Support Locally Produced Independent Media this Thursday Morning
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Tom Klammer
Oct 4, 2014, 3:16:05 PM10/4/14
to Tom Klammer
David Barsamian and I hope you will tune in to Tell Somebody on 90.1 FM KKFI next Thursday October 9, and that you will have a phone at hand ready to dial
888-931-0901.
There is a big difference between independent media and compromised corporate media, the FCM, or Fawning Corporate Media as Ray McGovern has termed it.
This difference is hardly a new discovery, but it was so clearly
demonstrated to me one morning just a couple of weeks ago, it was hard to ignore. Two shows
(among many others) talked about the NFL’s handling of domestic violence incidents involving NFL players. On Democracy Now! that morning, Amy Goodman and Aaron Mate' had a thoughtful discussion of the issue with Dave Zirin, sports columnist for The Nation. On CBS This Morning, the same morning, the cast of the show interacted with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. CBS/PBS talking head Charlie Rose put on his serious face and went through the motions of asking “hard questions” of Kraft about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of the case of Baltimore Raven running back Ray Rice’s brutal assault on his then girlfriend in an elevator. The Patriots’ owner responds with some non-answers defending the Commissioner and expressing how serious they all take this, and pretty soon CBS cast member Norah
O’Donnell
changes the subject saying
“let’s turn to
Thursday Night Football…what does it mean, do you think, for the NFL, and also for CBS that’s going to be airing it now, to have football in prime time on a network on Thursday night?”
Patriots owner Kraft responds
“You know, we’re so proud to be partnering with
CBS…but partnering with CBS and having
you promote it the way you’ve been promoting it even in your news this
morning…”
Gayle King says “We can meet any challenge that you give CBS, I guarantee you, they will not disappoint…”
Wow.
Now this is a very stark,
explicit, open example of compromised media (if you missed the September 18 edition of Tell Somebody, you might want to listen to the clips in the first 15 minutes of the show-
http://traffic.libsyn.com/tellsomebody/ts_2014_09_18.mp3 ), but think a bit about how compromised corporate media are, and I’m sad to say I
include public
broadcasting under
that moniker, in their coverage of issues related to their underwriters and sponsors. It might not be so openly expressed, but don’t you imagine there might be just a little reluctance by a news department to come down too hard on an advertiser or underwriter?
Are
independent media important? Do
underwriting, advertising and other financial ties have an impact on news coverage? If there’s
a problem can anything be done about it? If it’s
possible to do
something, why aren’t you doing it?
One thing you can do is support independent media. I salute and encourage your support of and donations for KKFI’s great syndicated show
like Democracy Now! and Alternative
Radio, and of all our great public affairs and non-corporate
music shows. All the money
contributed to all the shows goes into the same pot. But I’d really appreciate a call
during Tell Somebody next Thursday morning, and I’d consider it a vote of confidence. Alternative Radio’s David Barsamian, who will speak at the All Souls Forum Sunday morning October 12, will be on the phone with me to talk about his upcoming visit and to help
me ask you to contribute.
KKFI doesn’t have any clearly compromising relationships like CBS has with the NFL. We don’t have underwriting from Bank of America or union-busting law firms, and we don’t have to be wary of offending extremists in Congress who threaten to cut our federal funding like public broadcasting has to, because our funding comes almost entirely from you, and in a way that is unique to community radio, we are you, and you are us.
Think about it.
Support the show and the station that brings you show like these:
Tell Somebody has been covering issues related to the old and new nuclear weapons parts plants for years.
Tell Somebody attended the dedication
of the National Security Campus in Kansas City
on August 22, 2014 and broadcast it on the show on August 28. Weeks later it was on the front page of the New
York Times.
and, check this
out:
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