Op-Ed: Bernie Sanders on his plan for journalism

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Real journalism is different from the gossip, punditry, and clickbait that dominates today’s news. Real journalism, in the words of Joseph Pulitzer, is the painstaking reporting that will “fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, [and] always fight demagogues.” Pulitzer said that journalism must always “oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.”

(snip)

For example, two Silicon Valley corporations—Facebook and Google—control 60 percent of the entire digital advertising market. They have used monopolistic control to siphon off advertising revenues from news organizations. A recent study by the News Media Alliance, a trade organization, found that in 2018, as newspaper revenues declined, Google made $4.7 billion off reporting that Google did not pay for.

At the same time, corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have bought and consolidated beleaguered local newspapers and slashed their newsrooms—all while giving executives big payouts. Gannett’s proposed merger with Gatehouse Media, for instance, will consolidate hundreds of publications under one mega-corporation’s control and slash $300 million worth of “synergies”—which is often corporate-speak for layoffs. Matt Pearce, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, notes that “the new Gannett/Gatehouse CEO is getting $4.5 million in bonuses and stock just for walking in the door.”

The result of these trends has been the decimation of journalism. Over the past 15 years, more than 1,400 communities across the county have lost newspapers, which are the outlets local television, radio, and digital news sites rely on for reporting. Since 2008, we have seen newsrooms lose 28,000 employees—and in the past year alone, 3,200 people in the media industry have been laid off. Today, for every working journalist, there are six people now working in public relations, often pushing a corporate line.

(snip)

https://www.cjr.org/opinion/bernie-sanders-media-silicon-valley.php

[sharedvalues]

1. Wow this is amazing.

It’s so important. Journalism is so important. Important for democracy
And Google and Facebook and hedge funds are killing it. For money.

[elleng]

2. 'The result of these trends has been the decimation of journalism.

Over the past 15 years, more than 1,400 communities across the county have lost newspapers, which are the outlets local television, radio, and digital news sites rely on for reporting.'

[Vegas Roller]

4. The population is moving away from newspapers

and the advent of smart phones and instant news as soon as it happens is to blame. No one wants to wait till the next day to read old news in the paper.

[elleng]

5. except the millions in 'fly-over country,'

who haven't kept up with technology. In thrall to f-x noise?

[Vegas Roller]

9. Faux Noise audience

is primarily old farts who still use flip-phones.

It's unlikely that they will turn to newspapers because they are looking for confirmation bias to support their ignorance.

[Me.]

11. Excuse Me

They're coming back, Anna Wintour uses one

[Vegas Roller]

3. Next OPs...

"BS's new 7.8 trillion dollar plan to have a free newspaper in every county with cash incentives to people who read their local paper cover to cover."

"BS will be the new journalism president. (In addition to the environment president, healthcare president, education president, union president and F35 president)"

[lapucelle]

6. The op-ed is about media as an industry, not journalism.

I’ve reported on Bernie Sanders for years. A free press won’t give him what he wants.
Paul Heintz is a staff writer for and political editor of Seven Days, a Vermont newsweekly.

[S]anders’s remedy for what ails the media — uncritical, stenographic coverage of his agenda — betrays a misunderstanding of the role of a free press. And his dismissal of legitimate journalism not to his liking as “political gossip” bears a troubling resemblance to what another politician refers to as “fake news.”

snip===================================================================

Though Sanders understands the problem, his solutions leave something to be desired. The way the senator sees it, the job of a journalist is merely to transcribe his diatribes unchallenged and broadcast his sermons unfiltered.

“He would not be happy with anything that did not basically publish his press release in its entirety — word for word, quote for quote,” said Graff, who spent nearly three decades reporting in Vermont for the AP.

Back when Sanders held regular news conferences in Vermont — it’s been a few years — he typically refused to answer questions unrelated to his chosen topic of the day. That’s problematic for local reporters, who rarely have the opportunity to quiz the members of Congress they cover without spokespeople running interference.

At a 1985 forum on the media, the late Vermont political columnist Peter Freyne complained to Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, that he had reneged on his promise to hold regular press conferences, pointing out that “When asked a question you don’t want to answer, you leave the room.”

snip===================================================================

Back home, Vermont news organizations were suffering from a different kind of Bernie blackout: For more than two years, he refused to speak with VTDigger or Seven Days, and he refused to appear live on Vermont Public Radio’s marquee call-in show, “Vermont Edition.” Unlike the “corporate” media he loathes, it should be noted, the three news outlets are nonprofit or locally owned.

The boycott coincided with aggressive reporting the three organizations conducted on his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders’s, troubled presidency of the bankrupted Burlington College, which prompted an FBI investigation.

In January 2018, nearly three years after Sanders blacklisted Seven Days, his spokesperson finally granted me an interview. But the offer came with a caveat: The senator would not answer questions about “political gossip” or members of his family.

Such conditions are unacceptable to ethical news organizations, so I declined the offer — but I showed up anyway to Burlington International Airport, where the interview was to take place. As I followed him to security, I asked when he’d finally grant us a real interview. “I don’t talk to gossip columnists,” he said. “I talk about issues.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/26/ive-reported-bernie-sanders-years-free-press-cant-give-him-what-he-wants/?noredirect=on

[Vegas Roller]

7. I kind of like sarcasm :P nt

[bahrbearian]

10. I agree there should be "no fundamental" changes to anything, especially journalism.

We need to keep the status quo

[floppyboo]

8. This is SO important!

In Canada, the big mergers led to 2 families running all the papers. (Remember, we have a much smaller population ie. we couldn't absorb the brilliance of Leonard Cohen or Neil Young, Steve Martin or Alex Trebec).

If it were not for the public broadcasting system, we would be fucked. All the little community papers have been bought up.

Bill Clinton's Telecommunications bill was a disaster that needs fixing. In the meanwhile, cry a little for your northern neighbours. At least we can still watch all international broadcasts to fill the newsgap

[Uncle Joe]

12. Corporate media conglomeration is a global dynamic

This article is from 2013 and no doubt they have become more condensed since then

The World's 10 Largest Media Conglomerates

With media oversight being taken for granted in recent years, media concentration has been a trend that's been rolling along with few signs of stopping. As a result, many of your favorite media entities have been consolidated and all work under the same umbrella corporation. If you think, for example, one channel offers better content than the other, you might be surprised to learn that you've stuck with the same company and are just now loyal to another one of its assets.

Having singular enterprises in the media is a rarity these days. There's isn't just FOX anymore and there isn't just NBC. There's always something behind it and in this list of the world's top 10 media conglomerates, you'll be able find out which companies they are:

(snip)

https://www.elitedaily.com/money/the-worlds-10-largest-media-conglomerates

As for PBS, I fear that institution will come under increasing financial pressure from cuts in funding as the world's major corporate media conglomerates continue to use their influence to shape the world's governments to their liking, if left unchecked.

[floppyboo]

13. Indeed. The Conservative nom in Canada wants to cut the CBC nt

[George II]

14. Is he going to repeal the First Amendment?