Strategically Communicating

In this week’s readings McChesney warns Britain against implementing media deregulation laws. Doing some reading about the state of Europe’s media system, I came across an article in the UK’s Guardian newspaper about France’s stance against media deregulation. Even though media deregulation continues to gain ground in the US and Britain, France is still resistant to it.

In France, unlike Britain, the state not only directly funds/supervises public broadcasters but also regulates the output of private television by implementing legally binding quotas. One example is Canal Plus: with its commercial success it is required to invest in independent cinema production, which gave independent filmmakers like the Coen brothers and many others a chance to make films.

Other aspects of the French media system:
● Broadcasters must give the same amount of airtime to different candidates during election campaigns.
● Advertising limited to 9 minutes/hour on public channels, and 12 minutes on private.
● No one media group can control more than 30% of the daily press.
● During judicial criminal investigations, publication of images related to a crime, or identity of a victim of a sexual offense is prohibited.
● Photographing, filming or recording court proceedings is prohibited.

Media laws in France derive from a national consensus (a national consensus on media reform and policy making is what McChesney keeps saying we desperately need here).

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1. The Guardian article says that the rules requiring private broadcasters to reinvest some of their profits into art/cultural cinema production is “an example of regulation at its best.” Do you agree?

(This type of funding is proposed by McChesney in our readings, as part of his media reform solutions, i.e. taxing private broadcasters to pay for public and cultural programming.)

2. In France there is no filming of court proceedings. Do we gain anything as a society from watching courtroom spectacles such as the Rodney King, O.J. Simpson, or Michael Jackson trials? Or is it purely sensationalism and voyeurism?

(As someone who lived through the LA riots, I have a strong opinion.)

3. Could media regulations like those listed above, have a positive effect in the US on stopping what McChesney says is the “massive negative externality of sensationalism in what we see” and halt its “dismal effects on society”?

I have been struck by how much McChesney’s work focuses on what was and very little on what will be. For the first time in my life, I actually became interested in what was going on at the FCC and its impact on federal regulations. There are currently four FCC commissioners, including two appointed by President Obama (the chair, Julius Genachowski, and Mignon Clyburn). Two others mentioned in the book, Michael Copps and Robert McDowell, remain at the FCC. McDowell, originally a Republican appointee, was re-appointed by President Obama.

In my research, I was pleasantly surprised to see news reporting from just a few weeks ago. These stories detailed how Genachowski succeeded in getting a unanimous vote to use $4.5 million from a telephone subsidy program (originally designed to build phone networks in rural areas) to extend high-speed Internet throughout the country to an estimated 20 million Americans who currently don’t have access. “We are taking a system designed for the Alexander Graham Bell era of rotary telephones and modernizing it for the era of Steve Jobs and the Internet future he imagined,” Genachowski said.

Then came news, just last week, of a non-profit organization called Connect to Compete that the FCC will oversee. This public-private partnership includes major broadband and computer companies such as Microsoft. It’s a $4 billion program designed to bring high-speed Internet access and computers to those who otherwise couldn’t afford them. It aims to “narrow the digital divide” that McChesney is so fond of discussing. To read more, go to http://articles.latimes.com/print/2011/nov/09/business/la-fi-fcc-broadband-20111109

Discussion questions:

1.  McChesney mentions the BBC as an example of a better funded, better functioning media system for democratic countries. Beyond that, are there any other media systems in the world that he would prefer? Any others that he thinks really do it right? Or is he asking for a utopian system that is unattainable in any place?

2.  Last week in class, the Sandusky sex abuse scandal was brought up as an example of what’s wrong with modern journalism – a focus on the sensational. But, isn’t this also an example of a society finally being willing to examine an important issue that, for decades, would have been considered taboo?

3.  McChesney predicted the Occupy Movement. But, he did not seem to address what happens after the explosion of anger erupts in the Left. Can Occupy transform itself from an amorphous group of angry victims to effective power brokers?

http://current.com/shows/countdown/videos/occupy-seattle-octogenarian-activist-dorli-rainey-on-being-pepper-sprayed-by-seattle-police-importance-of-activism

More insights on how the industry does police itself to ensure accurate information, especially in a digitized environment.  As you read it, note that one of the University of Oregon’s own, Scott Maier, is dominantly featured!

“Best practices in digital accuracy and corrections”

I can’t help but think this is going to get worse before it gets better.  Heard a really interesting debate on OPB this morning about Occupy Portland.  It’s growing even more polarized, in my humble opinion and not for the right reasons!  I think BOTH sides need good PR counsel!!    The release below was in an email to the SOJC faculty this morning.  I’d love to get all of the facts on this!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105, lsiems@pen.org

PEN Calls for Press Freedom at Occupy Sites

New York City, November 15, 2011—PEN American Center and PEN International today condemned restrictions on press coverage of police crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and elsewhere, calling the arrests of journalists, the grounding of media helicopters, and the restrictions on access to the Occupy sites “an obvious abridgement of the First Amendment right of all Americans to monitor official actions that clearly carry their own First Amendment concerns.”

“Whatever the arguments for clearing and cleaning the park, denying the rest of us the opportunity to witness the police action through the independent reporting of a free media simply reinforces the suspicion that the city government is seeking to hide from democratic scrutiny,” said Kwame Anthony Appiah, president of PEN American Center. “It is foolish and dangerous to undermine the faith of ordinary citizens in the impartiality of the police. It is also wrong to deny media access because it runs entirely against the spirit of the First Amendment guarantees that are at the heart of PEN’s mission.”

Early Tuesday morning, police barred reporters from news outlets including CNBC, NBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters from covering the clearing of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, which has been occupied by protesters for over two months.  Freelancers seemed to be particularly at risk; Julie Walker, who is reporting on the protests for NPR, was arrested and released late Tuesday morning, and Jared Malsin, a freelancer for the New York Times, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Others were forcefully removed from the park or handled roughly by police.

Journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests have been arrested before, but this seems to be the first time the Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered what amounts to a blockade of the press, saying that it was for their own protection. This morning’s actions mirror the arrests and media blackouts at other Occupy sites around the country, including Milwaukee, Nashville, and Oakland, where a cameraman was attacked and left with a concussion.

“At a time when freedom of expression is under threat worldwide, this denial of media access and restriction on press coverage is shameful and undemocratic,” said Laura McVeigh, executive director of PEN International. “It sends the wrong signal to the American people and to the rest of the world.”

PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of PEN International, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information on PEN’s work, please visit www.pen.org

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As promised, here’s the training video we talked about that was created to help teach families how to behave.  Interesting point is that I recorded a radio program this past weekend for Family Album about family meals.  If you read the comments you’ll see this video was an attempt to invigorate the notion of family meal time which was in decline.  Remember…. 1950!!! (yes, even before I was born)  Enjoy!