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This is what I was talking about in an earlier post from today.
I know him too. And he was the one who came to mind earlier when I was writing.
Dammit.
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I was asked yesterday by a colleague why we needed a conference on media reform.
I spent a few minutes talking about the issue of accuracy in the media and the perceived slant over the last few years from mainstream media regarding Pres. George Bush’s leadership since he took office. I regaled them with tales of media bias throughout the years, sounding sadly like a badly written entry in Wikipedia. (sarcasm, campers.)
But when I got home and started thinking about it, it really is more than that. It’s the contrast between business and entertainment, because news has become entertainment in so many ways.
So where’s the balance? Has there ever been any balance? Remembering the days of yellow journalism regarding the circulation battles in the late 1800’s, so the idea of media reform is not something new.
But let us remember, as I’ve read this around the blogosphere this morning, that we have seen journalism become a weapon recently sometimes controlled by government (Mission Accomplished anyone), and accuracy in journalism is important whether you work at a small paper like mine or if you are the head of Fox News.
Because people deserve the right to know.
But it does come down to business so many times. If you don’t have the ads, then you don’t have the real estate to put in the news. So the choice, and challenge, for editors these days is to make every column inch in a newspaper count.
Money does corrupt. Power does as well, so the message at this conference is very important. A.) Professional journalists are competing with bloggers, who are at times because not confined to the policy of newspapers, breaking biggers stories with, and not always, compelling accuracy. B.) Sometimes this lends itself to remarkable things, other times, not so much but it is a new medium to be reckoned with. C. We need to do better.
This conference is probably one of the most important ones I will go to thus far in my life because finding the balance is important. Making sure that, although print, broadcast and digital media are private industries many times with a bottom line, that the news is not corrupted by the almighty dollar. That is why the blogosphere is so important. It’s is more passionate about the truth, and quite honestly, I know very few bloggers who make a dime off their efforts.
And there in lies the issue people in news, especially those of us who deal with the bottom line everyday, need to be mindful of.
Newspapers, or at least mine, need to be profitable to survive. But the news needs to be untainted by seeking money to pay for themselves. It’s sometimes frustrating to work on ad sections when there is news out there to be gathered and reported. I think that editorial and sales staffs need to wear each others shoes to understand the myriad of problems both departments go through, and then allow, with trust and faith, that the other side will do their job. Therein, I think they will thrive.
We also need to trust the blogosphere as well. It’s a freight train running down a mountain with no brakes and it is compelling to watch this window of history unfolding before our eyes.
So how do we reform media? I don’t think there are any easy answers here, but I do believe that there is always hope to become better. To be aware of the challenges and face them head on.
Yeah. That’s how I feel today. I’ll be very interested in seeing how I grow from this experience each day in Memphis, what I will learn and what I can put into practical application. I’ll be interested to see how I evolve by the time the conference ends on Sunday and the changes within myself after observing this grassroots movement.
A journey. And I hope I’m self-aware and open enough to get what I need to improve myself.
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In perusing the conference guide while SQ packs, I can’t help but think I really need to go see what Duncan Black’s seminar will be about. I dig me some Atrios.
Jeffraham would be so proud, I think.
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Squeegee Monkey has slayed the Printer Troll, not to be confused with the Uterus Troll.
Can I get a witness for his abilities?
I now have my official conference package. It is one million pages long. I guess I’ll be reading a lot while I’m on the road to the Land of Elvis.
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I don’t really know how this weekend I’m going to handle being at the Conference on Media Reform. I’ve had a couple of e-mails asking for updates about what’s going on.
As I have to write some of the highlights for the newspaper, I think here I’d just rather do it like I always do it and just give you my personal reflections about the experience.
Yeah, I think that’s right.
I’ve talked to Craig Aron, the passes are waiting, the hotel room is paid and tomorrow I have on my agenda to see the opening remarks from Bill Moyer and then head over to the Phil Donahue moderated discussion on.
Perusing through the conference packet, which I can’t seem to get to print out on any computer I have access too, there is a lot available.
Also on today’s agenda is meeting the fab Lynnster which I’m really excited about. John H. has talked about how groovy she is, so we should have a pretty good time.
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I have had to bust my hiney at work this week to get ready to go out of town today (I would really like have one of those man nannys to take care of the packing, washing clothes thing so I wouldn’t have to do it. I would pay him well to take care of all my needs) so I had to watch Pres. Bush’s speech later and not live.
Now my first reaction fell into this category as the headline over at Tennessean stated.
Being that the 913th Engineering Co. Just got back a couple of months ago and then the National Guard unit from McKenzie (forgive me for not having their unit number floating in my cranium but it’s 4:40 in the A.M. and the coffee is still brewing) I couldn’t help but have an oh shit crap moment.
My first thought was The Guard are going back. I was a little kid during Vietnam, but I have heard from people older than myself that this war has taken on the same tone.
And I agree with Sharon Cobb here, the American people have been pretty clear we want out of this war. I liked this line the best in one of her latest posts:
My sentiments exactly. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know anything about strategies regarding military maneuvers. I don’t, but I do think that Bush isn’t listening.
But, and as I say on this blog quite often, we personalize things and my personization of last night was “Great, he is admitting mistakes are being made but, hey, we are sending 21,000 troops over for the surge.”
In other words, if I say I’m sorry I’ll still get to do what I want to do. And according to a report filed last night at ABC, the White House is already putting their plan of a surge into action as we speak.
ABC News has learned that the “surge” Bush is expected to announce in a prime time speech tonight has already begun. Ninety advance troops from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in Baghdad Wednesday.
An additional battalion of roughly 800 troops from the same division are expected to arrive in Baghdad Thursday. Eighty percent of the sectarian violence occurs within a 30-mile radius of Baghdad, so that is where most of the additional troops will be concentrated.
It is the first small wave of troops in a new White House strategy that is expected to put more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and likely require new call-ups of the National Guard.
Two years ago, Bush did what he wanted without very much opposition. Now, he’s being questioned about his decisions and he should be. He should have been back then but he wasn’t. He can be as contrite as he wants to with the American people in his press conference, but he keeps being the Decider. I thought this crazy thing that the American people had that right. Speaker Pelosi has already responded with this statement on her website.
“Iraqi political leaders will not take the necessary steps to achieve a political resolution to the sectarian problems in their country until they understand that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended. Escalating our military involvement in Iraq sends precisely the wrong message and we oppose it.
And now we get to find out what the new Democratic lead Congress will do. This is going to cost nearly seven billion dollars and they have some control over this war’s wallet now.I’m hoping, for once, our government will end this craziness and not increase U.S. forces in Iraq. Bush is expected to hit the road today to sell his new stategy. (Allow me to be snarky, but snake oil salesmen used to sell their wares (uh, war in Bush’s case) this way too
All I know is I’m going to Memphis, but one thing I want to do is go ask those people I know that have just returned to normalcy after spending a year over there if they think they are going to have to go back.
And I think that haunted look I’ve seen will return. And that breaks my heart because I know it will be sitting in their eyes.
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I wrote something today for the paper that I’m quite proud of.
It was about Martin Luther King Jr’s impact on our community and I spoke to a variety of people that just took my breathe away.
I usually don’t shill my stuff here, but damnit it all, if I wasn’t proud of it.
You see, I had the honor of talking to people who worked in civil rights 40 years ago, and to just hear their words was inspiring. So many memories from men and women who described to me their lives when King was alive and how they were apart of some major swings of the way people though during the civil rights movement was amazing. I was given the honor of listening to their stories, and the thing is, as sad and terrible that it was, they came out with such a large spectrum of hope. I was sometimes so much in awe that I it was hard to breathe. They know, as do I, that racism still lurks in our society, but to hear an 80 year old man say that he knows he made a difference refusing to succumb to hatred when hope is the answer was just simply amazing.
I also don’t post my stuff on here that I do there but I just have to tell you, I was astounded by the courage I heard today.
It was an incredible couple of days.
So now, I’m getting ready to head to Memphis.
And I feel pretty good.
And I’m honored to have been allowed this window. I can’t tell you how much these men and women mean to me.
To allow me a moment of history.
Photos From Hoots
