What is the best strategy to deal with the media ?

[kentuck]

Perhaps we could borrow a page from the conservatives who yelled for years and years about the "liberal media" - when in fact, they had little to yell about. However, I do think we need a strategy to deal with the present media, especially cable TV and talk radio, which are both very powerful in this country.

First of all, I think we need to be more vocal in our criticism of them. Not necessarily a talk show host here or there but critical of them as a whole. They know Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and others too numerous to mention are nothing but mouthpieces for the Republican and corporate media. Yet, we send in a sacrifical lamb t be butchered by these professional propagandists and they sit back in their smugness pretending they have given "equal time".

Yesterday was a perfect example of how they "pretend" to be fair and balanced. I was monitoring NBC/MSNBC and for the last 4 or 5 hours, it was nothing more than an Arnold commercial...with different mouths spewing their crap. Even the respected Tom Brokaw came on to declare Arnold the winner, even before the polls had closed.

And it was the 24/7 coverage of Arnold up to the election yesterday. Perhaps it was about their ratings? Perhaps something else? Whatever, it was continuous coverage day in and day out. And they defended him whenever the opposition might say something that they did not agree with. They did not get someone from Arnold's side or a Repub spokesman, they felt obligated themselves to do the duty of defending Arnold.

And they are not knowledgeable about the issues. Just a couple of days ago, Matthews asked why the tabloids had not attacked Arnold? Perhaps he was just ignorant about the ownership of American Media, who owns the Globe and other tabloids? And they pretended or they truly did not know about the details of the "car tax" in California? I never heard it explained in detail. And not once did I hear any of these talking heads explain that the Governor and the legislature had come to an agreement with the deficits. The $38 billion dollar deficits had been cut to $8 billion. But not once did they tell the voters about it?? Why?? Did they just not know? If they didn't know, they were very irresponsible in their jobs.

Any other criticisms of the media that anyone wishes to add. I know a lot of people are pissed off with them today.

(edited hear to here)

[Cha]

1. How about Serious Massive Protests in front of their buildings

to generate attention? A while ago I saw one in front of cnn in Atlanta, I believe.

That.. among, the usual, writing them letters when they piss us off.

But I think we need to think really big..as big as they are being a propoganda machine.

[FlemingsGhost]

9. Yup... it's the only way.

Create a story they can't ignore.

Want to distract a television reporter? Hold up a mirror.

[Cha]

12. Exactly! right in their own Front yard on the Front lines!

:kick:

[nannygoat]

14. I remember that zidzi

and I thought it was a great idea. I also remember hearing about an incident at a protest where the protestors went up to the news van and started chanting against the media. I think the reporters who were present were so confused--at first I think the reporters didn't understand why they were being targeted.

This week, the DailyHowler has a great series about propaganda and how part of the problem is that the good guy pundits won't stand up and say anything:

AN AGE OF PROPAGANDA (PART 1)! Matthews groped for ways to help Arnold. We found it a sign of the times:
http://dailyhowler.com/dh100603.shtml

AN AGE OF PROPAGANDA (PART 2)! Why does pseudo-con prop rule the day? Let one Post pundit show you:
http://dailyhowler.com/dh100703.shtml

AN AGE OF PROPAGANDA (PART 3)! Why is your discourse driven by spin? Harry Smith helps to explain it:
http://dailyhowler.com/dh100803.shtml

I think this issue is the most critical we face today.

[Cha]

15. Exactly and it's becoming so evident that the only thing

we can do will be right in front of our face!

This is how it starts...with Kentuck asking the question..

Thanks for the links, nannygoat!

It is the "most critical issue we face today" because if the media told the truth without their corporate, nazi, propoganda, gluttony for ratings spin..we wouldn't be in this mess. bush and company could do all the bad they wanted but it would be Known!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. We need to attack them

We need to tell them...

We need to tell our neighboors.

We need to tell our congressmen and senators.

[poskonig]

3. Old-fashioned foot campaigns.

Since the corporations own the airwaves, we'll have to get the message out door to door.

[radwriter0555]

4. TURN OFF THE TEEVEE AND RADIO. We HAVE the net now..

we don't need to be slaves to programmed media whores spewing for profiteering giant corporations.

[rucky]

5. Don't Feed The Animals

Imagine Hardball without the Hardball Debate.

Imagine Alan Colmes having to make an actual argument without a liberal guest to agree with.

Imagine Bill O'Reilly spouting solo on the TV without a guest to interrupt or throw off the show.

Imagine a bunch of conservatives spending an hour just agreeing with each other.

Pretty boring, eh? Ratings would plummet. The shows would get the ax. They claim to be unbiased and get away with it because of the liberal guests that agree to come on their shows.

Sure the hosts would call us a buncha chickens, but how long could they milk that one?

Rush does the strawman routine on the radio without guests...but remember how well his TV show did? The strawman needs a face when yer on TV.

So...what if all our liberal mediawhore friends organized a boycott of RWTV?

That would be the end of it.

[kentuck]

7. I think it might be a good idea if Democrats and liberals boycotted....

all these shows for a couple of months. They would then have to debate themselves. No better way to make them look foolish.

[nannygoat]

10. Remember when the Dems did this in 2002?

Democrats declining NBC debates
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A55034-2002Oct20¬Found=true

Edited to add: Oops, this article refers to the ACTUAL Dem candidates boycotting; not Democrats!

[blondeatlast]

19. This is the answer--LW guests boycotting all the talk shows.

Leno and Oprah included.

I started a thread earlier baout boycotting Leno; in retrospect, a loud boycott is a bad idea. Instead, just get our people to politely but forcefully refuse to go on their shows.

I'm a librarian and I know the effect of an "Oprah" appearance on book sales. But when Jonathan Franzen declined to be on "Oprah," he got more publicity than a single appearance on Oprah would have gotten him. "The Corrections" sales soared as a result.

Perhaps this would make a great "MoveOn" project?

[rucky]

24. I posted the idea to tvnewslies.org

www.tvnewslies.org

[Spazito]

6. Boycott their sponsors, don't tune into their channels....

build an alternate liberal media conglomerate, donate to people like Guy James.

[NashVegas]

8. The "Car Tax" thing

You know, that really pisses me off. Yesterday was the first time I headrd *anything* about that.

I knew Davis and the lege had shrunk the budget because of my own research.


My solution re: major media? Just TURN IT OFF. If we don't watch the ads, we don't have their sponsors shoving their brands in our faces. And they don't get the ratings. They die. We create new information sources of our own control on the internet. Fuck 'em.

[AP]

11. Any time you hear someone say, "I saw on CBS..."

Say, "oh. my god, you get your news from TV? Did you see that study? CBS viewers knew less about what was going on in the world than anyone except Fox viewers. Have you heard of Buzzflash?"

[jpgray]

13. Be corporate friendly, and they will be friendly to you

Unfortunately, unless we abandon all our leftist values (which we have been doing), the most expemplary "third way" Democrat will never compete with even a moderate Republican when it comes to business-friendly policies. Since the media are run by corporations, and either those corporations are running news so on the cheap that they can no longer anaylze basic lies and misdirection, or the corporations are using their media to help make profits. Either way, Democrats will always be at a disadvantage. Given that, establishing a great media campaign will be almost impossible without a boatfull of money, and it may not even be possible with that. We need to learn how to make social values and stances that are not corporation-friendly profitable long enough to get our guys elected. And then we endeavor fix the conflicts of interest. Other than that, I can't see how it can be done.

[kentuck]

16. And when they call it a "wonderful exercise in democracy"....

We need to remind them that this Governor was only re-elected just 11 months ago and there was not a legitimate reason to recall him. He did not commit a crime. The legislature was just as responsible or moreso, than the Governor for the present condition in Sacramento. It was a Repub naked grab for power...and they used the money of a wealthy Repub named Issa - with help on hte sly from the WH...

[frank frankly]

17. I hope for growing cognitive dissonance, competition from new lib media

but the media is a clear enemy.

they gave this to that pig arnold.

[kentuck]

18. And they innocently ask, "why did so many women vote for Arnold?"..

As if they had nothing to do with downplaying the harassment stories and they made an effort to convince many that the stories were not true - even after Arnold admitted some were true but refused to say which were true - and they let him slide...It was no accident that so many women did not believe the harassment stories...they were persuaded by the propagandists of the corporate media.

[Samaka 3ajiba]

20. What happened to the Progressive Media Station Project?

I recall from last year when I was still lurking at DU that several investors (?) were joining together to form a progressive media outlet.

Is that project still ongoing? I think it is sorely needed to balance out the landscape.

[screembloodymurder]

21. I'd like to tell you,

but it might be my last post.

[Samaka 3ajiba]

22. ???

Is it a secret?

[Ripley]

23. Is it something like this?

MURDER THE BASTARDS!!!

Just use this disclaimer: (sarcasm on) :evilgrin:

[Samaka 3ajiba]

25. I don't understand

I think you are on a different wave-length anyway, b/c your responses seem cryptic to me. Forget about it.

[FubarFly]

26. We have to train them.

Don't let them get away with anything. Respond to anything in our interests with massive and intense response.

When they are "good" we give them a treat: watch their shows, buy their media, support their advertisers.

When they are bad, we show them varying levels of dissapointment and anger, and threaten to hurt them where it matters- their wallets.

Once they are in the habit of relying on liberals for revenue, their responsiveness will improve dramatically, and their programming will be more to our liking.

If we stay aloof, and refuse to play their game, they will remain ill mattered beasts. If we condemn them out of hand and do nothing but attack, they will bite back. We have to show them that progressives are a stable demographic. If television is the media of choice- as much as it pains me to say this- we have to embrace television. We have to let them know that we care enough to be potentially profitable.

The reason the media favors the rightwing isn't because they have better idealogies and values, but rather, they are better consumers.
I don't think we should sacrifice our principes or become mindless sheep, but we can do a much better job at communicating our concerns. In this instance, if we give a little, we can gain a lot.