Juan Gonzalez: Democracy's Future Depends on More Accountable...Media

[paineinthearse]

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=53361

Columnist Juan Gonzalez Tells U.S. Media Advocates: Democracy's Future Depends on More Accountable, More Aggressive Media

9/14/2005 7:15:00 PM


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To: National Desk, Media and Technology reporters

Contact: Rev. J. Bennett Guess of the United Church of Christ, 216-736-2177, [e-mail]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Americans are suffering increasingly from information overload, while simultaneously lacking from fewer quality sources of accurate, thoughtful news.

That was the assessment of New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez, who spoke to a gathering of 300 media advocates and telecommunications executives at the 23rd annual Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture on Sept. 13 at National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. news media, Gonzalez warned, is the single institution that will determine "whether democracy as we know it will survive into the future."

A frenzy of media mergers and corporate takeovers has left Americans with few sources of accurate news and information, he said.

"It seems that when big media gets bigger, the less the American public knows," he said, insisting that First Amendment rights are eroding while Americans are being subjected to a deluge of "fluff."

Gonzalez, a founding member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and co-host of the daily morning newsmagazine Democracy Now, said that, while it still matters that more and more journalists of color find seats in news rooms, it is the corporate board rooms where the important decisions about news coverage are now being made.

Gonzalez pointed out that the most widely watched Hispanic television networks - such as Univision and Telemundo - are controlled by huge multi-national corporations or by economic interests from outside the U.S., not by U.S. Hispanics themselves.

"Too little attention is being paid to who owns Hispanic media outlets," he said.

Many journalists of color are eager to report on substantive justice issues, Gonzalez said, but are denied opportunities to do so by profit-driven management that cares less and less about the public's right to know. The substance and quality of news reporting is suffering, he said.

"(Corporations) are the principle gatekeepers," he said.

Sponsored by the United Church of Christ's Office of Communication, Inc. and the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, the Everett C. Parker Lecture is an occasion where media outlets are reminded of their moral responsibility to serve the public interest.

The 1.3-million-member United Church of Christ has long been a leader in media advocacy. In 1959, the UCC's Office of Communication was the first to demand that those holding FCC licenses must act on behalf of the public interest and be held accountable as stewards of the public trust.

Today, under the leadership of former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, the UCC's OC Inc. continues to promote diversity in the marketplace of ideas and accountability from U.S. media companies. Two weeks ago, it filed FCC license renewal challenges against two Cleveland-area television stations for failing to comply with children's educational programming guidelines.

For more information visit http://www.ucc.org/ocinc

http://www.usnewswire.com/

[ShockediSay]

1. You've nailed it, UCC / Gonzalez

And you're right. the integrity of the system depends on it; in the last four years MSM has really let this democracy down.