Progressives Need to Build Their Own Media

[Cattledog]

https://www.thenation.com/article/progressives-need-to-build-their-own-media/

“Progressives have historically not made unified, effective communications a priority,” says David Fenton, founder of a progressive communications firm. “The progressive world, unlike the right, does not have a TV network or legions of talk-radio hosts. However, we do have enormous potential power if we adopt more of the basic principles of marketing and communications, such as simple messages and enormous amounts of repetition to target audiences. Our opponents do this routinely. It comes naturally to them, as they mostly have business or marketing backgrounds.”

Consciously or not, most progressive organizations, donors, and candidates are following a theory of social change that trusts the mainstream media to report progressives’ actions and analysis fairly. According to this theory, coverage by Democracy Now! or Mother Jones or, yes, The Nation is all very well, but it preaches to the choir. Much better to get one’s story covered by ABC, USA Today, or their mainstream counterparts.

The problem is that the mainstream media usually don’t deliver. Of countless possible examples, consider the coverage of Sanders’s presidential campaign. Certain that a democratic socialist held no electoral appeal, mainstream media at first ignored Sanders, and then downplayed the idea that he could win, despite primary victories and polls consistently showing him doing significantly better than Clinton would against Trump. The substance of his positions—tuition-free college, health care for all, fighting climate change—was barely noted, much less explained, especially by the TV coverage that remains most Americans’ main source of news. Newspaper opinion pages did consider substance but almost always condemned that of Sanders, especially near the end of his run. Opinion pieces in The Washington Post ran five to one against him, Thomas Frank observed in Harper’s; “ignorant,” “unrealistic,” and “reckless” were just some of the adjectives applied.

[Alpeduez21]

1. Couldn't agree more

Contrary to their whining self pitying the Republican agenda is always on full display in the media. The real media bias is against progressives.

[guillaumeb]

2. Sanders deviated from the acceptable limits of free speech.

Wherein the 1% decides for everyone what subjects are permitted, and what approaches are permitted to those subjects.

[Kimchijeon]

7. I think you are right on. nt

[hollowdweller]

3. Progressives are not angry or conspiracy minded enough for their own media

Most of us just want to hear the news.

Republicans are angry and scolding and not wedded to reality. Their politics are like religion, they believe the dogma in spite of the facts so they want media that affirms their faith and tells them all others are going to hell.

I don't think that can work for progressives.

However the Democratic Party can craft a message that wins. They had a chance in 2001 but "came together" with the GOP over war and tax cuts after 9/11 rather than following the Benghazi model. Then they had another chance in 2008 after the financial collapse but Obama opted to "reach across the aisle" rather than condemn trickle down and deregulation.

We'll have ANOTHER chance when Trump and the GOP screw it up and I may leave the democratic party if we do not take advantage this time.

[BainsBane]

4. This has been tried

remember Air America? It didn't work financially.

Academic studies have demonstrated that Sanders got far more favorable news coverage than Clinton. https://www.good.is/articles/hillary-clinton-negative-press

[frankieallen]

15. Stop with your pesky facts.

That article is total made up BS. It makes it sound like democrats are stupid, and need CNN/ABC/CBS and left leaning talk radio to tell them what to think.
Democrats, especially the ones that vote, pay attention, watch debates, and make up their own mind. Give them some credit. 2 million people or something like that, watch fox news. 150 million voted. Guess what...they ain't swaying elections with their bullshit.
The OP gives the MSM way too much credit. Either that or they are looking for someone to blame for Bernie's loss, other than Bernie.

[brooklynite]

21. No...you're wrong

Democrats WHO HANG OUT AT POLITICAL DISCUSSION WEBSITES are informed and don't need to be told what to think by the media. There are ALSO plenty of Democrats (and liberals) who aren't regularly engaged in political discourse and DO get their primary information from news outlets.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

19. I remember Air America...great content but it was on a dying medium

The only people who still listen to the radio like that are older folks unless you're on Sirius XM. The internet is the new medium to be on and Progressives also need to get rid of this idea that we can have what we want without financially helping out. I don't think progressives are really giving $$$ to progressive causes like that...especially within New Media. We can fund ourselves. The Right is propped up due to the tens of millions they get from the rich who funnel money to right-wing talk radio, etc. The Right is better funded than the Left.

[BainsBane]

20. People were constantly posting clips of

radio and TV broadcasts promoting Bernie. How many do they need anyway?

[DemocraticSocialist8]

23. Well Bernie is different...and he's not a platform per se with a financial structure

[BainsBane]

24. $220 million isn't a financial structure?

He broke all fundraising records and spent at least half of it on advertising. He had more TV interview appearances than anyone but Trump. He's currently on at least twice a week. Few politicians have more media exposure. Few celebrities have more media exposure.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. The problem is the assumption that radio is a "dying medium"

During the era of communications deregulation, the RW bought bundles and bundles of stations to run their programming on. That programming was reaching parts of the country that did not have access to cable and often could barely pick up any broadcast tv stations... Those areas only recently gained access to satellite but by then, the damage was done. And as an inexpensive (free) method of information, it is still a viable resource in those rural areas.

Air America "died" because Liberals/progressives did NOT own the stations that the programming was broadcast on... nor were they willing to take a "loss" with the view of it being a "donation to the cause" like the RW does (as you note with the funding issue). When half your population lives in these rural areas and listened to the canned RW propaganda of Limbaugh, Hewitt, Savage, Hannity, Prager, Gallagher, Bennett, etc., that "increased listenership" translated into them eventually bringing that programming to the big city talk stations, eventually pushing out any semblance of left talk - outside of pay (Sirius/XM) or ethnic (black, Hispanic, Asian) radio.

[DemocraticSocialist8]

27. I hear you. A lot of good points that I wasn't aware of

[BumRushDaShow]

28. You know what is sad?

Those same little stations that the Clear Channels and Westwood Ones bought (and even the larger stations in some cities), not only dumped left radio (or even shows that had 2 hosts, one from each side of the political spectrum), but many of them also got rid of the hobby/public interest programming like gardening or car repair or home repair, or cooking, etc. They subscribed to the RW syndication packages and ran them 24/7, with some stations opting to have maybe one "local" show featuring a local RW lunatic host and sometimes they'll get a contract to run local college ball games to recoup some revenue.

Thankfully I can stream some of that other type of programming (and I have listened to podcasts of others) but it just made the format completely monolithic and destroyed the enjoyment of it.

[crazycatlady]

29. I'm in my 30s and none of my friends listen to the radio

In the car, it is music (streaming, downloaded, or a CD). Things that people relied on the radio on when I was growing up (such as weather related closings) can now be communicated by social media and a mass text.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. I am in my mid-50s

and I think the issue here is that if you live in a rural area, other than maybe dialup for internet, your choices were (and still are) limited. Yet AM radio has reception for literally hundreds if not close to a thousand miles (for the 50,000 watt stations). I am in Philly and used to listen to stations in Chicago, Cincinnati, Boston, Tennessee, and the Carolinas and routinely still listen to the NYC & D.C. radio stations.

You can put a huge honkin' antenna up on your house next to the barn and still not be able to pick up a good television signal. And many of those same areas have no cell towers nearby so no cell phone access. Hell... I had cousins living in NH about 60 miles from Boston and they barely got TV reception. We used to go up there in the late '60s and early '70s and I remember when they first got cable because of that (during the early days of cable) and was floored by a 24 hour cartoon channel.

If we want to reach the segment of the population that consistently votes and doesn't live in a big city or suburban area, we have to do it on all types of formats including radio, not just social media. Again because not everyone is on social media nor do they even have the ability to access it. We still have a lot of DUers on dial-up.

[crazycatlady]

31. Good point

I"m a cord cutter (haven't had TV in 4 years) and never had a landline in my own name, so I do everything using my cell and wifi. My laptop and tablet are portable, and if internet's down, I can go to a place like McDonald's (they exist in rural areas) or Starbucks. You can listen to a CD without an internet connection-- in the car or at home/work.

I'm a generation younger than most DUers so I'm bringing a different perspective to it.

ANother way to reach these voters would be newspapers. I've worked in rural areas before (28 county congressional district). I know advertising on radio is fairly cheap.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. I have nieces and nephews your age

and I know that their media consumption is different - basically netflix/hulu and Pandora or other streaming services, etc - even for some "broadcast" tv. The ultimate timeshifting. I still have hundreds of VHS tapes that I wanted to move to DVD and they include hearings and other things not yet archived/available on the 'net.

But see here is the deal - there are many of us who watched this tech come into being (and even helped to get it installed) and we know that in an instant, the "cloud" can go away (you might have heard about the Amazon server mishap this past week - I heard a follow-up today that said a technician inadvertently turned off more servers than necessary while debugging some script) and you are dead in the water. If the cell towers gets overloaded, you are again, dead in the water.

Always have a backup!!!

That's the main reason why I have kept my landline (although unfortunately the house I'm in now is wired with FIOS for the phone too so if the power goes out and the battery dies in the box, the phone goes away too whereas the old copper lines would still work).

Also agree about the newspapers and even (print) magazines... They are still being bought.

[crazycatlady]

33. I've lost files before

I've washed a flash drive before. (it survived but I panicked). My lesson from that was to back up files on more than one source-- multiple cloud backups (dropbox, google, amazon) and physical backup. I have one folder that is saved to multiple flash drives too.

I'm selling my TV at a garage sale because it's collected dust over the last few years.

I managed my elderly grandmother's finances. Her landline bill was about 75% of my cell phone bill (for multiple lines and texting and data). I have lipstick sized portable batteries that I charge before a storm is coming.

I agree that there's a segment that needs to be reached, but the how is up in the air. Many people don't want 24/7 politics and tune into the radio for something else other than news (sports, music). I know listening to something that would make me outraged is a safety hazard when I'm driving. I work in politics and I view my driving time as a window to think about something else.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. I have avoided the 24/7 politics as well

and it has been a struggle as the local radio stations around here got rid of much of the non-political talk (e.g., gardening and other subjects), forcing me to stream it from elsewhere.

But what happens is that then people completely tune out because of lack of variety, eventually they "drop out" and stop voting... until all of a sudden their check stops or some bulldozer shows up on their front yard with the driver telling them that their state ordered him to dig it up as part of "eminent domain"... Thus the other side wins. So we need to re-balance the communications...

[delisen]

5. Sanders basically had a free pass from Republican Party and media in the primary, ergo the polls

I thought he was often quite effective in getting media attention. He is a colorful candidate, as is Trump-but of course Sanders is by far the superior human being by light-years.

[leftstreet]

6. They have done. It fails

left-leaning citizens don't need to constantly have their thoughts and beliefs reinforced

Rightwingers, conservatives, and christo-facist nutters need that

[FiveGoodMen]

8. The problem is that the right has a more appealing message (to the undecided)

Here's what right-wing radio (for example) tells its listeners:

"You're the greatest, and you deserve everything you ever wanted. These other people have taken it from you and you should take it back because god wants you to have it!"

Here's what left-wing media needs to say in order to BE left wing:

"We're all in this together. Your fellow humans may need your help. That may take some sacrifice, but it's the right thing to do."

(Yes, it can also remind us that we'll each need others' help someday -- Social Security, Medicare, etc. -- but that's far off for many listeners and they're all convinced they'll be rich anyway.)

[angstlessk]

9. I agree....no one wants to sacrifice for the underdog...BUT

with repug license we will ALL become underdogs...

First they came for.....

[Caliman73]

11. This has been my argument as well for many years.

Except I would not say (undecided). I would say, easily swayed.

The conservative message is easier to sell because it creates a "common enemy" and it stimulates that emotional response in conservatives for both "fight" and for "nostalgia".

Progressive politics try to portray a common enemy in "the wealthy" but our message is much more complicated than that. We are a more policy based group or people and our needs and passions are diverse and message is solutions based not geared towards "enemies" or times when things were better. Our message is much more nuanced and difficult to package up and sell.

We have good progressive shows like Stephanie Miller, Bill Press, MIP with Mark Thompson, Ari Ravenhopf (spelling) and others but we do not have a coordinated media because our needs and desires are so diverse and at times divergent.

I agree that our message is what you said about being "all in this together" and the part about some sacrifice. That is a majorly hard sell in a world where competition and self aggrandizement is pushed. Jimmy Carter tried to have that talk with America in the late 70's and it lead to Reagan coming in and blowing sunshine up everyone's butt to get elected.

[leftstreet]

13. The left would need to make the wealthy 'the others,' 'enemies'

They won't do that

[LanternWaste]

22. RW and simplistic ideas are more easily branded commercially.

RW and simplistic ideas are more easily branded commercially.

Complex, progressive ideas, by their very nature cannot easily fit on a bumper sticker.

Target either the simple-minded and dull-witted or the rational mind which allows for context, nuance and detail. Cannot target both demographics successfully.

[crazycatlady]

10. I'm proof of it

I don't have TV anymore, but when I did it wasn't on 24/7 MSNBC. I watched other channels mostly. I don't listen to the radio in the car, I listen to music. The last thing i need is political talk while driving because you don't want an angry driver.

[malaise]

12. Has to happen

Media is a prominent agent of hegemony

[Initech]

14. I've been saying this since the election.

We cannot win elections if we don't have a media presence. The conservatives own literally every aspect of our media now - they own all the most popular talk shows, Fox News is played in more places than CNN, every single book on every single bookshelf has a conservative bias to it. Yet they demonize and downplay the enemy as the "liberal media" - which - news flash - doesn't exist anymore! All we have is Bill Maher, John Oliver, Trevor Noah, and Stephen Colbert. We need to take back the media if we want to take back 2018. Especially where we live in a world now where "alternative facts" are a thing.

[dembotoz]

16. we tend to eat our own bill maher is panned here as is mike moore, et al

we do not support favorable media, how the fruitcake do you expect it to grow?

fox wins because the conservaclowns listen to it and support it

it makes money for those who advertise on it.

liberal media advertising should not be like a charitable contribution.
it should be a viable media for those who advertise on it

[Blue_Tires]

17. Based on the state of the "liberal" pundisphere

and how many of them are openly whoring for Russia or Trump, I'd say a housecleaning is in order first...

[NastyRiffraff]

18. Come on, Bernie had endless free advertising

courtesy of the media. The crowds at his rallies! His "surprising" campaign! His fans treat him like a rock star! On MSNBC, it was all Bernie, all the time. For the rest of the media, only Trump had more free airtime. Sure, some were clearly against him, but he wasn't subjected to nearly the amount of vitrol that Hillary Clinton had to deal with. It really is allowed, in a democracy, to be against a certain candidate, despite what some Sanders supporters think.

[Jimbo101]

25. I watch TV - Listen to radio for entertainment ,.... Not Political News

Air America didn't last that long - because Progressives don't watch or listen to their news.

They search it out - and read multiple sources (at least I do)