The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Media Reform? You Bet! Bill Moyers Tells Us Why

by Anne Wayman on June 9th, 2008

As conservative commentators (I’m not thinking quit that nicely) continue to insist all mainstream media has a “liberal bias,” media as we know it has been and continues to be consolidated at what I consider an alarming rate. Under the guise of the mythical free market and deregulation, newspapers are now owned by corporations far from the communities they claim to serve, radio stations and the public airwaves they use are owned by single organizations like Clear Channel. News, because it must be profitable, has become entertainment with little effort to inform. As a result, our democracy is literally at stake.

I’m far from the first to believe we’re in real trouble because of media consolidation. Famed journalist Bill Moyers, best known perhaps for his PBS specials, addressed a several thousand people at the fourth annual National Conference on Media Reform held in St. Louis. The title of his talk was “Democracy Only Works When Ordinary People Claim It as Their Own” and long excerpts are available at Democracy Now. You can listen in a variety of formats and even order a full transcript at a reasonable price.

I’ve listened, and I will again because it’s important. Moyers frames the fairly complex issues of the need for real reporting and true diversity in media in his typical deep but fully understandable manner. He also addresses the need for real net neutrality.

Go ahead, take some time and listen. You’ll be glad you did. And when you do, I’d love to hear your comments.

Write well and often,

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