The BIG MONEY problem is NOT merely its use in politics. Its very existence is the problem. It corrupts not merely politicians; it corrupts everything it touches including markets of all sorts.
Media is in many ways also a primary, a root cause of our poisoned social and political milieu. The solution is many faceted from breaking up t…
The BIG MONEY problem is NOT merely its use in politics. Its very existence is the problem. It corrupts not merely politicians; it corrupts everything it touches including markets of all sorts.
Media is in many ways also a primary, a root cause of our poisoned social and political milieu. The solution is many faceted from breaking up the radio station ownership monopolies to the social media monopolies. Another obvious step would be for the FCC to restore and redefine the fairness doctrine. Still another would be to restore, strengthen and expand the public service requirements around free airtime to candidates and a requirement that media objectively analyze the issues candidates discuss and the claims they make. And why would FOX NEWS or msnbc, etc. be exempt from rules like the fairness doctrine, etc. since they need access to public frequencies to get their broadcasts from place to place and satellite to satellite. Not even Comcast has solid, privately owned cable running from coast to coast. Some of these corrections would likely require legislation.
But the media problem also includes the abandonment of the public to the never tender mercies of right-wing talk radio. Liberals and progressives with money, and not all that much money is required, MUST buy and operate a strategic network of stations across the country. Yes, radio is now old tech, but it is still essential tech. It is the guide to new tech. New tech is self-selective, meaning one must generally know what to look for. Radio is that guide used by the yakkers who have gone new tech. Reality has no such universally available guide. Right-wing radio still has a far larger audience than even Thom's show. Why? Because station networks gave the wingers all the time they needed to build that audience. They did the opposite for Air America while some of the stations' monopolist advertisers were even allowed to demand cancellation of Air America programing.
But radio stations are up for sale ALL the time, largely because they almost all operate in the same three saturated markets -- sports talk, religious talk and right-wing talk. Relative to TV, radio stations are cheap to buy. One could pretty much blanket the country with a couple dozen strategically located blowtorch stations.
The BIG MONEY problem is NOT merely its use in politics. Its very existence is the problem. It corrupts not merely politicians; it corrupts everything it touches including markets of all sorts.
Media is in many ways also a primary, a root cause of our poisoned social and political milieu. The solution is many faceted from breaking up the radio station ownership monopolies to the social media monopolies. Another obvious step would be for the FCC to restore and redefine the fairness doctrine. Still another would be to restore, strengthen and expand the public service requirements around free airtime to candidates and a requirement that media objectively analyze the issues candidates discuss and the claims they make. And why would FOX NEWS or msnbc, etc. be exempt from rules like the fairness doctrine, etc. since they need access to public frequencies to get their broadcasts from place to place and satellite to satellite. Not even Comcast has solid, privately owned cable running from coast to coast. Some of these corrections would likely require legislation.
But the media problem also includes the abandonment of the public to the never tender mercies of right-wing talk radio. Liberals and progressives with money, and not all that much money is required, MUST buy and operate a strategic network of stations across the country. Yes, radio is now old tech, but it is still essential tech. It is the guide to new tech. New tech is self-selective, meaning one must generally know what to look for. Radio is that guide used by the yakkers who have gone new tech. Reality has no such universally available guide. Right-wing radio still has a far larger audience than even Thom's show. Why? Because station networks gave the wingers all the time they needed to build that audience. They did the opposite for Air America while some of the stations' monopolist advertisers were even allowed to demand cancellation of Air America programing.
But radio stations are up for sale ALL the time, largely because they almost all operate in the same three saturated markets -- sports talk, religious talk and right-wing talk. Relative to TV, radio stations are cheap to buy. One could pretty much blanket the country with a couple dozen strategically located blowtorch stations.