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Fri, June 13, 2008 10:47:05 AMFrom:
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NEWS DISSECTOR: THE SUPREME COURT DISSES BUSH POLICY ON GUANTANAMO TRIALS
NEWS DISSECTOR June 13, 2008
THE SUPREME COURT DISSES BUSH POLICY ON GUANTANAMO TRIALS
THE SUPREMES: YOU CAN'T HURRY TRIALS
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.
In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.
DOES THIS MEAN THE RULE OF LAW IS ALIVE AND WELL?
The International Justice Network thinks so.
June 12, 2008, New York, NY-In today's decision in Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195--the United States Supreme Court today stated beyond all doubt that the rule of law is alive and well in this country and that the three branches of government-the executive, legislative, and judicial branches-are once again functioning as they should be in the world's strongest democracy.
Firmly rejecting the Bush Administration's argument that the executive branch has free reign to act as it wishes without regard to the law when it is pursuing its law enforcement actions against alleged terrorists, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, eloquently wrote for the Court that "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."
I doubt that present and past Guantanamo "detainees" share this congratulatory rhetoric after the last FIVE years of government-sanctioned torture. The ACLU says: "Finally, the Bush administration system of injustice is starting to fall apart." President Bush says he disagrees with the decision and will uphold it BUT also threatens to go to Congress to pass a new law upholding his position. As for the "Decider," see today's Washington Post report on how Bush oked meetings on torture. The Supreme Court has not really restrained Team Bush. Guantanamo has to be closed and the land given back to Cuba from whom it was stolen.
SHH-THE D WORD IS BACK IN POLITE COMPANY
KUCINICH VOWS TO PRESS ON, TRY AGAIN & AGAIN
DISCUSSING THE MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE
On the economic front, the position once stigmatized as "doom and gloom" seems to be attracting new advocates and adherents-but not from the places you would think.
INTERNATIONAL SUPER BANK SAYS DEPRESSION IS POSSIBLE
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the organization that fosters cooperation between central banks, has warned that the credit crisis could lead world economies into a crash on a scale not seen since the 1930s.
In its latest quarterly report, the body points out that the Great Depression of the 1930s was not foreseen and that commentators on the financial turmoil, instigated by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, may not have grasped the level of exposure that lies at its heart.
According to the BIS, complex credit instruments, a strong appetite for risk, rising levels of household debt and long-term imbalances in the world currency system, all form part of the loose monetarist policy that could result in another Great Depression."
IHT: BANKS ARE AT RISK
The health of banks in the United States continues to worsen, with lending to real estate developers an emerging threat and more failures in the offing. While it is too early to say that the fire fighting on Wall Street is over, there is growing evidence that the extended fall in real estate is putting stress on Main Street as well.Commercial banks in the United States face a complex and difficult situation: Profit margins are compressed, and there is increasing stress on a range of assets, including mortgages, consumer loans and debt backing commercial and residential real estate development.
On these cheery notes, we take you to Washington DC and the impeachment wars:
Jason Leopold: Kucinich Vows New Round of Impeachment; Articles Against Bush If Measure Dies
Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio Congressman and former 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate, said he would continue to introduce resolutions calling for the removal of President George W. Bush from office if the articles of impeachment against Bush that he presented to the House Monday is not taken up within 30 days.
On Monday, Kucinich introduced the articles of impeachment against President Bush in the form of a privileged resolution, a procedural maneuver requiring Congress to take up the measure within two legislative days. Kucinich spent four-hours reading 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush, accusing the commander-in-chief of a wide-range of "High Crimes and Misdemeanors," such as lying to Congress and the public to win support for the Iraq war.
Congressman Robert Wexler, (D-Fla.), agreed to co-sponsor of the measure Tuesday.
Congress voted 251-166 Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment to a House Judiciary Committee for review where it's expected to die.
But Kucinich said if that happens he will just introduce another resolution until lawmakers vote on the measure.
"Leadership wants to bury it, but this is one resolution that will be coming back from the dead," Kucinich told the Washington Post Wednesday. "Thirty days from now, if there is no action, I will be bringing the resolution up again, and I won't be the only one reading it. We'll come back and many of us will be reading this [on the House floor], and we'll come back with 60 articles, not 35."
REAL NEWS: VETERANS BACK IMPEACHMENT
WP: Dana Milbank-Impeach Bush? But That Would Mean…
FIGHTING SMEARS AGAINST OBAMA
Rush Limbaugh and his fellow right-wing attack dogs have been spreading baseless rumors about a videotape that allegedly shows Michelle Obama using a racial epithet.
The truth is that no such tape exists, and that this entire smear campaign is fabricated.
Learn more about this and other anti-Obama smears:
MARK CRISPIN MILLER CIRCULATED AN EMAIL TO SHOW HOW SMEARS ARE INTRIDUCED, REINFORCED AND EVENTUALY DEBUNKED:
On May 30th, Rush Limbaugh said he had heard a rumor that a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word "Whitey" from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ. Blogger Larry Johnson wrote on May 31st that he would add "New and dramatic developments. This is a heads up. I'll post the news Monday morning by 0900 hours. Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning. Barack's headaches are only starting." Here's the link to that claim:
GOP blogger Roger Stone said on Fox News on June 1st that "there's a buzz, which I believe now to be credible, that some indelible record exists" of a tape of Michelle Obama using the term "whitey." Here's the link to his video:
Here's where Fox Commentator Bob Beckel spreads the rumor saying the shoe is about to drop:
Here's where Bob Stone conceded that neither he, nor anyone he knows has ever seen the tape, and that it therefore may be a hoax:
Prepare for more of this demonization strategy. Its calculated and beneath contempt.
LOBBYISTS AND THE DEMOCRATS
On Wednesday, the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan D.C. watchdog, issued a report on fundraising for both parties' conventions. Due to a "gigantic loophole" in campaign finance laws, the report says, corporations can give unlimited amounts to the conventions' host committees, contributions that would be illegal if given directly to the parties.
Heading up the fundraising for the Denver convention is Steve Farber, a registered federal lobbyist with the firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Among the dozens of corporate sponsors of the Denver convention are six of his firm's clients (United Health Group, AT&T, Comcast, the National Association of Home Builders, Western Union and Google) and the firm itself. The CEO of the host committee is Mike Dino, a registered federal lobbyist with Patton Boggs.
Farber and other Colorado Democrats leading the fundraising effort have aimed to raise $55 million, most of which was expected to come from out-of-state contributions. Denver's mayor John Hickenlooper told The Denver Post last December that he and the other Democrats involved in fundraising for the convention (including Sen. Ken Salazar, Gov. Bill Ritter and Rep. Diana DeGette) had already traveled 20,000 miles and spoken to people from 60 to 80 companies.
WHY IS BUSH GETTING A FREE RIDE IN THE MEDIA
David Tereshchuk writes in his media column:
YOU CAN'T REALLY BLAME the media, since the main event of the presidential contest has now started for real, and the two-horse race is certainly delineated sharply now.
Well you can blame them, but there'd be no point. Most of the political and chattering classes are at fault too, in relegating the existing Administration and its "last throes" - to use some infamous vice-presidential verbiage - to some low pilot flame way behind even the furthest back-burner.
But George W Bush is still in office, like it or not, for another seven months - and has to be reported on. His week-long trip through Europe is not exactly making big headlines, for all the usual accompaniment of White House accredited correspondents (many of whom are already lining up their next jobs). Even the Chief Executive's own order of business has the ring of farewell about it, and even some strains of abdication.
WAR WITH IRAN MAY BE DRAWING NEARER, CAN BUSH BE TRUSTED?
BUSH THREATENS IRAN AGAIN "ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE."
RET US AIR FORCE COLONEL SAM GARDINER SUGGESTS A PRETEXT FOR WAR IS NOW IN PLACE
It is amazing how far Member of the Congress will go in support of Israel. Hidden within a resolution now being considered on the Hill is what amounts to a suggested declaration of war against Iran,
Representative Mark Kirk from Illinois is circulating a Sense of the Congress Resolution (H. Con. Res 362). The resolution now has 47 co-sponsors and "demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, p***s, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran…"
This option in the resolution is being pushed by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. At the AIPAC meeting in Washington last week both Senators McCain and Obama mentioned an embargo of refined products without any details.
I don't how the United States inspects aircraft flying from Moscow to Tehran. I don't know how the United States inspects truck going from Azerbaijan and Pakistan into Iran. The ships part, however, produces a fairly clear image. The United States Navy operating inside and outside the Gulf stops and searches all ships entering Iranian ports. If the ships are carrying refined products, they are ordered to leave the area. If they refuse, warning shots will be fired. If they continue to refuse, lethal action will be initiated.
Since destination is not always clear, on occasion, the United States Navy will have to enter Iranian territorial waters. The United States Navy will be stopping Russian ships and searching them. The United States Navy will be stopping Chinese ships.
To their credit, the McCain campaign must have begun to understand the implications. A spokesman issued a statement yesterday that the Senator was talking about, "a voluntary withdrawal from the Iranian markets of the companies providing gasoline is one option."
One hopes there can be equal wisdom in the "Sense of the Congress."
HOW HAMAS SEES ITSELF
Rare Interview With Hamas Leader Khalid Mishal: The Journal of Palestine Studies
"Hamas can be characterized as a comprehensive movement. It is an Islamic movement, a nationalist movement, a militant movement, a political movement-in addition to its cultural and social dimensions, its service functions, and its institution building. So you cannot say that Hamas is only a religious, or only a political, or only a military, or only a religious and social movement. It is not, for example, just an armed wing or a political party. It is all of these things. It is a fusion of all these dimensions.
In terms of how it differs from other factions-all of which we respect-each has its particular experience, history, character, conditions under which it emerged, and Hamas is no different. We overlap with others in some respects, and differ from them in others. But the most important distinction is that Hamas encompasses all these various dimensions that I mentioned."
He compared Hamas as an Islamic party to Christian parties in Europe adding,
"It's as natural as having Christian parties in European Christian countries.
The other aspect is that being an Islamic movement in Palestine or the Arab world does not mean you are opposed to the Palestinian or Arab Christian, or even to the liberal or secular Palestinian or Arab. To the contrary, we are taught to reinforce the culture of coexistence, dialogue, cooperation, of give-and-take, and to avoid fanaticism, whether in religion, thought, or affiliation. A distinctive feature of the Arab world, and particularly Palestine, is tolerance, and Palestine since the Arab conquest has always been a model for religious coexistence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. So there is no contradiction between being an Islamic movement in Palestine, where most of the population is Muslim, and having good relations with all sectors of society, including the Christians, who are a part of our society and our partners in the nation. The proof is that Hamas since its establishment has gained the sympathy of Christians as well as Muslims. Many Christians, perhaps even most, voted for us in the 2006 legislative elections."
ISRAELI PEACENIK AND INDEPENDENCE FIGHTER COMMENTS ON OBAMA
Uri Avneri writes:
No, I Can't!
AFTER MONTHS of a tough and bitter race, a merciless struggle, Barack Obama has defeated his formidable opponent, Hillary Clinton. He has wrought a miracle: for the first time in history a black person has become a credible candidate for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world.
And what was the first thing he did after his astounding victory? He ran to the conference of the Israel lobby, AIPAC, and made a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning.
That is shocking enough. Even more shocking is the fact that nobody was shocked.
IT WAS a triumphalist conference. Even this powerful organization had never seen anything like it. 7000 Jewish functionaries from all over the United States came together to accept the obeisance of the entire Washington elite, which came to kowtow at their feet. All the three presidential hopefuls made speeches, trying to outdo each other in flattery. 300 Senators and Members of Congress crowded the hallways. Everybody who wants to be elected or reelected to any office, indeed everybody who has any political ambitions at all, came to see and be seen.
The Washington of AIPAC is like the Constantinople of the Byzantine emperors in its heyday.
IRELAND VOTING ON THE EU: LEFT AND RIGHT UNITE TO SAY "NO''
There was a referendum in Ireland. Here's why critics demanded that referendum:
"On 13 December 2007, the heads of EU States and governments signed the "Lisbon Treaty" which they expect to take effect on 1 January 2009. This Treaty will govern the future workings of the European Union and, like the European Constitution refused by French and Dutch voters in 2005, it will set the course of a neo-liberal, free-market Europe in exactly the same way. The social needs of European citizens are not taken into account. Instead of respecting the wishes of Europeans for a democratic, social, peaceful and ecological Europe, this treaty sets the neoliberal EU agenda in stone.
To succeed in this coup d'état, all demands for referendums have been ignored and governments are misleading their peoples about the content.
Only in Ireland does the Constitution mandate a referendum."
A lead article in the Financial Times says that "Putting the treaty to such a plebiscite is absurd." It argues that "The Lisbon treaty is an impossible document to explain, with 346 unreadable pages of assorted articles, amendments and protocols" and claims that "The No campaign unites the far left, fearing too much market liberalism, with the far right". Commenting on the possibility of a no vote, the FT says that "It seems extraordinary that the Irish could be so apparently ungrateful."
In an interview with Le Monde Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit also cricitises the "foolishness" of the Irish referendum, and suggests those thinking of voting no in Ireland are "selfish". He says, "Why say yes to something which forces them to share what they get with the new EU members from Eastern Europe? The basic reaction is to protect one's own interests." He says: "A referendum must have consequences: if we say no, we leave Europe." He says: "The Irish have gained everything from Europe and they have not realised it. Clearly, we, Europeans, are not managing to explain to the people what we are doing."
This was the same problem when France voted no-the issues were not communicated clearly. As of this morning, no decision yet. My correspondent writes:
"Yesterday the Dublin government said that a YES would be sure if 45% voted - the voting percentage only got to 42! Scary (whether you are pro or con) that less than half of the Irish voters are holding the democratic fate of Europe in their hands. Where is the democracy in that? Except that only the Irish Government out of all 27 EU-member states allowed their people a vote - for fear of a NO.
The final result will be declared from Dublin Castle at 3:30 PM.(Irish Time)"
CHINA TO US: FIX THE DOLLAR-AND DO IT RIGHT AWAY!
AFP: The Chinese ambassador to the World Trade Organization on Monday asked the US to take action to stabilize the dollar, which has fallen sharply in the past year.
During the biennial trade policy review of the world's largest economy by the World Trade Organisation, China also raised its concerns over "rising sentiment of protectionism" in the United States, saying that it could threaten global trade.
"
As a major currency for international reserve, the dramatic depreciation of the dollar has lead to shrinking national reserve of many countries and reduced social welfare," China's ambassador to the WTO, Sun Zhenyu, said.
GOOD NEWS: YOUR STIMULUS AT WORK
WASHINGTON - AP: Retail sales jumped by the largest amount in six months in May as 57 million economic stimulus payments helped offset the headwinds buffeting consumers.
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales soared 1 percent last month, the biggest increase since November. A wide variety of retailers enjoyed a good month, including the biggest increase at department stores and other general merchandise stores in a year.
Let's see how long this lasts after the check is spent.
IN BUSH WE TRUST? NOT.
From The Seeking Alpha Financial Website
There seems to be very little trust in the Bush administration these days and to hear members of "the team," including President Bush, out in public talking up a strong dollar seems a little bit absurd and surreal. From time-to-time, the Bush administration has spoken about a strong dollar, but has never seemed to do anything about it. In addition, this charade has gone on for seven years or so.
Now, when this administration is in its waning days, when it can do little or nothing in the way of implementing appropriate policies, when it is subject to internal questioning of what it has done, "talking the good talk" just highlights how incompetent and how out-of-touch the Bush administration really is. The President has never really had much of an interest in economic policy making and has failed to appoint or listen to quality advisors. The results that have been achieved only point up these failures.
The internal questioning is another issue. Individuals that have been members of the Bush administration have given us their impressions about economic policymaking after they have left the administration, but now we have people within the monetary wing of the team expressing doubts and concerns in the public square. … Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has spoken out three times over the past week to argue for a strong dollar and to waylay worries about the jump in the unemployment rate. Yet, one worries about the leadership within the Federal Reserve System with so many governors and district bank presidents speaking out. This is coupled with the fact that the Board of Governors only has three confirmed governors plus one who resigned a week ago. Where is the source of any confidence here?
MEDIA: AS PUBLIC ACCESS FIGHTS FOR ITS LIFE, FIGHT FOR PUBLIC ACCESS
THIS IS BECOMING ALL TOO PERVASIVE: THE DEFUNDING OF PUBLIC ACCESS TV STATIONS
Capitol Times: Madison WI: "Closing funding, WYOU wonders what's next?
The future of community television in Madison and across the state appears to be fuzzy at best.
Charter Communications is dropping its local cable franchise agreement with Madison in favor of a statewide franchise allowed under a recent change in state law regulating cable TV providers. All financing for public, educational and government channels, or PEG channels, is set to end by February 2011.
In addition, Charter may attempt to move Madison's PEG channels to the digital tier, reducing viewership to only those who can afford and want Charter's digital service, according to Guy Swansboro, vice chairman of WYOU's board of directors.
Charter provided more than $400,000 annually in PEG access fees for two community broadcast stations: WYOU and Madison City Channel 12.
WHY WE NEED TO FIGHT TO SAVE PUBLIC ACCESS (PEG CHANNELS)
IWANTMEDIA.COM:MAINSTREAM MEDIA IN ECO CRUNCH
Google CEO: Moral Imperative' to Help Media Biz
Google should be seen by media companies as an ally that is trying to make advertising work on the Internet, says CEO Eric Schmidt. "It's a huge moral imperative to help here." Google's goal "isn't to monetize everything. The goal is to change the world. … We don't have an evil meter."
Google and Yahoo reportedly worked out a pact on search technology.
YouTube Hasn't Figured Out How to Make Money
Advertising is yet to take off on YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing site, because marketers are worried that their brands will appear next to questionable content, says Google CEO Eric Schmidt. He admits that Google hasn't figured out how to effectively monetize the site.
ASSESSING THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIA REFORM
I couldn't be there-and, frankly, wasn't invited to speak. That was their call, and I accept it of course. There were many great speakers. I still think these events are useful BUT not beyond discussion. I had wanted to discuss the coverage of the financial crisis that I have been raising in my film IN DEBT WE TRUST, new book, PLUNDER and writing about in this blog and on the web. I proposed a panel on the issue. I couldn't beleve there was no interest as I discuss in my commentary this week I wrote about my concerns on Mediachannel and other sites. I was pleased to see that Michael Winship who works with Bill Moyers quoted me and made some of the very same points in a piece circulated by Moyers' Public Affairs Television.
Yet as perceptive and informed as attendees were, sadly absent from the weekend's energetic dialogues was any significant discussion of this country's economy, the vast gap between rich and poor, the way gross inequality in such desperate times is being largely ignored by the media, our candidates and the progressive movement.
"The economic crisis is just not that compelling or sexy to the many progressives who are stirred into action by every ugly utterance by Bill O'Reilly," media activist and journalist Danny Schechter writes. "… Cheering on political personalities or mounting one more issue oriented e-mail campaign is certainly easier than confronting the economic and power imbalances caused by the structural conflicts in our economy."
Schechter goes on to quote an executive with the Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank, who describes our current situation as, "A CRISIS OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS." The exec elaborates: "I'm not talking New Testament biblical; I'm talking Old Testament hellfire and brimstone. This is the worst credit crisis we've ever seen."
Thirty six and a half million Americans - one in eight Americans, one in six children - that we KNOW of, because there are no good ways to really measure - live below the official federal poverty level, $20,000 a year for a family of four. Half of us - half! - will have gone through a year or more of poverty by the time we turn 60.
How could it be that this issue was ignored there even as the economy has become the TOP issue in the presidential campaign, the main concern of millions here and abroad. What a disconnect!
I have been bothe supportive and critical of some of the earlier conferences I did go to, in Madison, St. Louis and Memphis. I found an abundance of "names" and "celebs" even though many were not primarily working on the media issue no particularly well informed about it. They were there to draw crowds, not deepen the media discourse. It felt more like a rally, often a reunion. There was lots of listening, less discussion or debate. I also was troubled by a lack of a shared strategy and follow-up organizing.
Activist Josh Wilson writes Thursday about NCMR on a media reform e-mail list. If you were there and want to join the discussion, please do so:
NCMR is a fine and important event, but I often wonder why it can't see beyond its own boundaries, which are very traditional in a campaign-oriented sense. Fine, campaign away, pack the FCC with friendly politicians - but the scope of that achievement is nevertheless a defensive action that might slightly curtail the monopolistic ambitions of a few broadcast corporations, but little more. It won't affect print or online media - really, the only thing that could would be an unprecedented and sustained mass boycott.
…..I've worked for corporate media. All sorts - newsprint, broadcast, online, glossy four-color magazines. Hearst, Meredith, Chronicle Publishing, Wired, Knight Ridder. And I have some bad news for you about that.
The news is: All the lobbying and legislation in the world is not going to change these people. The only thing that will is a round of trust-busting not seen since the breakup of Ma Bell … and we know how futile that was in the long run. We also know that the political will required to break up media monopolies is entirely absent from our electoral landscape right now or anytime in the recognizable future.
I do not want to hear another speech from Mr. Moyers or Mr. Rather unless it is immediately followed by a massive, nationwide investment in the journalists and media workers they lionize but otherwise offer no comfort to.
Invest in local media infrastructure. Invest in and support the social entrepreneurs who want to build and put that infrastructure to work.
The dissonance we're picking up about the neglect of ethnic media at NCMR, for example, is precisely consistent with the star-power/national -campaign vision of the NCMR, a vision that praises the grassroots, but simultaneously overlooks it.
WALLY BOWEN WRITES: "The calls to action are great and inspiring - (if I get any more inspired I will burst!) - but at some point folks need to hear about the "nuts and bolts" strategies that are already on the ground and working."
Harold Field, a Washington-based media lawyer responds asking: "Must every organization do everything?
"Free Press is an organization with a particular focus: effecting regulatory change to rein in corporate power over the media and push for more diverse voices in media. They've never claimed to be the end all and be all of the media reform movement, the media justice movement, the overall movements for social justice, or any of these other associated movements. Although they have generally tried to lend a hand where they can, it isn't what they do.
Free Press is an organization that has done its job very well in the five years or so of its existence. It filled a need that existed for a grass-tops organizer around specific regulatory issues in service to other needs. They organized a very successful conference around those issues. It is wrong, and ultimately self-defeating, for faulting Free Press and NCMR for not being what they are not supposed to be."
DeeDee Halleck:
"Does anyone else object to the dark cave-like quality of the plenaries? If we want to build a movement, we have to SEE each other. Someone said it was because Josh Silver didn't want to see any empty seats. Actually very few seats were empty at any of the ones I attended. But the whole dark, drama feeling is out of place I think. It turns the people on stage into unattainable ***STARS****. Is that the point?
Several speakers asked, nay BEGGED, to be able to see the audience. Moyers asked everyone to look at the person next to them. How can we look at each other, acknowledge the movement, feel empowered, if it is a dark movie theater with passivity enducing lighting? Even Josh Silver came out and at mid day said Good Evening. What is this? Las Vegas? or what? where you are not supposed to know what time it is? Occasionally they would up the lights for a standing ovation- like wow, we get to be part of it! Then quick get back and sit down in the dark again.
Michael Eisenmenger writes:
"Many of the failures I saw in the last movement(s) was the attention given to the 'stars' of what was perceived as the 'acceptable' or 'desired' independent media. A kind of mainstreaming of independent media, a prepping for the 'big-time' according to the model of conventional media that we presumably strive to change. These miscalculations distract attention away from the tactics and strategies of those working hard on the ground for something entirely different. How we spin our movement is up to us - from those working in the streets to those lobbying on capital hill, but we need be on the same page on this.
And this leads to an even sadder conclusion - the media reform movement may not not be leading us to a new media, but merely more of the same, and perhaps even worse (have you listened to Air America?). I have to say that media literacy 101 should be at the forefront of the current movement - if we don't know the alternatives and potentialities we're striving for - what the hell are we really doing? Yet , I'm still optimistic compared to ten years ago, we are much further along, but let's agree to rethink the damn paradigm already!"
This is also a comment on the gap between the "stars" and the base. We used to speak of the media and democracy movement. Now, democracy as a term has been dropped. (Maybe because the word is overused or bastardized by misuse by those in power.)
The sole focus now is on media reform-but mostly regulatory reform, not reform of media practices as in what does and doesn't get reported. That's there but way down on the list. As for internal democracy, there are no elections for leaders so this is not really a bottom-up movement (Save for its conferences) but a top-down advocacy group. Yes, Free Press has organized hearings around the country with two FCC Commissioners, but its not clear what impact that can have when the GOP dominates the Commission.)
Amy Goodman kept saying she was reporting from the convention floor, but this wasn't really a convention-perhaps it should become one. A real movement is commited to democratizing its structures, not just mobilizing people on its mailing lists. Perhaps this movement needs to build a real membership. Then a convention would have meaning. We could learn from unions in this respect.
It should be noted that Free Press tends to see itself as THE media reform movement or at least its leader. There is a lot of talk about diversity, but I am not sure about the practice. Identity politics seemed to be in command. How can we be more empowering and fight divisiveness in our own ranks?
Free Press's fund-raising clout enables it to dominate-and as a result, its issues and campaigns get more attention that others. Free Press does not seem to welcome debate and discussion on these strategic questions either. Was Bob McChesney candid about why he stepped down as President? I wasn't there and don't know if this leading critic shared any critical takes on what has and has not been accomplished.
To Harold: I know everyone works hard there-but so do we, as do so many of us.
Free Press is one organization, well organized and well-run and deserving of support, but is it collaborative and a movement builder? I woud be interested in knowing how much these conferences cost-and whether Free Press encourages its funders to also support media activist groups or promote other organizations like,yes, Mediachannel that seeks to be more global and journalistic in its orientation. For example, we always feature Free Press videos and announcements but this is rarely if ever reciprocated. In fact, it has yet to happen! Why?
A real movement promotes the work of its supporters and builds a network, not just a group. I could go on but I won't. My sense is that no one there wants to hear it. I am not, by the bye, just a nabob of negativity. If you are interested in my views on trends in the media and what I think should/could be done, see my short Melville House book/manifesto The Death Of Media (And The Fight To Save Democracy).
WATCHING MSNBC
Bradley Laing writes:
Danny, I don't really *try* to watch MSNBC. I end up at restaurant where I try to talk to the bartender, and end up seeing at lot of the 11:00 A.m. -12:00 P.M. MSNBC coverage with the sound turned down.
Today, they had some coverage about two 11 year old girls killed in a small Oklahoma town.
That didn't surprise me.
But then they had coverage about a murdered co-ed. I realized, since January, MSNBC had done non-stop horse race coverage of each primary/caucus. Murders of adults, even co ed adults, had not been seen by me, even once, on MSNBC during the whole period between January and this morning at lunch.
From working to death coverage of each primary and caucus, hour after hour, finally noticing one adult murder victim. This might be a woman in Wisconsin killed two months ago. It might be another co-ed. I couldn't find an article on the MSNBC website with a photo that matched the one they showed on MSNBC back between 11:00-12:00. They could have been talking about a murder that took place more recently than two months ago.
But if it was a two month old murder they were hauling out of the backroom, it was to fill up air time.
I suspect that, at the least.
Thats his word and mine and many a word it has been today. Maybe, too many. Have a fun weekend. Go Celtics.
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