Losing The Media And Therefore The American People

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” John F. Kennedy

Progressives lost this past election obviously for several reasons. One major reason I believe is Progressives do not have enough avenues of communication to the American public. The Conservatives and teabaggers have those avenues.

On a national level Rupert Murdoch has placed Fox News so it can be seen by almost anyone with a TV. Rush Limbaugh is syndicated on AM stations just about every where there is AM reception. Many other rightwing commentators can be heard just about everywhere and most anytime. Rush can be listened to in every home, every workplace and in every car.

I live in a rural canyon, so am sure I am missing some Progressive options, but in general since Air America went out of business in January of this year Progressive radio options are spotty. Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz seem to be the two remaining who stand out.

Looking at television the situation is even worse. Progressives have MSNBC, The Daily Show, to a lesser degree NPR and even lesser degree HBO with Bill Maher. None of these can be accessed in a base package for either cable or satellite. NPR and The Daily Show can be accessed on the second tier; MSNBC on the third tier; Bill Maher on the fifth tier. In short, if you can not afford advanced programming, most of what Progressives say, the reasons for Progressive legislation and any rebuttals to rightwing psycho talk, propaganda and outright lies are never heard. That’s a lot of the country’s populace.

Most of the nation’s newspapers are owned and operated by the rightwing. The New York Times and the Washington Post are a few exceptions. Tiny Independent magazines and news papers scattered throughout the country are trying but are also only reaching a small fraction of the populace.

Internet content can be confusing to even those of us who are somewhat computer savvy and question the accuracy of what we read. Millions fall for every word the rightwing propaganda machine spews out and is passed on from duped reader to duped reader.  

My recommendation is for Progressive leadership at the local, regional and national levels  to look to finding ways to alleviate this serious threat to our democracy- programmed political ignorance.