"Even the smallest dog can pee on the tallest building." In some ways this statement by agitator and author Jim Hightower summed up the attitude of many at the National Media Reform conference in St. Louis just a few weeks ago. I had the pleasure, along with several other media dissidents from GR, to attend the conference and be part of what some are calling the civil rights movement of the 21st Century.
Some 2,500 media activists, Indy media producers, authors, academics, bloggers, zine makers and media critics came together for 4 days of speeches, workshops, caucuses and conspiring, all in the cause of media justice. Held in the hometown of Joseph Pulitzer, this gathering demonstrated that media justice was not a marginal issue for social change, rather it was an essential element for all efforts to create a more just world. Whether your issue was the US occupation of Iraq, the criminalization of the poor, violence against women, the hyper commercialism in our schools, access to the internet or censorship the conference had something for everybody. More importantly, the conference was predicated on trying to build a movement that would not only challenge corporate media, but would develop policies and practices that made media a richly diverse mechanism for empowering individuals and communities.
So what the heck does this all mean and what does a media justice movement look like? Well, for one the media justice movement is attempting to challenge the corporate control of our media. Take a look at cable for instance. Comcast has a monopoly in Grand Rapids, therefore they can charge whatever they want without providing the best programming options possible. The only reason there are some cable channels devoted to Public access, Educational programming or Government programming (know as PEG channels) is because people organized in this town 25 years ago to demand that the cable company set aside channels that would really benefit the community. If Comcast had their way they would stop this free speech non-sense called GRTV because they can't make any money selling ads there. Comcast and other cable companies argue that with the advent of the internet there no longer is a need for public access TV, which leads us to another media justice battle...the world wide web.
Fifteen years ago we used to call the internet the information super highway, but like much of media it has become not only a mechanism for selling us cheap plastic crap it is only affordable to those who can pay. The media justice movement has been organizing to have communities demand a public access policy for the internet. This can take on many forms such as free wireless access in under served communities, to free, non-commercial web hosting for non-profits. Why should this be free you might ask. For one, the public footed the bill to create the internet. US tax payers were subsidizing all R&D for the internet via the US military. When the current frame work for the web was worked out the US government sold the rights to corporations like Apple and Microsoft for peanuts. Secondly, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, communication is a fundamental right, not a privilege for just a few.
OK, ok this is starting to make more sense. What else? Well, the broadcast system in the US is not private it is public. The US government regulates the airwaves through the Federal Communications Commission, also known as the FCC. All broadcasters have certain obligations to the public when they obtain a license to broadcast on the public airwaves. For instance, all TV stations must provide a minimum of 3 hours a week of children's educational TV programming. Remember, I said educational, which means programming that provides important social lessons and skills during child development. So why does WZZM 13 say that the Disney show Lizzy McGuire qualifies as children's educational TV? Because no one knows they have this obligation. However, the only reason they must broadcast 3 hours a week of children's educational TV in the first place is because people organized to demand it 15 years ago. If we don't demand a better media system we'll never get it.
My co-worker Tom Schwallie and I presented at this conference during the Sunday Action Clinics. Tom was part of a media monitoring session, sort of a "How to" workshop. What Tom emphasized was not only the importance of being a media watchdog, but how you can use that information as an organizing tool in your community. My session was on the licensing renewal process for all radio and TV broadcasters. Each area of the country has a time frame for challenging the renewal of broadcast licenses in their community if the community feels that any of the broadcasters are not serving the public interest. We have been documenting for nearly 7 years what the local TV broadcasters have provided in news coverage and let me tell you it ain't pretty.
Just last month 174 communities in the TV viewing area for channel's 8, 13 & 17 held elections for school board or special millages. Of those 174 area elections only 2 were reported on in the local TV news, and in most of those stories they didn't even bother to tell viewers the names of candidates for those running for office. Now, media people always love to wheel out the "we just give the public what they want line." Now as a comparison to minimal local election coverage, WXMI 17 for example, ran only 2 election stories, but 18 stories on their network show American Idol. Let me repeat that, the local FOX affiliate used the public airwaves to run 18 news stories summarizing the latest idiocy on a talent show, and I use that term loosely, and decided that the public could give a rats ass about our children's education so they only aired 2 election stories for the month preceding the May 3 vote. What the f**k!
The good news is that we don't have to just sit by and let this happen. We can hold the broadcasters accountable. We are working on a local TV License Renewal Campaign here in West Michigan. I have already spoken with over 25 groups about this campaign and got them to sign letters to the FCC demanding improved coverage of elections, war, and better race, gender and class representation in the news. We have all kinds of online resources at www.griid.org and GRIID is willing to come anywhere between now and September 30th, which is the deadline for public comment on the local use of OUR AIRWAVES. You can contact us at 459-4788x122. In early September we will also be hosting a large community forum and inviting the local TV stations where we hope to demand certain standards for news and informational programming in our community.
Another comment that Hightower made at the conference was that media justice was not a right/left issue, rather a top and bottom issue. Partisan politics is pretty meaningless is all of this, it is about what an increasingly smaller amount of media giants are trying to control and then there is the rest of us. As was mentioned before, these are very exciting time for media justice around the country. There are endless opportunities to get involved in either Indy media or the media justice movement. The national media reform movement web address is www.freepress.net. There you can keep up to date on all the movement activities and find links to some of the most dynamic media efforts in the country like Video Machete, Prometheus Radio, Media Alliance, and Reclaim the Media. You can plug in locally by utilizing the resources of the Community Media Center, staying informed through Indy news at www.mediamouse.org, support local music which you will read about each month here in Recoil or start your own zine. Be the Media!
