Richer Media, Poorer Democracy

"Journalism is the oxygen of democracy," declared media critic Robert McChesney. "Our journalism is a flop. It's a very poor watchdog. It's a media system that works against democracy. It's part of the problem, and in a democracy it should be part of the solution."

McChesney spoke on April 25, 2002 at Illinois State University in a lecture on "Corporate Journalism and the Bogus State of U.S. Democracy" sponsored by the Indy newspaper. As the author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy and numerous others, McChesney (www.robertmcchesney.com) offers an extensive critique of the media in America.

McChesney traced the rise of professional journalism in the 20th Century, and how it has changed the media marketplace and the sources of information. One effect has been an increased reliance on official sources, which "removes the controversy of story selection" and "makes journalism cheaper." However, it also means that "people in power become the assignment editors." Today's journalism also avoids any context for its reporting, and "strpis politics of all the passion and values," which McChesney said helps explain why "we whave the most depoliticized society in the world." Professional journalism also dampens investigative reporting, because a "hard-hitting story on the CIA" is a "sure way" to lose your job (as happened to several journalistic contributors to a new book, Into the Buzzsaw [Prometheus Books, 2002], for which McChesney wrote the concluding chapter).

Although the media can sometimes accurately report on disputes between the two dominant political parties, "the problem comes when the elites are in agreement."

McChesney questions the common assumption that our media structure is the inevitable product of a free market or the commandments of the Bill of Rights, "thou shalt have 10 media conglomerates." To the contrary, McChesney argues that "Our media system is the direct result of government policies" and "drafted in the most corrupt matter possible." Today, "the right to start a new medium is virtually worthless" because "it's a monopolistic market." And the reason is not the free market, but "pure corrupt government policy."

The deregulation of the Reagan-Bushes Era has resulted in "almost a sea change in the attitude of journalists." Newspapers, which used to try to reach a mass audience, "have written off the bottom 30%." McChesney contrasts the wealthy suburbs, where "you can hardly breathe without getting a newspaper in your nostril" with the West Side which the Tribune and Sun-Times avoid: "That's not where the money is." As a result, writing "stories about the bottom 30% doesn't make any sense." Investigative reporting has almost completely disappeared: not only is it expensive, but "the story might come true, and then you're offending people in power." McChesney concludes, "Journalism that serves citizens is lousy for stockholders."

The alternatives in America are few. McChesney notes that in contrast to Europe, "We don't really have public broadcasting in the U.S." Instead, "what we have is nonprofit commercial broadcasting" aimed at "a sliver of the population" in the upper middle class (who are the ones who can afford to pledge money). Constrained from programs that appeal to the general public, and struggling to survive on limited resources, public broadcasting is put in an "impossible position."

McChesney has a new radio show, "Media Matters" at 1pm Sundays on WILL-AM 580 (will.uiuc.edu) at the University of Illinois in Urbana, where he teaches. McChesney calls WILL "by far the most open-minded public radio station" he's encountered, noting that "I couldn't get on public radio on the East of West Coast." When one of the leading media critics in the country literally cannot get on the media, it reveals how powerful the censorship of alternative voices has become.

McChesney notes, "We cannot blame journalists for the structure of journalism." But we need to blame the corporations that impose the structure of journalism and the politicians who work for them, and we need to change a media system that spreads more ignorance than truth.