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The Mainstream Media --
a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
to American Democracy
The Fundamental Right of the American people to fair and objective information about the problems and issues confronting their nation is being violated every day.
The Constitution of the United States begins with the words, "We the people of the United States, . . . ." If nothing else this argues that the supreme authority within our political system -- the sovereign power -- resides in the people of the United States. How then is this sovereign power exercised?
Under the concept of
republicanism, political sovereignty resides with the citizens of a state, whose rights are guaranteed by a constitution, and who, at the same time, are constrained through a social contract to obey the laws of that state.Under the concept of indirect or
representative democracy there must be a genuine competition for the right to form the government of a state. This means that the sovereign power of the citizens of a state is exercised through universal suffrage, competitive elections and political parties. It is by these means that the elected representatives and the leaders of the state are held accountable to the sovereign authority within the state -- its people.Thus in the United States the sovereign power of the people is delegated by the people acting as an electorate in the periodic election of legislatures and elected leaders. But this system will only work if the electorate is well-informed on the problems and the issues of the United States. How does this occur?
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States calls for, among other things, the freedom of the press. In the minds of the founders of this country, the only way in which the people of the United States could be well-informed on the problems and issues of the country is through the freedom of the expression of ideas and information. Freedom of the press, at that time the freedom of newspapers and books to convey ideas and information, was therefore a fundamental right of the American people.
Without the freedom of the press there could not be a well-informed electorate, and without a well-informed electorate, the people of the United States could not exercise their sovereign power.
In the present era, freedom of the press in this country extends to all written, spoken or seen communications. But increasingly, the control over the content of these communications is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. The electorate is no longer being informed, it is being entertained and indoctrinated.
The fundamental problem is -- "we do not know what we do not know." There are no little recordings in our mind which say to each of us "these are the important things that occurred today which will affect the future of this country, so you had better check them out." Since the founding of this country, we have depended upon the Media to search out the "important things that occurred today," and to communicate information on these things to us, first in writing, then in speech, and finally through the use of sight and sound. For much of our history and up until about twenty years ago, the institution we now know as the Mainstream Media performed its function in providing information to a "well-informed electorate." Those days are now past.
Instead of information, the Mainstream Media in this country gives us celebrity gossip and scandal. In a March 2, 1999 column, Marie Cocco of Newsday referred to the big stories of the late winter of 1998-1999 -- the Lewinsky interviews and the Broaddrick allegations of rape by the man who is now our president -- as a "stinking mess," not journalism. These stories, we are told, meet the new "standards" of the new American journalism. Marie Cocco dissents. "You cannot say," Cocco writes, " the public is better informed because of these new standards. You cannot say the quality of journalism is improved, or that a central mission of the press
- to keep a watchful eye on power so it is not abused - is advanced." [Emphasis added.] She continues:Not even the public guzzling this untreated effluent thinks so. It believes the media are immoral, unprofessional, go too far in keeping scandal bubbling and even harm democracy.
That is what the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found, in a new poll. Comparing the public's attitude toward the press now to what it was in 1985, there is no good news. "Contempt" is the word pollster Andrew Kohut uses to sum up his findings.
Of all the rotten things the public thinks about the press,
the worst is that it no longer thinks the press plays a vital role in protecting democracy. [Emphasis added.] It is about evenly split, 45 percent to 38 percent, on whether the press protects democracy or hurts it. In 1985, the public saw the press as caretaker of democracy by better than two to one.When almost fifty per cent of the public believes the Mainstream Media no longer keeps a "watchful eye on power so it is not abused," when almost fifty per cent of the public believe the Mainstream Media no longer protects democracy but is doing damage to it, then something must be done.
It is time to stop talking and to start doing.
If the Mainstream Media no longer provides fair and objective information on the problems and the issues confronting this country, then we, as the common citizens of the United States, must provide an alternative. If properly employed, the Internet provides a mechanism for this purpose. More and more families in this country are gaining access to the Internet. We, the common citizens of the United States, must convey TWO messages to the people of America.
First, that the Mainstream Media is BLACKING OUT news and information on the activities of powerful interests in this country, and whose aim is nothing more or nothing less than the destruction of democracy in America. In addition, the Mainstream Media is DISTORTING and IGNORING news and information on the problems and issues this country must confront if the future well-being of our country and its people are to be assured. Moreover, the Mainstream Media is INDOCTRINATING all of us to believe certain things and to have a certain view of the world around us.
Second, that through the Internet, it is possible to provide links to news and information on the problems and issues confronting us. Out of my own limited knowledge, I have selected several general areas I believe we need to address today. It is my hope we can add to these general areas so that the common citizens of the United States will have a portal to the information and news they need to become a well-informed electorate.
Reality in this world of ours is not a black or white situation -- there are shades of gray.
Some may be surprised that the links I have initially provided in these general areas are to organizations and voices I believe to be the enemies of democracy in this country. To know the enemy, you must be able to understand the enemy. To know the issues, you must be able to understand the issues. In fact in some cases I believe we will find there is more agreement on the issues than the black-or-white differences in ideology would indicate. We cannot run this country by shouting at one another. We must engage in a reasoned discourse.
This is one of the great failures of the Mainstream Media in the current era. Where is the critical, but fair and objective description of what the Federalist Society believes in and what it opposes? Where is the newspaper, magazine, or journal article which critically, fairly and objectively describes the beliefs of the "Fair Use" Movement? Do not tell me they are nasty people who, because they are nasty, I must oppose and I must fear. Tell me what they stand for and what they oppose and I, as an informed common citizen, will make my own decisions.
Where is the media coverage of federal, state, and local court decisions and federal, state, and local judges? Judges deemed "activist" by a Republican Senate have difficulty being nominated and confirmed -- and this story receives no attention in the Mainstream Media. Judges who are very active judicial conservatives and libertarians are never examined by the Mainstream Media to determine the role of ideology, if any, in their decisions.
In recent months, the public health community in the United States has finally come to the realization that gun violence, and in particular, handgun violence is a costly epidemic threatening the very health of the country. Does anyone doubt that if every newspaper in the United States published a weekly national and local scorecard of deaths and injuries due to gun violence that the American people would soon understand the dangers of unregulated handguns and automatic weapons? Does anyone doubt that the same scorecards would show that hunting rifles and shootguns were a minor part of the gun violence problem?
The issue is the free expression of ideas and information we are presently being denied.