky; Eqbal Ahmad: Confronting Empire; and The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting.
About Cynthia Peters:
Cynthia Peters is a freelance writer and editor, a part-time worker at the Bromfield Street Educational Foundation, and a full-time mother of two. She writes about a wide range of topics including parenting, marketing, feminism, racism, and gender politics. For a sharp analysis delivered with humor and insight, check out what she has to say about advertising to teens, the pro-capitalist backdrop to "American Girl dolls," the institutions and cultural formulations that define "good" parenting, the trouble with day care, and much more.
Tomorrow, Thu. Feb. 1, 2007, 4pm on WMBR 88.1 FM—Spherio
Esther Cervantes and Liv Gold of the Dollars & Sense collective will discuss media issues and the National Conference for Media Reform with Sarah Olson and Spherio's hosts, Luis Melendez and Kendra Johnson.
Spherio is a forum of exchange bringing together local communities and the academia around issues of cultures, societies, and politics important to our hemisphere.