LIVE from Denver: Dan Rather speaks at the Big Tent's Digg Stage
Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather just spoke to a filled room upstairs at the Big Tent in Denver about media consolidation and the problem with entrusting huge corporations to responsibly report the news to us.
There have been so many mergers, acquisitions, and buyouts that almost every major news organization belongs to a larger conglomerate which may be in the entertainment business or belong to some other industry that has nothing to do with news, Rather observed. He added that these corporations are so big that it is hard to know who to hold accountable, because the era when the most influential news organizations were small and run by individual publishers ended long ago.
Rather also talked about the shortcomings of the commercial media model. When journalists are essentially accountable to stockholders to turn a profit (as is the case today) they can't truly provide a public service.
News organizations rarely scrutinize their parent conglomerates (when was the last time you heard NBC take General Electric to task?)
What is needed, Rather said, is more independent media that recognizes the value of news as a public service and not a moneymaking business.
Rather did urge the audience to keep up the pressure on the big corporate press. When we join our voices together to protest or call for reform, we are heard inside the office on the top floor, Rather said.
The takeaway for me was an affirmation of what I already believe: Commercial media, by design, is flawed. America needs nonprofit news institutions that can fearlessly hold power accountable and provide an objective view of the world.
UPDATE: Welcome Reddit readers!
There have been so many mergers, acquisitions, and buyouts that almost every major news organization belongs to a larger conglomerate which may be in the entertainment business or belong to some other industry that has nothing to do with news, Rather observed. He added that these corporations are so big that it is hard to know who to hold accountable, because the era when the most influential news organizations were small and run by individual publishers ended long ago.
Rather also talked about the shortcomings of the commercial media model. When journalists are essentially accountable to stockholders to turn a profit (as is the case today) they can't truly provide a public service.
News organizations rarely scrutinize their parent conglomerates (when was the last time you heard NBC take General Electric to task?)
What is needed, Rather said, is more independent media that recognizes the value of news as a public service and not a moneymaking business.
Rather did urge the audience to keep up the pressure on the big corporate press. When we join our voices together to protest or call for reform, we are heard inside the office on the top floor, Rather said.
The takeaway for me was an affirmation of what I already believe: Commercial media, by design, is flawed. America needs nonprofit news institutions that can fearlessly hold power accountable and provide an objective view of the world.
UPDATE: Welcome Reddit readers!
# Posted by Andrew : 11:43 AM
Comments:
Thanks very much for covering this so I wouldn't have to leave my couch. Dan Rather is a hero of mine but I forgot about it and I have a headache and am all hooked up here, doing all the photography and blogging stuff I couldn't do yesterday for lack of equipment.
Kudos for the blogging.
If anyone has a transcript of Rather's remarks, or knows where one can be found, I'd love to have it.
I would invite anyone out there to do some research on exactly who owns most of the big media corporations and to see if they have something in common. They do. Besides being very wealth, they are predominately Jewish-American. This matters simply because when they cover the politics of the middle east, they really do have a conflict of interest due to their nationality. When the US has an alliance, it should not be a carte blanch to allow another country to break UN rules (illegal settlements, collective punishment abuses etc.) Our brave troops are fighting these wars and dying everyday. Where was the dissenting opinion in the lead up to the war in Iraq from the media? We all now know that we were suckered and propagandaed to death and the MOST powerful lobby on capital hill AIPAC was doing there thing. I am not anitsemetic. I am telling the truth and factually I am correct. See for yourself!
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