U.S. media hails Sept. 11 as turning point

U.S. media hails Sept. 11 as turning point

Ati Nurbaiti
Staff Writer
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

It is eerie that journalists in the U.S. are referring to --
almost hailing -- the Sept. 11 tragedy as a turning point toward
better and "serious" journalism. Embarrassed by coverage of the
Clinton sex scandal and so much trivia in the press, journalists
and media observers say now the public is turning its attention
to coverage of public affairs, foreign news and also to
newspapers.

Skepticism is raised as to how long this will last -- given
the seemingly entrenched culture of "infotainment", the belief
that news must be "dumbed down" to maintain people's attention
span, and hence, the major emphasis on maintaining advertiser
loyalty and profit.

Nowadays, "people are reading more," says Virginia Hamill of
The Washington Post. Good examples abound in the media, yet
senior journalists and media professors shared recently with
visiting Indonesian journalists their concern over the more
dominant shallow media content.

Readership had declined to the alarming level of 55 percent of
the adult population by 2000, compared with 81 percent in 1964.
Senior television anchors testify to shorter and shorter news
programs, with lesser foreign news over the years, for fear of
losing viewers. The desperate scramble for audience attention,
and thus advertisers, has led to journalism products that not all
their practitioners are proud of.

The factors blamed so far include a public bent on (or
attraction toward) consumerism (one form of "relaxation" after
the Vietnam War, journalists Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert G.
Kaiser write), and a feeling that not much was important on the
foreign news agenda after the end of the Cold War. The result was
a culture of "amusing ourselves to death," wrote social critic
Neil Postman.

He wondered whether Americans preferred to be entertained
rather than informed -- which explains the shouting, screaming
and applauding on the likes of the Jerry Springer show.

Another factor is the shift from family to corporate ownership
of media companies, resulting in editors forever seeking
efficiency in the newsroom -- even to reach higher profits than
nonmedia industries. While General Motors would be content with a
5 percent profit margin on total revenue, Downie and Kaiser of
The Washington Post write, a nationwide owner of newspapers and
television stations, the Tribune Company of Chicago, wants 30
percent.

Particularly in television, Downie and Kaiser describe how
substance gives way to dramatic footage, and how owners willingly
invest huge amounts of money in the technology that enables
dramatic, on-site coverage -- while saving on reporters who must
rush from one story to another.

And consultants were proved right: Ratings were high for
programs with dramatic footage regardless of the quality of the
reporting, so the few experiments by TV stations to maintain
quality were dropped, the journalists wrote in their book
subtitled American journalism in peril.

The U.S. public has had a wide choice of media since the
arrival of cable television. Independent radio channels,
periodicals and nonprofit broadcasting stations also abound. The
C-Span (City span) channel airs unedited Congress hearings; local
channels also air city hall and city council meetings.

But even nonprofit media have been forced into the direction
of commercialization, researchers say. However, the ads on public
broadcasting stations, insists Peggy Scott Laborde of the New
Orleans-based, are not "in your face" commercials -- none of them
says "Buy now!". Laborde was in the middle of preparing auctions,
one of the station's regular fund-raising activities.

The need for funding led to dependence, so powerful patrons
were spared controversial coverage. Such signs were revealed in
an earlier study on the U.S. media, first published in 1988 by
linguist Noam Chomsky and finance expert Edward S. Herman.

Senior journalists lament a "shrinking diversity" of views,
given increased concentration of ownership. In 1988 there were 24
media companies (down from 50 large firms in 1983); by 2002 media
industries were centralized within nine conglomerates.

Because broadcasting is regulated by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), the body has been lambasted for
having relaxed its rules regarding public service content, which
must be provided apart from entertainment.

We hear repeated warnings of what might happen if few
companies controlled the media. Says advocate for democratizing
the media Martha L. Allen, "those few corporations have economic
interest and have a stake in international and local policy."
Allen leads the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press in
Washington D.C.

The Internet and cable have great potential to produce a more
democratic press, Allen noted, as they are beyond the control of
those with power over the flow of information. But regarding
cable, she added, instead of allowing election candidates to pay
millions of dollars for airtime, much more airtime must be for
free for public dialog, because "it is the people who own the
airwaves" through the FCC.

Critics say that the flourishing community media in the U.S.
does not guarantee adequately diverse views on national issues --
such coverage is dominated by the few media giants.

Allen's concern is more strongly articulated by Chomsky and
Herman, who say the media practices propaganda (though not always
intentionally). In the book Manufacturing Consent, they refute
the argument underlying the trend of global media business since
the 1980s to open up the market of media ownership -- to provide
a wider choice for the public.

It is advertisers, they say, that determine the preferred
media, which led to the closure of, for instance, the labor-owned
media in Britain. The preference is for uncontroversial media
that will not spoil the "mood to buy," they write.

Their proposed solution was also to make much better use of the
nonprofit cable channels, and other independent media, through
more self-educating and organizing among the public. As Allen
admitted, by the end of the 1980s the ownership of film,
publication and broadcasting had consolidated while "we were not
organized."

Competition for the media audience, who is more importantly
consumers than an information-seeking public, has led business
representatives to even join editorial meetings, one media
professor says. This may explain the products popping up in the
middle of various shows, such as a new Wendy's salad being
sampled by host Rosie O'Donnel last month.

Since last year's economic downturn, advertisers have sought
unconventional ways to reach potential consumers, who would
likely switch to other channels come every commercial break.
Advertisers, a marketing consultant told The New York Times in
May, are not fooling the "savvy" American public who will most
likely accept such approaches in a TV show, whereas advocates for
media improvement say such "betrayal" of viewers is unacceptable.

Since Sept. 11 alarm bells have been raised at the dangerous
signs that Americans are much more willing to give up precious
liberties -- also regarding information.

The Freedom of Information Act passed in 1966 was virtually
abandoned via a recent ruling of Attorney General John Ashcroft.
This overturned a 1993 ruling of the same office to release all
public papers unless government could demonstrate potential for
serious harm. Ruth Rosen in the latest issue of the journal,
Dissent, wrote that this change regarding one of America's
"greatest democratic reforms", was largely ignored by the media.

She added, "Coupled with Bush's Nov. 1 executive order giving
power to seal all presidential records since 1980, the crackdown
on information is chilling."

In the face of such business and political pressure
journalists say they can only try their best ("though we could
have been more critical after September", muses one).
Encouragement of more good journalism includes the presentation
of peer-group awards, monitoring by journalists and media watch
groups, training and sharing information within the profession. A
day after Sept. 11, the Asian American Journalists Association
informed colleagues at websites on Arabs and Muslims to avoid
stereotyping in their reports.

As journalists in the U.S. grab the opportunity to prove that
their good work can make money, the opportunity in Indonesia is
wide open -- given so much public expectation now based on
supposedly newly found press freedom.

The above article was produced following the writer's
participation in the annual International Visitors' Program of
the U.S. government last month. The theme of this year's program
was press freedom.