What sort of legislation or regulation will improve our media?

[jpgray]

They've always been pretty bad about reporting important stories when they are inconvenient to report, but there are so many travesties that could have been avoided in these past few years.

Niger claim--debunked in November 2002 by the IAEA when the documents were revealed to be obvious forgeries. The media wait until after the invasion has been carried out before taking note of this fact, over six months later.

Abu Ghraib prison scandal--despite reports circulating and opportunities for investigative journalism about an extremely important scandal, only after pictures are released at large does the press get into any kind of gear to talk about it. Once forced to pay attention, the media allow the administration to pass it off as a few soldiers, despite ample evidence to the contrary. They also permit officials such as Rumsfeld to get away with dissembling on the word 'torture', when brutal sodomy and child rape are now documented as being part of the torture soldiers have inflicted--that the numbers go far beyond six soldiers and that the responsiblity goes high up the chain of command will never be reported unless it has to be.

WMD intelligence--despite many experts who gave ample evidence that Saddam could NOT have reconstitued his nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs, the media proceeded to treat these experts as pariahs and they were shunned in favor of more cheerleading coverage which simply reported the administration's claims and left it at that. This culminated in an embarrassing press conference where not a single difficult question was asked of the president, and no news network dared to question why the rush to war was necessary, or how solid the case was, until long after the invasion. Parts of the case for war like Colin Powell's presentation or the UK dossier were lauded as air-tight and compelling when Powell's presentation was widely debunked by experts as soon as he had closed his mouth, and sections of the UK dossier were clearly plagiarized from an outdated California student's paper. None of this was reported on with any frequency in the major media until AFTER the invasion was over.

So what do we do to start fixing this mess? What sort of actions should we support?

[Zorra]

1. Public ownership. Private ownership has proven beyond the shadow of

a doubt that they can absolutely not be trusted with dispensing balanced, accurate information. They have dug their own graves. If they lose their assets now, they deserve it.

What they have done is tantamount to treason.

[tom_paine]

7. A drastic step. Of course, the media is now drastically bad

I still prefer the Old Ways and retaining the concept of private ownership but limiting size.

Public ownership is in itself a monopoly, and carries with it it's own pitfalls.

Balance power. No one side should have all the power.

[cthrumatrix]

8. this is why Dean said he would "break them up"...that's when he started

tanking before Iowa...he was a threat. Now look at what we have.

[woo me with science]

9. you've got to be kidding....

GOVERNMENT ownership of media??????

i think not. addressing the corporate problem is the answer i think....but we have to preserve the independence of media from government at all costs. look who's in charge of government now.

[fujiyama]

2. This is mostly a result

of giant media conglomerations and mergers. As long as giant corporations (which lean to the right) continue to gobble up media markets and smaller outlets the problem will continue.

The best way to stop this is by strengthening the FTC over mergers. I remember something about ownership rules becoming more lax and I think the FCC has something to do with this as well.

So, nothing will happen until this administration is gone and even after that it will take a long time for the media to actually report anything properly.

However, the first thing to do is appoint people in those posts (FTC and FCC) that won't roll over for the media corporations. That means immediately getting rid of Michael Powell at the FCC. That'd be a good first step.

[jpgray]

4. The insular, superficial atmosphere is also to blame

They've been around naked emperors so long they've forgetten that wearing clothes is the norm. It's disheartening when the only person to ask Bob Woodward a blatantly obvious question about his book's tale of Bush saying 'I don't buy it' to Tenet when the Iraqi WMD intelligence was shown to him is Jon Stewart of the flipping Daily Show. That question was: 'Hadn't they been harping on WMD for NINE MONTHS already!?' Because of course they had, and it seems ridiculous and criminal for them to be doing that without having viewed any of the intelligence, and certainly when the CIA itself isn't yet ready with a full report! Only JON STEWART, anchorperson of a fake news program, asked that obvious question!

Then there is the example of the Irish reporter who interviewed Bush before his visit there. For one of the first and only times, Bush was confronted with someone who had substantive questions, and he went into his standard tactic--eat up as much time as possible with sound-bites that evade the questions. When she calls him on this, she is called a bad journalist by our own media!

And don't get me started on the Laci/Kobe/Michael non-story celebrity curios that they frequently sedate the public with. As you can tell, I'm in a state of high pissoff about the whole affair. :(

[mandyky]

3. First, reinstate the Fairness Doctrine

Second, add a Sunshine Law, make all media outlets state sources they use. For instance, if they do a piece based on a call or memo from the White House, that should be stated in a disclaimer. If they use investigative reporting, that should be stated. Internal memos of corporate media should also be public. The use of "anonymous sourves" should be cut back drastically, unless it is a whistleblower or matter of life and death for the source.

Third, all media should have a "dissenting opinions" section.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. All very good points

I might add that journalists should be held to a high standard. They should be taken to task when it is obvious they have not done their homework. And it should be for all kinds of reporting, not just political. Perhaps this can be brought about by readers and viewers having a forum where they can let journalists know when they have basic facts wrong.

[stevebreeze]

10. very good first step!

How about mandating what portion of the electronic media's budget should go toward news reporting, and separating news for entertainment?

[alexwcovington]

6. Localism

Five guys in DC have WAY TOO much power over broadcasting across the whole nation. We need to return the control to a local level.

The FCC's Radio and TV licencing divisions need the axe -- state broadcasting boards would focus on the local impact of broadcasters, rather than rubberstamp applications for the right price.

Stations that cross state lines will need some multi-state coordination. The FCC should play the role of facilitator beetween the state boards within the broadcast range, not judge and final arbiter.