[Mb-civic] How advertisers squelch truth in corporate media

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Today's commentary:
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-05/26solomon.cfm

==================================
We hear the least about the most pervasive media filtration - when
thoughts go nowhere because journalists have been made to understand the
limits of their profession in the present day. Advertising is part of the
corporatized atmosphere that sucks the oxygen out of the newsrooms. The
sound of an idea being smothered in its crib doesn't rise to the decibels
of a bark or even a whimper. And media consumers don't know what they're
missing. 

ZNet Commentary
When Media Dogs Don't Bark May 26, 2005
By Norman Solomon 

The recent decision by General Motors to pull its advertising from the Los
Angeles Times has not gone over very well. 

"Blame the press," Daily Variety scoffed in mid-April, after several days
of publicity about the automaker's move. "That's the latest coping
mechanism for General Motors, whose slumping share price and falling
profits have generated a wave of negative media coverage. ... GM isn't the
first Fortune 500 company to retaliate against a newspaper's editorial
coverage by taking a punch at its ad division. But most companies
understand the tactic just doesn't work; it only generates more bad
coverage." 

In the Motor City, the Detroit News business writer Daniel Howes told
readers that the monetary slap at the L.A. Times exposes "GM's thinning
corporate skin." Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam had this to say: "On the
one hand, the decision, which may affect up to $20 million in ad spending,
sends a powerful message to the Times. On the other hand, it sends a
powerful message to the country about the idiots who are running GM." 

Drawing more attention to GM's financial woes, the ad-yanking gambit is
likely to backfire. But news outlets are far from immune to advertiser
pressure. 

By coincidence, the conflict between General Motors and the L.A. Times
went public just as a new report highlighted the media clout of
advertisers and other powerful interests in business and government. The
media watch group FAIR (where I'm an associate) released the results of
its fifth annual "Fear & Favor" report on "how power shapes the news." 

The FAIR report, by Peter Hart and Julie Hollar, provides context with
sobering information: "A survey of media workers by four industry labor
unions found respondents concerned about 'pressure from advertisers trying
to shape coverage' as well as 'outside control of editorial policy.' In
May [2004], the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released a
survey of media professionals that found reporters concerned about how
bottom-line pressures were affecting news quality and integrity. In their
summary ... Bill Kovach, Tom Rosensteil and Amy Mitchell wrote that
journalists 'report more cases of advertisers and owners breaching the
independence of the newsroom."

Among the examples in the new "Fear & Favor" report are these gems: 

* Last July, "when furniture giant Ikea opened a new store in New Haven,
Conn., the New Haven Register cranked out 12 Ikea stories in eight
straight days - accompanied by at least 17 photographs and a sidebar on
product information - with headlines such as 'Ikea's Focus on Child Labor
Issues Reflects Ethic of Social Responsibility' and 'Ikea Employees Take
Pride in Level of Responsibility Company Affords Them.' The
back-scratching reached its apex the day of the grand opening, when the
Register heralded the arrival of Ikea and fellow super-store Wal-Mart and
remarked upon Ikea's 'astonishingly low prices - a coffee table for $99, a
flowing watering can for $1.99, a woven rocking chair, $59.' Sound like an
ad' It was the Register's lead editorial." 

* In January 2004, Boston Herald readers "could easily have mistaken the
paper's front-page ad for news. When discount airline JetBlue launched
several new flight services out of Boston's Logan Airport, Bostonians who
picked up a free promotional Herald that day found that every item on the
front page was devoted exclusively to the airline, including the lead
headline, 'JetBlue Arrives, Promises a Free TV to All Who Fly,' and
teasers like 'Flight Attendant Gives Passenger Entire Can of Soda.' After
the front page, the paper resumed its actual news content - but nowhere
did the Herald indicate that its front page was in fact a paid
advertisement, and the 20,000 recipients of the promo paper missed out on
the actual front-page news of the day." 

* When a TV station in Kirksville, Mo., "ran a news report that quoted a
company that didn't advertise on the station rather than a competitor that
did, the angry advertiser pulled its ads from the station. KTVO vice
president and general manager Crystal Amini-Rad quickly apologized to the
sales staff in a memo that also required news reporters to 'have access to
an active advertiser list of sources which you can tap into' for expert
opinion and industry comment - and told reporters that they 'should always
go' to station advertisers first on any story." 

* In Silver City, N.M., when KNFT Radio "brought on progressive host Kyle
Johnson as an alternative to the seven hours of Rush Limbaugh, Michael
Savage and Bill O'Reilly the station aired every weekday, KNFT's
advertisers boycotted the show. The station made Johnson raise the cash to
pay for his airtime, and his listeners anted up. But the advertisers
threatened to boycott the entire station if Johnson stayed on; faced with
the prospect of a nearly $10,000-a-month loss, the station manager
reluctantly gave the progressive host the boot." 

Such incidents are low profile, in contrast to the recent General Motors
move against the Los Angeles Times. But the most insidious instances of
advertiser pressure are the ones we never hear about - implemented with
winks and nods or the simple tacit understanding that the media business
is, after all, a business. In the mysterious case of why mainstream news
outlets aren't more aggressive in challenging corporate power large and
small, Sherlock Holmes would probably conclude that the most profound
clues are to be found when the media dogs don't bark. 

We hear the least about the most pervasive media filtration - when
thoughts go nowhere because journalists have been made to understand the
limits of their profession in the present day. Advertising is part of the
corporatized atmosphere that sucks the oxygen out of the newsrooms. The
sound of an idea being smothered in its crib doesn't rise to the decibels
of a bark or even a whimper. And media consumers don't know what they're
missing. 

________________________________ 

Norman Solomon's latest book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and 
Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," will be published in early summer. His 
columns and other writings can be found at: www.normansolomon.com 



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