Get Progressively Trained
As someone who has been involved somewhat in the punditry circuit (for lack of a better term), I have been asked by progressive friends what I think is needed for the Left to compete with the Right, not so much in the war of ideas, as idea distribution.
To begin with, we need people who can confidently promote progressive values on television and radio. While the last decade has seen the creation and expansion of progressive think tanks, Air America Radio (an incubator of such talent as Rachel Maddow and Sam Seder), and even primetime MSNBC's becoming a mini-progressive tv outpost, we still lack the funding of the Right, and the pipeline it creates.
A 24-hour conservative television station and talk radio both nationally and locally dominated by conservatives doesn't only get the message out and give cover to politicians and political ideas once considered slightly to the right of insane (make no mistake, they've used these and many print distribution channels to take Bircherism, or Hofstadter's "Paranoid Style," mainstream--something which was once looked at as absolute looniness by those who even controlled the Establishment on the Right).
It also has created everyone from Glenn Beck to Sean Hannity to Tucker Carlson (we can also thank The Weekly Standard and Swanson for this last honor, as in Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson). So we may not have that. Or Heritage Foundation Summer School (with balconies!) and, for the most part, the other think tanks that pay conservative "thinkers" real salaries just to think out loud during non-paid tv segments, in low-paying articles and columns, and to write books nobody buys--but reach the NY Times bestseller list because these think tanks bulk buy 20,000 of them the minute they come out.
But we are making progress in other areas. One project I'm involved with, The Progressive Talent Initiative, not only provides 3.5 days of media training including everything from performance critiques to messaging advice, but the relationship continues afterwards, as the program gives you a tune up when you need it and helps get you booked for appearances.
It is a great program, which I had the luck of attending, and now maybe it's your turn. If you're a political strategist, progressive activist, blogger, academic, non-profit dweller or the like, this could be a great program for you to earn the key messaging and media training skills the Left so critically needs. The training is free to participants so if you are selected, can take the time to participate and are eager and willing to be booked after the training, the PTI team will take care of everything else.
If this is something you've been thinking about, give it a shot, as we need progressives armed with not only the facts, but the ability to share them with persuadable audiences.
So what are you doing March 9th-12th? If you'd like to apply for media training, now's your chance. The training is limited to only 12 participants, so showcase your talents in your application for the review committee to see. Application is available here and is open until January 14. So get in the game my friends!
When Progressives used pot
Did they require potty training?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
i think the answer points to yes
with your aims here but I'd like to point out that the total dominance the right wing enjoys on the radio spectrum has a lot more to do with what sells advertising than it does on any organized plot by "corporatists".Experiments with left wing radio haven't been all that encouraging have they?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
What you say may be true but the bottom line is that progressives/liberals have to figure out how to get their message out. They have got to educate the jokers on the right who think they are right because they watch Beck or O'Reilly or whoever. The left have got to show these jokers that the congresspeople leading them are frauds. What the Republicans have done in congress in the past week is a perfect example. The jokers have got to be informed that the congressional leaders have just lied and screwed them. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
For that is probably the greatest resource that progressives have.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
The problem is that to get the information on the internet you have to be proactive. the jokers need to have this information force fed them like they get from Fox. They don't go to look for it.
That far ass drug addict is on multiple stations in thesame market. The OWNERS are just selling ads. IF there were competition for that particular market, the drug addled gas bag college drop out would have to either COMPETE for radio OUR space (which could raise his own salary, BTW) or be dropped because some asshole fron Clear Channel wouldn't have total control ovet 1,500 stations.
Hey, "open markets" and all that BS.
.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
you may remember this story... there are lots more examples:
Advertisers Blacklist Air America Radio
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/10/31/1457...
it wasn't just bad AAR management...
one company. The question is was that decision made for political reasons or was it a business decision based on the abysmal ratings AAR generated. People don't tune in stations to listen to ads. They put up with them to hear the content they want to hear. Not many tuned in.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
http://www.copswiki.org/Common/AirAmericaBlac...
started with reagan doing away with the fairness doctrine...
clinton (unknowingly?) placed the final straw by deregulating ownership...
or was it the other way around?
the biggest hurdle was ownership... and corporate agenda... aka politics.
also, other studies confirm that head to head, left radio wins big time in some markets...
but damn few. Listenership or lack of it is the broader problem.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
if there were stations, there would be listeners.
in my south central area, corner of I 57 & 70, there are 3 stations that carry limpballs and his fellow liars... amazing... and the ignorance is comparable...
KILL (meaning "don't shoot them in the head, Sarah, you bitch) the NBC / Comcast deal.
Go back to the pre Reagan FCC rules (where networks could only own 5 TV stations, and 7 radio stations).
Bring back the Fairness Doctrine (this time with prosecutorial powers)
WHY???
Because it would create thousands of JOBS!! New station programming managers, NEW billing (Ad) agents, etc. Which would lower unemployment, give investors an opportunity to INVEST in LOCAL businesses, and stop the nationwide hate talk.
WHY is MSNBC a "premium" channel, and FOX is available everywhere on basic cable?
Because the MSM IS the mouth piece for the WAR profiteers.
You're certainly aiming high.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
We can learn from this .
Basic 'get your point across' training 101 is...
A. Tell the truth while explaining your view. Frame the debate in your favor.
B. When appropriate, call and point out the lies and flaws of the opposite side. Never back down
C. Explain in detail the reasons your view works, is good and better than the existing or opposite view.
Wins every time!
Here's another great example video...
"GLENN GREENWALD vs FRAN TOWNSEND WIKILEAKS DEBATE "
http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2010/12/glen...
Yes this is another perfect example of how to deal with the lying right wing manipulators. Good for you on posting it.
And when all else fails:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0PU53vg_b0
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
is how you take somebody to school.
NOBODY 2012
but isn't more than half the battle getting booked?
then called back again,
and again,
and again?
and to do that, doesn't one have to be an intriguing figure?
one that inspires callers and letter writers to contact the network?
not necessarily correct, or well spoken, but one that draws a certain audience again and again?
that being said, why is william kristol on all the freaking time? boy is he a real dick. wow.
maybe letter writers complaining how he acts like a dick gets him called back.
there must be many of them out there writing their complaints with how many
times he has appeared on the networks.
regardless, i prefer diy and the low-budget.
democracy now is a great start.
Where is Krisol on all the time? I never see him on. I only know him to be on
fox news Sunday. where else is he on?
I agree that provocative is good. interesting is good. throwing good interesting facts is good. How these people get asked on I have no idea but it is not mystery. That information is easy to find out. Just ask Rachel Maddow how it works. I would bet they would give good info about how they get guests and how other programs get guests.
berate william kristol. it is fun.
to my understanding, and as little as it is, as i only get it from one book which i believe was titled "how to get a job in television" found at the hollywood library and written by some female producer of various daytime talk shows like jerry springer and oprah; from what i recall, the way it goes is that they come up with a topic for that day (oh, and again this is a book about daytime talk shows but seems applicable to "news" op-ed talkshows); the producer has a short, very short period to assemble people to be "experts" to talk about that day's topic, and because of that the producer creates a rotating short list, hence why you see the same people every time, and also why it seems there are peers as experts, other journalists, unknown doctors, etc. so if someone winds up on this short list, and gets a response, or seems to be entertaining or controversial, they get called back. how do they get called in the first place? they have a book or had some spot in the news, or a blog (this book i think was written before blogs were more prominent, it was 1998 or something, but i think that is the new "in"), something that shows they have a unique perspective and opinion.
think tanks instead of professors
Thanks Cliff. Well done.
With a little luck we can expect some new progressive "stars" on the horizon soon, with salesmanship equal to the republicans. Republicans are fist and foremost salesmen. that's why they don't get flustered - they only care about winning the sale.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
to take such training but there are a couple of obstacles. The first would be deciding what constitutes the progressive measure to stay on message about and the second would be cracking the punditry circuit itself. I haven't noticed that the ability to articulate the message of the left predisposes the media outlets to choose any particular person to present that view. On the contrary they seem almost to pick the least effective spokesman they can find for the left. There are exceptions of course who can articulate that view. I'm surprised they've survived.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Our "messaging" would be a lot easier if people such as yourself weren't busy trying to turn EVERY legislative victory into a defeat. Two weeks ago you, Cliff, were busy hand wringing that the victorious lame-duck session was actually a "very bad month." From health care, to banking reform to you name it we can count on people like you to either ignore the good, or pretend it isn't there, like you and Arianna did with DADT. The one thing you'll NEVER do is admit you were wrong.
"the beatings will continue until morale improves" as usual....
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
but I'll be too busy covering the Alabama legislature as Republicans take power for the first time in 136 years.
Website || Twitter
or taking cover? Watch your back. I would surprised if there were not a few gun carriers present.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
I can see the complaints to the producer of
the program Schecter appeared on: this Schecter
fella, isn't he kind of a lunatic fringe element.
He's kinda mean spirited in a puerile ad hominem
kind of way. If i see him again I'm going to have
to mention it to the man upstairs. Am i making myself clear?
don't let up!
If Money wanted a counterweight to the hate-wing noise machine, there'd be one.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
"we'll see" about DeLay.
She's almost as bad as the aged, botoxed blonde talking pointer Chris Matthews has on so often.
Comments are closed on this entry