I had an epiphany this weekend. There I was, reading a post here on DailyKos when I stumbled across a video about Al Gore possibly running for President in 2008. Up until that moment, I had assumed Gore had a lock on the Democratic nomination. Hell, I still do think that it's his if he wants it since a considerable amount of the 'netroots' are also the types who tend to be active in the primaries.
But then I saw a video from CNN's own right-wing cock gobbler, Bill Schneider, on Al Gore's possibly running for the Presidency again in 2008.
Here is the clip that tweaked me
At first, I was somewhat offended upon seeing that. Especially that smarmy little asshole line at the end about Gore needing to "generate excitement" or something.
My second thought was, "Well, maybe Gore isn't as much of a lock as I thought..."
But then it hit me– we're up against the same machine we've always been up against, Al Gore's fantastic comeback narrative or not.
For those of us who want Gore to run, for example, the main stream corporate media isn't going to make it easy. Seeing that depraved villain Bill Schneider licking his chops at the thought of a second taste of Gore's thigh meat was proof enough of that for me.
But wait! We have the netroots this time, right? Gore (or whoever is chosen in '08) didn't have that little cannon by his side in 2000. Surely things will be different this time, right?
...
Wrong.
My epiphany was this– for all our talk about re-balancing/taking back the media...WHAT IN THE GOD DAMN HELL ARE WE DOING TO RE-BALANCE IT?!
Anything?! Because I can't think of a damn thing.
Where are the left-wing radio hosts (who are growing in popularity, clearly) to lay out the real progressive agenda? Why aren't people like Thom Hartmann being invited to layout the progressive left's point of view? Lord knows CNN and MSNBC are more than willing to put on a rabid right winger to spew forth their agenda.
Hell, why aren't we pushing some of the all star BLOGGERS to go on these shows and do this?
I know people like Kos don't want to go on these programs for a variety of reasons...and I do admire the efforts to create a truly alternative media that isn't a joke.
But the fact of the matter is that despite the growing power and influence of net-related news and blogs, the Corporate/Main Stream Media is the only real ballgame in town, if we're going to try and make a difference now.
Running from their influence and turning our nose up to them isn't going to make a big enough difference for 2008. By doing that, we become no better than the people who say things like global warming isn't real...we ignore them at our own peril. This is a demon that we need to tackle head on and make it WORK for us.
It doesn't even make sense to take the 'ignore the media' approach. At best, all we'll be able to do is create two sources of information that even MORE people will ultimately be skeptical of.
That said, I know we aren't doing NOTHING about it. We do have letter writing campaigns and such periodically and when we shriek and bitch enough, we can usually at least make some kind of impact in their narrative (like the ABC 9/11 mockumentary thing)
...but it isn't going far enough. We should be cultivating personalities and really letting our objections be known. At this point, we're doing what Democrats are infamous for– constantly talking about doing something and little more. Yay us!
So what can we do to make an impact? I've thought about it some and personally have a few ideas that I like.
First of all, let's make an effort to get some of our more aggressive progressive radio hosts and bloggers on these irrelevant but sadly important media panels.
They have right wingers who are aggressive and sometimes even downright insulting to liberals and the hosts on these panels. But when– IF– they even have a liberal counterpart (as opposed to a 'neutral' journalist), they're usually no where near as aggressive. Let's get our own bomb throwers like Mike Malloy on the air. Let's play their game and raise them one.
Let's also think about ways to commandeer the media.
Why not set up a "Perot Fund" now for sometime in late 2008 that would enable the Democratic Presidential candidate to buy a 30 minute block of air time on the major networks, thereby giving him a chance to just talk to the American people one last time uninterrupted, for example?
Those are just two things we could think about doing. I'm sure there are plenty of other things, too.
Like I said, I know the activist base is not completely ignoring the influence of the Corporate-MSM...but we are kind of writing them off by just complaining about them and trying to create a viable alternative. Instead of trying to destroy them or make them irrelevant, I think we should be working on taking all the influence and reach they have and try to fold them into what the netroots is trying to create– a media that understands there is a difference between neutrality and impartiality.