How can the media's corporate bent be corrected?

[Cat Atomic]

Certainly, writing letters to editors is never going to do it. The problem is ownership and the consolidation of media into fewer and fewer hands. Under the current structure we get the corporate perspective, and that's it.

I honestly believe that media consolidation is the single biggest domestic problem facing the US right now. Until that problem is fixed, mainstream thought will always be defined by corporate interests.

How can it be fixed?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. the media are corporations, you know, FOX Corporation, ABC Corporation

Maybe we should just kick most corporations off of the public airwaves?

[Iverson]

2. It will take a lot.

- Limit ownership within markets.
- Resume the "Fairness Doctrine."
- Support community radio.
- Support public brodcasting and make it real.
- Remove Channel One and its ilk from elementary schools.
- Adequately fund public education.

It will also take time.

[Warpy]

3. Those are all good ideas

I'd add another one: use the antitrutst laws to break up these mass media monopolies. This will involve getting the GOP as far out of power as we possibly can, so good luck to us and the Red Sox.

[grasswire]

4. in the short term...

...there are ways to "go around" corporate media, if one has the will to do so (which we apparently don't have yet).

It takes organized people committed to leafletting, to public speaking in public places, to taking over local access television, to spending our own MONEY on advertising, to taking information found on the internet to people who don't have internet access, etc.

It could be done. The truth could be disseminated without corporate media assistance. But we Dems apparently don't have enough will to make it happen.

So many people are afraid to be made a target of wingnuts if they take the stand. But if we were to stand in solidarity, they could not stop us.

It's a bit like the neighborhood where gentile families put menorahs in their windows to shield the Jewish family from harassment.

[Lorien]

5. Writing letters to the editor sure as hell

won't hurt! The sentiment that our actions "won't do it" has gotten us nowhere for a long time. Take every action you can; write letters daily (each of us certainly find the time to air our viewpoints on DU)! Call talk shows, boycott certain products and programs that support RW viewpoints (and let them KNOW that you are boycotting them)! Arrange a protest against local stations and papers. Corporations are only interested in our money, and boycotts, protests, etc. make them nervous and have often caused them to back down. The RW grabbed power in part by making the average RW supporter mad enough to take action; and they ALWAYS bother to take action far more than liberals who shrug and say "well, that won't really change anything" ("gee, I wonder why nothing changes"?) A defeatist attitude only gets us...defeated. Take action early and often. Speak, write, yell, vote with your dollar. It will never change on it's own, and waiting for someone else to "do something" will be a long wait indeed!

[rainy]

6. We own the airwaves! We need to start charging for their use!

With the huge fees we should be able to gain for charging these corps to use OUR airwaves we could support a great public service like the BBC. These media corps are licienced and they pay nothing to the gov. to broadcast but reap huge profits off of the use of OUR property.
We need to take back our airwaves.
WE need to start charging rent and user fees to support a public broadcasting network with REAL investigative reporters like Greg Palast on our payroll.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Talk to folks one on one

I've spoken to many people, and found that fewer and fewer of them trust the news. Folks I know who are online are getting their news from overseas sources, by and large. I try to get out flyers to those not online, and talk with them one on one. I'm a pretty open person-you can tell immidately if I'm lying. Folks know where I come from, and they do listen.

[dbt]

8. Trust-busting.

The only thing coporations come anywhere near respecting is government regulation--which for the past dozen years or more has been a morbid joke.

The Media Borg will not remove its lips from bu$h's ass unless it is blasted loose by a flamethrower.

One or more of the Whore Nets has had ample opportunity by nowto break from the pack and enjoy the PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION to be had by catering to the majority of the country which did not vote for bu$h. The fact that none of them has done so (in an otherwise unbelievably competitive industry) just tells me the fix is in.

Corporate control of the media will have to be ended at gunpoint.

:argh:
dbt