Bernie's Media Rant

Lots of politicians will tell you that they understand and appreciate the problems confronting modern American journalism, but rarely do they do more than provide lip service toward solutions. 

At some level it makes sense that fixing what's wrong with journalism is not at the top of the priority list for mainstream pols. Think about it: if journalism was truly fixed, it would be eminently pro-democracy and hold all elected officials and candidates--from village and town boards to president of the United States--to much stricter and rigorous standards of accountability. Few pols want that, even those who self-identify as liberals. 

The Hill's Krystal Ball exposes some pretty clear anti-Bernie media bias. Sanders' media reform proposals, if enacted, would not mean criticism of him would be reduced. Rather, the criticism of him and ALL candidates for president would more likely be grounded in real journalism values as opposed to entertainment and trivia.

That's why it was somewhat refreshing to see Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders reveal a plan to fix journalism that is rooted in a clear comprehension of the problem, that proposes wide ranging solutions, and that is unapologetically pro-democracy. The fact that Rupert Murdoch's New York Post immediately bashed the plan as "horrible" ought by itself be enough evidence to show that Sanders is on to something. 

Sanders' plan is outlined in an op-ed he submitted to the Columbia Journalism Review. In laying out the problem, Sanders is in Media Rants mode, saying things that have been articulated in this blog for many years. Some of my favorite quotes from the piece: 

*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.” 

*When we have had real journalism, we have seen crimes like Watergate exposed and confronted, leading to anti-corruption reforms. When we have lacked real journalism, we have seen crimes like mortgage fraud go unnoticed and unpunished, leading to a devastating financial crisis that destroyed millions of Americans’ lives.

Corporate conglomerates and hedge fund vultures have decimated independent and local news.

We'll protect independent news and a free press by enforcing antitrust laws, empowering journalists to form unions and increasing investment in local public media. https://t.co/xO7Kd9Kkw9

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 27, 2019

*At precisely the moment when we need more reporters covering the healthcare crisis, the climate emergency, and economic inequality, we have television pundits paid tens of millions of dollars to pontificate about frivolous political gossip, as local news outlets are eviscerated. 

*Today, after decades of consolidation and deregulation, just a small handful of companies control almost everything you watch, read, and download. Given that reality, we should not want even more of the free press to be put under the control of a handful of corporations and “benevolent” billionaires who can use their media empires to punish their critics and shield themselves from scrutiny. 

*We need to rebuild and protect a diverse and truly independent press so that real journalists can do the critical jobs that they love, and that a functioning democracy requires.

Watch the heads of the Fox Business News' "conservatives" explode as they talk about Sanders' media reform plan. Sanders' plan would actually strengthen the First Amendment, and in that sense is quite conservative (thinking of conservative in its original sense as those policies which uphold the Constitution and Bill of Rights.). 

Sanders specific plans for reform (summarized by Jake Johnson) include: 

• Impose an immediate moratorium on federal approval of mergers of major media companies; 
• Require media corporations to disclose whether their corporate transactions and mergers would cause significant layoffs of reporters;

Right-wing columnist @Jeff_Jacoby berates @BernieSanders' plan to rebuild independent media & protect reporters from billionaires owners. He slams Bernie for "trashing entrepreneurs & investors" who own media. 

Unsaid: the columnist is employed by a billionaire-owned newspaper. pic.twitter.com/5inggK96gF

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) August 30, 2019

David Sirota is a long time progressive journalist now working as a speech writer for the Sanders campaign. Not sure if Sirota ghost wrote Sanders' Columbia Journalism Review op-ed, but the piece does reflect ideas that progressive journalists have been espousing for many years now. Many can be found on FreePress.Net. 

• Require that employees "be given the opportunity to purchase media outlets through employee stock-ownership plans";
• Block federal merger and deregulation moves that harm people of color and women;
• "Reinstate and strengthen media ownership rules" with the goal of limiting "the number of stations that large broadcasting corporations can own in each market and nationwide";
• Enforce anti-trust laws against tech behemoths like Facebook and Google "to prevent them from using their enormous market power to cannibalize, bilk, and defund news organizations";
• Increase funding for federal programs that support public local media "in much the same way many other countries already fund independent public media."

Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur are favorable towards Sanders' plan. While the plan may or may not be "amazing," it does represent the first attempt by the the candidate for president of a major political party to make media consolidation and other threats to the First Amendment a campaign and future governing priority. 

Near the end of his op-ed, Sanders links his proposal explicitly to our founding documents: "Our constitution’s First Amendment explicitly protects the free press because the founders understood how important journalism is to a democracy. More than two centuries after the constitution was signed, we cannot sit by and allow corporations, billionaires, and demagogues to destroy the Fourth Estate, nor can we allow them to replace serious reporting with infotainment and propaganda." 

The Columbia Journalism Review has invited all candidates to submit media reform plans. I have not yet endorsed Sanders or any candidate, but it will be difficult to support anyone who cannot enthusiastically support reform proposals that could rescue journalism from the grasp of greed. 

So far, not one other candidate has submitted a plan to the Columbia Journalism Review or any other source. Should such plans arrive, I'll update this piece.