Part One:
WARNING: JOURNALISM IS IN DANGER!
We speak with David Dayen, executive editor of the American Prospect magazine, about the serious dangers facing journalism in general and, in particular, independent (not corporate-controlled) media outlets like his. The journalism industry has been going through a hard time, losing 7200+ journalists over the past year, and 15,000 the year before that.
The danger goes beyond merely this one industry. Democracies don’t survive well without a free press. We need accurate facts and careful, unbiased analysis in order for democratic elections to succeed. Information deserts are a threat to an informed citizenry, good government, and political stability.
Nor can we hope for the internet to save the press. Google and Facebook have changed the model, and not for the better. They gobble up most of the advertising revenue, so that independent media — including digital and print media — can’t get ads to support their work. Wealthy moguls like Jeff Bezos aren’t buying media like The American Prospect (good!). so they have to rely on support from their (less wealthy) readers.
One example of how these trends are damaging our democracy: Now that Michael Bloomberg is running for president – and spending $1billion of his personal wealth to finance his campaign – his Bloomberg News Co., claiming it wants to avoid any conflict of interest, has decided *not* to investigate Bloomberg himself or *any of the Democratic candidates* for president. This self-limitation not only undermines the news-gathering purpose of a large media outlet. But it also gives Pres. Trump political cover for his false claim that “no one can trust any mainstream media” because they only criticize him and refuse to go after any Democrats.
As if this non-investigation decision weren’t bad enough, Bloomberg News has turned over its editorial page to Peter Orzag, a member of the corporate capitalist elite. (Orzag is now the CEO of Lazard bank which consults on mergers and acquisitions. Previously, as Pres. Obama’s head of OMB, he worked with Geitner and Larry Summer to bail out Wall St. and the auto companies.) It would be unrealistic, therefore, to expect Bloomberg News’s editorial policy objectively to consider “progressive” programs such as those advocated by Sanders and Warren. Instead, this media giant will be firmly supporting the corporate agenda of the Democratic Party’s “moderate” wing.
This is a challenge to our democracy as a whole, not just to the Democratic Party. Without independent journalism (which reflects the concerns of all our people), who is going to write about questions such as who has power, what they do with it, and what its effects are? Can we expect MSNBC or CNN to objectively cover the merits and demerits of Medicare for All, when so many of their advertisers are Big Pharma conglomerates? How can we expect the morning news shows to be unbiased about war and peace issues when defense contractors like Lockheed are buying the ads that underwrite their programs?
Part Two:
LET’S READ A STORY.
Arnie and Ken read aloud the Preface to the just-published House Intelligence Committee report on its impeachment inquiry. The report offers astute insights and compelling analyses of the evidence presented and the facts underlying the ongoing impeachment process. As Benjamin Franklin stated, when asked if our government was a republic or a monarchy: “It is a republic, if you can keep it.”
