Hope in the Fight For Media Democracy

There are some books that hold so much information that seemingly every page shocks you in some way or another. We the Media does just that, with pages filled with facts, figures, and charts. Much of the information is scary, because I’ve come to realize that minorities are still being ignored or severely underrepresented. Society doesn’t realize the huge problems in media, mainly because large corporations make sure their secrets stay secret. Don Hazen and Julie Winokur say that by simply reading the book, you can help in the fight for media democracy.

Since there is so much great information in the book, I decided I’d list some things I found extremely interesting throughout the book:

-“Americans continue to rely overwhelmingly on television for news about presidential election campaigns. Asked how they get the “most” of such news, 81% said television, 48% said newspapers, and 21% said radio” (28)
If anyone is just watching one news channel, I think it’s important to realize which company owns that television network. Most likely, you are not getting all the information there is.

In regards to advertising, “one minute of air time during the 1996 Super Bowl cost $2.4 “million” (40). This number has surely gone up, especially since that number is over 10 years ago.

-“Each day, 260 million Americans are exposed to at least 18 billion display ads in magazines and daily newspapers [and] 300,000 television commercials” (40).
In a typical newspaper, 60% of it is advertising. For a magazine, 52% is advertising. Is it even worth buying a magazine anymore if half of what you’re paying for is advertising?

-“Advertisers are excited not only by the growing numbers of potential teenage readers but by the increase in teen-agers’ disposable incomes … and the only people they spend it on is themselves” (51).
Advertisers are now targeting the younger crowd, right down to small children. They know parents will buy their children things, and teenagers have part-time jobs, and they jump at the opportunity for that money.

-One of the main reasons journalists may not cover a negative story, is the fact that advertisers my pull ads because of negative coverage. The public is not hearing all sides to the story.

When it comes to television, “the average American spends more than four hours a day watching television,” and owns an average of 2.24 TV sets in their household (63). Kids are watching more television than sitting in a classroom, and most kids watch shows filled violence and sex meant for adults (64).

Public Relations is on the rise, with the number of representatives exceeding the number of working journalists. What we are seeing and reading is no longer news, it is PR products (72).

Finally, the lack of representation for people of colour and women is forever ongoing. People of colour are only provided with 11% of prime-time television, and the disabled only make up 1.5% (and are usually never shown in a positive light) (110).

As a female journalist, it is hard to hear that newspaper articles written by women continue to decline, with only 26% of opinion pieces being written by women. Women in television are also lacking, with only one in three roles in prime-time television (120).

We the Media isn’t completely negative, it has a lot of information about people and organizations that have tried to change the negative aspects listed above. I only wish I could list them all, because the facts above are scary and surely need to change. Maybe if media weren’t controlled by a limited number of huge companies, we would have fairer representation. I believe any person interesting in media should read this book; mainly because it tells us the facts that media has been hiding from us.

Works Cited:
Hazen, Don and Winokur Julie. We The Media - A Citazen's Guide to Fighting For Media Democracy. New York: The New Press, 1997.