The document discusses issues with modern American media, including its focus on profit over informing citizens, consolidation of media ownership, and reluctance to criticize government. It analyzes how this impacted coverage of the Iraq war and 2004 election. Presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean received little coverage after criticizing media monopolies and discussing important issues. John Kerry received more attention as a "safe" candidate who avoided controversy, despite being ill-suited to challenge Bush, who benefited from friendly media that focused on personality over policy.

1. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNcACfx1
RTM

2. Tragedy and Farce:
How the American Media Sells Wars,
Spins Elections, and Destroys Democracy
and What You Can Do to Change Things
Book by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney
Presentation by Maral Cavner

3. The Function of The Media
According to The Founders
• “A popular government without popular
information or the means of acquiring it,
is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy
or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever
govern ignorance, and a people who
mean to be their own governors must
arm themselves with the power
knowledge gives.” – President and
Founder James Madison
• Clearly we need help from the media to
help the electorate serve as a check on
the government as a whole, but as Jon
Stewart said, this is not exactly what is
happening.

4. The Central Problem With The Media
• Largely as a result of pressure on all media sources
to turn a profit, media companies are run like
businesses and “treat Americans as consumers,
not citizens” who are attracted by entertainment
itself rather than stories.
• Additional problems include: the rise in
sensationalism, blatant fabrications of stories, the
need to fit a slim definition of patriotic, and the
widespread bribing of journalists.

5. Explanations for The Modern Day Crisis
In Journalism
• The increasing concentration of ownership into giant
media corporations driven solely by profit.
• A decline in objective reporting and the rise of
partisanship.
• The reluctance of governments to operate in full
disclosure mode, which would open themselves up to
possible criticism.
• Additionally, the authors state structural and historical
factors which have contributed to the crisis, namely the
decline in “professional journalism" and changes in the
function of journalism itself.

6. The History of Journalism In The United States
• The Founders called for “democracy sustaining” journalism
which would have three crucial components:
• It must be a rigorous watchdog of those in power or rising to it.
• It must present a wide range of informed views on the most
pressing issues of the day.
• It must be able to expose deception and permit the truth to
rise to the top.
• “Professional journalism” is reporting with the notion of
objectivity.
• “Professional journalism” is actually a fairly recent
development in the United States and is presented as the
solution to the blatant partisan crisis in media today.

7. The Pros and Cons of “Professional Journalism”
• Strengths:
– It gives editors and reporters a measure of independence from
the owners’ politics and from commercial pressures to shape the
news to keep advertisers and the bottom line happy.
– It places an extreme emphasis on being fair and accurate in
reporting equating fabrications and exaggerations to cardinal sins.
• Possible Weaknesses:
– Reliance on official sources solely can turn reporting into
dictation.
– It becomes difficult to contextualize stories without showing at
least some partisan inclinations or making small value judgments.
– “Dig here, not there,” a built-in bias concerning what stories are to
be reported and especially in a positive or critical fashion.

8. The Two Central Assaults on Journalism From
The Commercial and Political Sides
• A wave of media consolidation and
conglomeration, in addition to loosened federal
regulations, resulted in a commercial attack on
the autonomy of “professional journalism.”
• Owners of media corporations want control over what
their media sources report.
• The right-wing attack on “liberal news media.”
• Emerged dramatically in the 1970s and again in 2008
with the help of Sarah Palin who criticized the media
for being too liberal and too sympathetic to
traditionally liberal policies and ideals.

9. Assaults on Journalism From The Commercial
and Political Sides Continued
• Side-Effects:
• A decrease in the number of journalists, an increase in
the number of political pundits who are less expensive,
a middle to upper class bias in stories reported, less
people following the news, and a shift in focus to
entertainment/celebrity news.
• Connections:
• It is important to note that these assaults complement
each other. “The same political figures that bellyache
about the “liberal” media are in bed with the
corporations that own them and carry their water in
Washington D.C.”

10. The Caliber of A Media System Can Be Tested
Through Political Means
• The first test measures how the press system covers
elections, providing the information citizens need to
determine who will hold political power and who will
not.
• The second test involves how the press system
enables citizens to monitor the government’s war-
making powers.
• The authors consider the coverage of the war in Iraq
to be “one of the darkest moments in the history of
journalism in the United States and consider it to have
been the main contributing factor to the ‘dismal’
election coverage in 2004.”

11. Wartime Propaganda
• In nearly all major wars that the U.S.
has been a part of (WW1, WW2, the
Vietnam War, and the Gulf War etc.) a
clear pattern emerged: “The President
wished to pursue a war while the
American people had severe
reservations. In nearly every case, the
White House ran a propaganda
campaign to generate public support
for going to war, and a campaign that
bent the truth in line with the strategy
that the ends (war) justified the
means (lies).”

12. The Media’s Handling of Journalism During The
Buildup To The War in Iraq
• Never more so has this bending been so blatant than during
the presidency of George W. Bush when dealing with the war
in Iraq about which the authors go into great detail.
• Journalists felt pressure:
• To fit the slim definition of what was ‘patriotic’ during the uniquely
unified post 9/11 era and keep the pro-war line all to avoid severe
and potentially career ending criticism from the Right.
• To not thoroughly investigate the President George W. Bush’s words
because they should carry credibility simply from the office which he
held.
• To keep their media institution’s largely conservative ownership
happy with their reporting.

13. The Contemporary Crisis In Journalism
• Corporate downsizing has been especially
prevalent in terms of international coverage,
resulting in a reduction of foreign reporters.
• The problem with not having many foreign
correspondents who understand the language,
customs, history, and culture of a region is that it
makes it much more difficult to provide context
for stories and thus a lessened capacity to provide
a counterbalance to whatever story comes from
the government.

14. Dennis Kucinich
• Problem: He couldn’t capture
the media
• Why?
• Journalists thought that he was
the “fringe candidate” for the
2004 Democratic presidential
nomination vote from the
beginning and wanted to give
attention to “more deserving and
legitimate” candidates
• “Long-shot candidate” from the
start
• Started to discuss media
monopoly

15. Drama
• Drama #1: Diebold, Inc. (one of the nation’s largest voting
equipment manufacturers) scandal
– Employees voiced reservations about the accuracy of the product
– No way of ensuring the truth behind the votes because there is no
paper trail and could be fraud or errors
– Should be meaty story: presidential candidate took on a major
corporation and won on an issue that is fundamental for American
democracy, but it wasn’t publicized anywhere
• Drama #2: Ted Koppel of Nightline New Hampshire 2003
debate incident
– Clearest act of media policing
– Koppel wanted to silence Kucinich and tried to steer the debate
away from real issues, like the war in Iraq and national health
care, but Kucinich shot back  applause and response

16. Reforming America’s Media
• Breaking up major media conglomerates
• Expansion of funding for public broadcasting channels
on television and radio and expansion of support for
community-controlled media
• Requiring TV networks to provide substantial free air
time for candidates and parties during election
campaigns
• Open up regulatory process so local citizens can
challenge licenses of local broadcast outlets
• Permitting not-for-profit groups to obtain FM radio
stations
• Withdrawal of the US from the World Trade
Organization – keep media open instead of placing
trade sanctions on it

17. But even with all of that…
Kucinich was still ignored.

18. Howard Dean
• Also began to talk about media
monopoly
• 11 companies in American control
90% of what people read and watch
• Blamed Michael Powell (Federal
Communications Commission chair)
and President George W. Bush
• Dean became the Democratic front-
runner for the party presidential
nomination, which wouldn’t stand
with the media. The same media
that had made him popular was
ready to tear him down.

19. • Media framed him as
psychologically insane and
mentally ill
– “Deaniacs”
• Drama #1: NPR 9/11
scandal
• Drama #2: Confederate flag
comment  “flag flap”
• Drama #3: “I-Have-a-
Scream” speech in Iowa

20. • Dean’s problem was that
he talked about
fundamental issues that
needed to be addressed
and changed in American
society
• John Kerry seemed more
“electable” – he steered
clear from controversy
• Dean was done.

21. • John Kerry was ill-suited to be
the presidential nominee in
2004 because he believed that
American media was an
independent, responsible and
trustworthy outlet
• George W. Bush, who openly did
not read newspapers, did better
because of his lack of
experience and knowledge –
didn’t trust the media, knew he
had to manipulate the media to
get proper coverage

22. • Bush rarely faced the sort of scrutiny
past presidents had experienced
because bosses of journalists are classic
corporate managers who need the
White House’s cooperation to obtain
government stories in order to sell
papers/magazines/advertisements and
get viewers
• Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, and
other celebrity gossip graced covers
over Bush – worked to his advantage
– When Bush was covered, it was about his
personality, which people still liked better
than Kerry’s – policy rarely discussed
• Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation
ties – lavished with attention and
stories for positive press

23. • Coddling of the President
– Carole Coleman interview and backlash
• Did Kerry serve in Vietnam?  power of staged stories
• Kerry did not stand up to the media
• “Rathergate” controversy: Dan Rather attempted to
unravel the mysteries of Bush’s National Guard service
during the Vietnam War
– Blogger retaliation
– Marian Carr Knox: “documents could be forged or real”
– No fact checking or concrete evidence
– CBS decided not to air documentary made to out Bush’s
media manipulation before election because it showed bias
• Al Qaeda tape aired right before election
• Sinclair Broadcast Group and anti-Kerry documentary:
Stolen Honor

24. • Bush won.
• Why? Media scared, lazy
and dysfunctional, scared
of criticism, and easy to
manipulate because
conglomerates want
money

25. • “Counting on the media to do its job was
entirely in character for the Massachusetts
senator who was similar in so many ways to
the man he challenged for the presidency in
2004 – both attended New England
preparatory schools, both graduated from
Yale, and both received advanced degrees
from prestigious East Coast colleges – but who
had developed dramatically different reading
habits” (144).

26. • “Maybe it’s because of the papers they’re
reading”
– Americans thought that foreign countries
respected and backed the Bush Administration
and the Iraq War because media fed them
incorrect information
– “Bush-colored glasses”

27. • Media system not a free market system –
government plays a huge role in the realm of
media
• 4 Branches of the Media Reform Movement:
– Media criticism/education/literacy
– Producing independent media
– Political organization for structural media reform
– Promoting powerful democratic trade unions for
media workers
• All to create an informed public and an
unbiased media

28. • Six Core Areas for policy making in the media
reform movement
1. Policies to promote accountable, transparent self-
government
2. Media ownership policy
3. Regulation and governance of the Internet
4. Subsidies and institutional structure to support
nonprofit and noncommercial media
5. Hypercommercialism (marketing in every nook of
our lives)
6. Global media policy
• Book authors created Free Press in 2002 – group
to popularize media policy debates and link
grassroots concerns with mainstream media
• Other values than commercial and conglomerate

29. Discussion Questions
• Excluding entertainment news, do you agree with the authors’
belief that “if the government is not talking about it we (referring
to the media as a whole) will not report on it?”
• During the authors’ examination of reporting during the war in
Iraq, they refer to the Bush administration’s controlling of the
“consciousness of the average American.” Do you believe that
your consciousness is controlled more so during times of war?
– Consider the policy put into place by President George Bush that barred the
covering of the arrival of the caskets of fallen soldiers in the United States.
• Do you think the media framed Romney as the “bad” candidate in
today’s election?
• Do you think John Kerry was really naïve or did he not speak up
against the media because he did not want a Dean-like
controversy?