Beat the Press
BY
SHELDON DROBNY co-founder of AirAmerica Radio
I am writing this piece with the full knowledge that it will never be published in any major newspaper or broadcast outlet. As the co-founder of Air America Radio, I am hopeful that our network will pick this up and pass the word around.
The movie Network was made in the seventies and was very prophetic about what news departments are now doing in broadcast media, especially television. In that movie, the news division of a fictional TV network was taken over by the corporate heads. Prior to that, the news division had a "Chinese wall" separating their activities and budget from general corporate control. This was necessary to provide independent reporting for the news division. But, one of the network's newscasters, Howard Beale, had literally gone crazy and became a subject of great entertainment while he was broadcasting the news. In spite of his insanity, the network continued to use him because the ratings went through the roof. The head of the news division, played by William Holden, was fired and there was never to be a "Chinese wall" again separating news from corporate control.
Network has now become the standard for news in America and it is destroying our democracy. America is now being terrorized everyday by the corporate media that profits from such cheap and heartless use of reporting news to the public. And in doing this, they are not reporting the truth about the world, this nation, and the current Administration. They are now aligned exactly with the government interests to keep the public terrorized so as to control the people more effectively. The corporate media sells more advertising, makes more money, and is now the "lap dog" of the powerful and elite in government. The current Administration has used the press as effectively as was done in Nazi Germany in spite of our constitutional government. There is no need for a dictatorship. There is no competition that can effectively enter the media market to prevent this stranglehold on the dissemination of news in America. Although Air America is a start to providing real discourse and alternative news in America, there is only one way to make the corporate owned media change. And Howard Beale, the crazy anchorman in Network, gave us the words to do it.
I want everyone to go to their windows, open them and scream out "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" or words to that affect. Since we all cannot do that at the same time, there is an effective way to fight the media and demand news that is useful, informative, and somewhat independent. People who are upset with these media giants have to stop watching them until they change. Get your families together and start talking to each other. Read books or listen to CDs and alternative forms of entertainment. Rent or buy videos. Watch the History Channel or the Food Channel. Do anything but do not watch CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC or any of their affiliates. It is a very small sacrifice to save your country. Our fighting men in Iraq have sacrificed their lives, limbs, and families to fight this illegal war that an independent media could have prevented. It is a very small sacrifice, but if you really care and participate, the media giants will have no choice but to change. They will be on their knees begging for the liberals that they demonize so much to start watching again. And the liberal audience is the most lucrative for the networks in spite of how terrible we are treated. That audience is the Jon Stewart, David Letterman group that the networks are so hungry to get.
The Republicans always try to allure the African-American vote by saying that the Democrats take their vote for granted. Well, liberals, lets tell the media that they are demonizing us and taking us for granted. Let them start appealing to us instead of the bigots and racists that they think are so important to their survival. I am convinced that this will work because all major media companies are only profit driven. Let's organize and pick a week to stop watching the networks. All the liberal and progressive media groups should have a solidarity campaign much like the unions do when they go up against industry giants such as the automobile industry. We could all protest in every major city with signs that say, "we're as mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore." That is the only way we can get them where it hurts so that the networks will at last stop biting the hand that feeds them. So lets not fight this administration in their own "briar patch." We have to accept the fact that the way to get these rats out is to attack the media. Attacking the administration is a waste of time if they can still control the media. Control of the media is the only way that a government can survive. It is now time for the people to have an insurrection against the corporate media, not their constitutional government of, by, and for WE THE PEOPLE.
Sheldon Drobny is CPA and Venture Capitalist; co-founder of Air America Radio; email at sdrobny@paradigmventure.com
