The NYT and WSJ matter to local news because they set the parameters of what is accpetable discourse. Bill Clinton's fate was sealed when the NYT ran with the sex stories. "If the NYT printed it, it has to be an acceptable topic for everyone else."
--- Nathan Newman <nathan at newman.org> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
> >But, as they say in the nonprofit world, what's the
> takeaway from
> >this Nathan? That we should expose ourselves to
> local media more?
> >That we should write for it, or lobby producers?
> That we should force
> >Eric Alterman to read the Lockjaw Gazette? What?
>
> Well, writing for local media is a useful thing, or
> more importantly,
> encouraging grassroots groups to write letters to
> the editor and such.
>
> But my main point, as usual, is that I think
> politics is far less of the
> centralized corporate duopoly envisioned by most
> leftists, and far more a
> system of 435 individual Congressional worlds. In
> those micro-worlds, local
> rotary club capitalists do dominate politics, but
> not exclusively, so unions
> and grassroots organizations do have room to
> organize, educate and counter
> the media.
>
> Media activists should think about skipping so much
> effort placing an ad in
> the New York Times and instead survey which
> Congressional districts are
> "swing disticts" and target those media outlets.
>
> The brilliance of the Christian Coalition was that
> they recognized the power
> of becoming the local media. Their election cards,
> which they handed out by
> the bucketload, was one of the most effective
> tactics because it supplied
> information (however biased) that countered media
> information about
> candidates and issues.
>
> I remember hearing a union official talk about
> political campaigning and he
> said the shocking thing the unions had found from
> surveys after campaigns was
> that when they handed out information, their members
> actually thought the
> unions were a trustworthy source of information! In
> many cases, far more
> than the regular media.
>
> When folks talk about the progressive media, they
> inevitably talk about the
> Nation but ignore sources such as Solidarity, the
> monthly magazine from the
> UAW that goes out to nearly a million people each
> month, as well as other
> union magazines or non-profit mailings. Add in the
> Internet and there are
> many ways to reach average folks outside the
> mainstream or even local media.
>
> One of the brilliant things about Gingrich in his
> organizing to take over the
> House was that he concentrated on distributing
> information to the troops
> locally, including radio tapes, to specify language
> and phrases to repeat
> endlessly in local newspapers or just talking
> door-to-door with neighbors.
> It combined a centralized media strategy with a
> decentralized implementation.
>
> Unfortunately, the left presently has mostly "small
> is beautiful" local
> activists who coordinate little nationally, or
> national activists targetting
> only national institutions and media. The unions
> are one of the few groups
> who are slowly developing the combination of a
> national media strategy and
> local implementation, but they are moving that way
> only in fits and starts.
> But it's the best hope.
>
> -- Nathan Newman
>
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