Building Media Democracy One Brick at a Time (Progressive ISP)

[Lindsay]

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=313382&printmode=1

- Eric Alterman with Paul McLeary

It should surprise no one that coverage of last night's State of the Union message exhibited a certain uniformity and unwillingness to challenge the president's many misstatements. We may have hundreds of channels, countless newspapers, websites, radio stations, etc., etc., but the sad fact is that big media limits democracy by limiting debate in the places where most people hear it. Following Bush's inaugural address, for instance, Media Matters for America documented that on CNN, MSNBC and FOX News, "Republican and conservative guests and commentators outnumbered Democrats and progressives" by 42 to 10. "Moreover, the rare Democrat or progressive guest usually appeared opposite conservatives, whereas most Republican and conservative guests and commentators appeared solo or alongside fellow conservatives." The ratio on CNN was 10 to 1.

But the cause of free speech and a freer press is hardly a lost one. Last week, in what amounted to a rebuke of the big-media-friendly policies of outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell, the Bush administration announced that it was abandoning plans to ask the Supreme Court to allow the loosening of restrictions on how large media conglomerates can grow. This was welcome news to all who believe that a diverse and decentralized media is essential to serving the needs of a democratic society. Moreover, it offers a potential opportunity for progressives to shift our energies toward building our own communications infrastructure, rather than our being forced to focus on endlessly fighting the powers that be.

Conservatives have long practiced the art of marrying the market to their political interests, giving rise to a vast media network of talk radio programs, cable programming, mass book purchasing, magazines, talking heads and pundits-for-sale. Progressives have long been playing catch up, but some of us are catching up faster than others. While most of the attention in recent times has gone to efforts to set up well-funded national counterparts like this Center, Air America, MoveOn, etc., much of the most important work being done is local and regional in nature. A key pioneer and visionary in this area is Wally Bowen, founder of the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN), a progressive Internet portal and information resource, and its FM radio station, WPVM, anchored in Asheville, N.C. Bowen believes that the left – by placing an emphasis on communication technology at the local level – can begin to strike back at the entrenched corporate interests that now dominate the American media scene. "Progressives need to employ the analysis of 'political economy,'" he explains in an interview, "and recognize the relationship between power and money not only at the macro level (our strong suit), but also at the micro level."

After successfully offering local dial-up Internet service in North Carolina, MAIN has recently launched an ambitious nationwide project called Indylink, a nonprofit ISP that offers dial-up Internet service for about 30 percent less than plans provided by corporate interests such as AOL or Earthlink. Because IndyLink is run by a nonprofit organization, it doesn't rely on advertising revenue to survive. It is free of advertising and refuses to collect information on its users or sell information to third parties.

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Disclosure: MAIN is my ISP, but I am in no other way connected with them. I do believe in supporting progressive businesses, though, and this would be a great alternative if you're dealing with AOHell.

(edited to fix link)