Media Democracy Day

"Never heard of media concentration? Guess why - media concentration."

Part of the reason why I joined Beyond Robson was because of the freedom it afforded me via the absence corporatist agenda made possible by the inherent democracy of blogging. And besides, I think everybody on MySpace was getting sick of my bulletins.

The success of blogging owes much to the oppressive media landscape, wherein only a few voices are truly represented. Take Vancouver for example: Canwest Global owns The Province, The Vancouver Sun, Global TV, Metro, Dose, The National Post, Canada.com, Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, The Surrey Now, Langley Advance, Abbotsford Times, Chilliwack Times, Maple Ridge Times, Coquitlam Now, Richmond News, Delta Optimist, Vancouver Courier, and the North Shore News. One company. That shit is fucked up.

Look at how the Telus strike was covered in the pseudo-working class Province. Is it any wonder Telus is a major contributor in ad revenue? Or look how soft they were on Campbell's DUI, any wonder as they were a major contributor to the Liberal Party? (No doubt looking to get in on some tax-cut action). Or take a close look at how the National Post describes Palestinians as the bad guys and Israel as the poor victim. This is why The Tyee was launched and why it's one of the best sources for news in Canada.

Media Democracy Day "is for anybody who is skeptical of the profit-centred agenda of the corporate media. Anybody who wants to see their news & views presented in a fair manner that promotes broad-based democratic debate and action. Anyone who wants citizens to have more direct access to the means of mass communication."

But it's also more than that. It's about quality of news. So much of Canwest fare is watered down, syndicated, news-wire drivel. It is info-tainment. Sure, it's easy to log on to the Guardian UK or CommonDreams.org, but how many people have that luxury? Or the time? Media Democracy is all about "the way information is created and distributed. As the communications professor Sut Jhally once said, "The challenge for a democratic society is how to get vital information not only at the margins but at the center of our culture." Media activists want to place the tools of the media within reach of the average citizen and to open up news, entertainment, and art as platforms for public dialogue. Media Democracy promotes critical thinking, lifelong learning, and an appreciation of different kinds of experience and knowledge. It seeks to inspire media that serve us as citizens, rather than as consumers."

Although the following list regards American media ownership, it nevertheless highlights the importance of media democracy. Researchers at California's Sonoma State University took a close look at the resumes of the 118 people who sit on the boards of directors of America's ten largest media organizations. The research team is part of Project Censored, which for nearly three decades has been exposing journalistic self-censorship, or "the news that didn't make the News." They determined that the group of 118 board members in turn sit on the boards of 288 other major corporations. They also discovered that eight out of the ten media behemoths share common memberships in each other's boardrooms.

1. New York Times: Carlyle Group, Eli Lilly, Ford, Johnson and Johnson, Hallmark, Lehman Brothers, Staples, Pepsi.
2. Washington Post: Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola, Dun & Bradstreet, Gillette, G.E. Investments, J.P. Morgan, Moody's.
3. Knight-Ridder: Adobe Systems, Echelon, H&R Block, Kimberly-Clark, Starwood Hotels.
4. The Tribune (Chicago & LA Times): 3M, Allstate, Caterpillar, Conoco Phillips, Kraft, McDonalds, Pepsi, Quaker Oats, Shering Plough, Wells Fargo.
5. News Corp (Fox): British Airways, Rothschild Investments.
6. GE (NBC): Anheuser-Busch, Avon, Bechtel, Chevron/Texaco, Coca-Cola, Dell, GM, Home Depot, Kellogg, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble.
7. Disney (ABC): Boeing, Northwest Airlines, Clorox, Estee Lauder, FedEx, Gillette, Halliburton, Kmart, McKesson, Staples, Yahoo.
8. Viacom (CBS): American Express, Consolidated Edison, Oracle, Lafarge North America.
9. Gannett: AP, Lockheed-Martin, Continental Airlines, Goldman Sachs, Prudential, Target, Pepsi.
10. AOL-Time Warner (CNN): Citigroup, Estee Lauder, Colgate-Palmolive, Hilton.

Another scary statistic is that 67?%t of Fox news viewers believed there was a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, compared to 16% of PBS viewers.

Although the consequences of American media concentration may seem more dire, it is nevertheless equally important in Canada as my previous post on Security Certificates examined. I mean, how many Canadians know that we have 6 men being held in prison WITHOUT CHARGE?! Or how many British Columbian civil servants know that their pensions are invested in companies that make bullets for the Iraq War? I bet more people know the marital status of Brad Pitt.

So sign a letter to the Standing Senate Committee on News Media. Please.