Earlier this fall, cable news, Twitter, and much of the media were engulfed in a moral panic about the supply chain. The pandemic-related delays in the manufacture and delivery of certain products morphed, as it often does, into something dire enough to get eyeballs and clicks.
Thanks very much for this, but I think there is a component we must insist on from the media. It is their failure to highlight and hold accountable the Republicans for the failure of their policies and the consequences of their scorched earth politics. Two examples are 1) the coverage of BBB in which the narrative of the bumbling Dems predominated. "How did they get snookered by Manchin?", "Biden's presidency is in jeopardy" etc. There were terrific pieces about the consequences for W. Virginians because of Manchin's position (see Tessa Stuart's piece in Rolling Stone Magazine), but nothing about the same for Maine and other states of supposedly moderate R Senators. Bernie Sanders tried to get reporters questioning him to at least ask how ALL 50 R's could oppose this, but there is nothing in the way of an effort to examine this question. The fact is that the media could find all sorts of bad news directly attributable to the R's, but one has to ask if there is truth to the corporate media bosses and their true bias.
2) Susan Collins and the Supreme Court- again, how does one ignore that she told America that Kavanaugh assured her that Roe was precedent in the aftermath of Texas SB 8 being allowed to stand and the Dobbs v. Jackson oral arguments? How is there no effort to hold those beyond Mitch responsible for what will be the deconstruction of years of progress and the dismantling of democracy via Shelby County, Citizen's United etc.
I agree with the need to change strategy, but in my mind that must include shaming the media for its imbalance and ossified narratives.
Thanks for this. The headline focus on the faux dramatic became super evident to me with the story (NYT?), "40,000 Service Members Still Unvaccinated", when the data was that some 90%+ of the military had been vaccinated, that 40k was a very small percentage. That information was buried in the article, which of course few people read compared to how many see the headline alone. Banging the drum against this, while banging a bigger drum extolling the good news, is so important. (My illustration's numbers might be off a little, it's from memory, but it's close.)
Let me play devil’s advocate and offer what is probably an unpopular opinion.
Your analysis offers another logical option, which is for D’s to give the media what they want. I know we take pride in going high when R’s go low—but if our strategy is limited to shouting our positive story into the political winds, we are doomed. R’s will happily fill the void with their negative, crisis-driven stories. The difference is that while they fabricate tales about caravans, Antifa, CRT, etc., we can tell the truth. Mitch McConnell handed us a gift when he said R’s wouldn’t release a legislative agenda ahead of the mid-terms. Of course they won’t because much of their legislative agenda is deeply unpopular with swing voters. D’s would be fools not to fill that blank slate by reminding voters of everything R’s did the last time they controlled Congress—and what they could do if they win in 2022. Use their track record to offer plausible scenarios--dismantle the ACA? Abortion rights? Invoke McConnell’s name as much as possible—he’s perhaps the most disliked figure in U.S. politics. Do we want him in charge again? Why won’t they tell us their plans? What are they hiding? Hammer this narrative in every competitive Senate and House race. Put R candidates on the defensive while D’s aren’t afraid to offer a positive alternative.
Give the media a D-friendly frame that will help them write the kinds of stories they’re going to write anyway. It’s not media bashing to recognize current structural incentives. I heartily support efforts to change things for the better. I am grateful for organizations like Crooked Media, Demcast, and Indivisible and of course outlets like The Message Box. Having a positive message is critical. Sadly, it’s not enough.
I spent 40 years in journalism, most in community journalism, a term metro folks used to say with derision even as their corporate bosses bought us up and closed us down. I still cringe when people media bash. So thank you for pointing out that the real source of the problem is both readers and owners and not exclusively reporters or even editors.
Support your nonprofit news outlets and amplify achievement over fear-mongering by all means possible.
Thanks, Dan, for pointing out that WE the activists need to be the purveyors of good messaging on social media and with our personal contacts. We, in fact, are THE MOST IMPORTANT messengers, because people we know trust us. Demcast is great, and there are other orgs that do similar things, like More Perfect Democracy (Indivisible) www.moreperfectdemocracy.org, which I founded to help create and amplify tested messaging. Fellow Pfeiffer friends, we're looking for people to help create and amplify content and are committed to breaking down information silos among activists across the country!
Dan - can you direct me to a succinct list of the positive status of the economy over the first year of the Biden presidency? I have read different stats from different places, but can't recall seeing one good list. I will use that to post on Facebook in a non-political manner, just a list reminding everyone how bad the economy ISN'T. Why not try to use the Facebook algorithm to our advantage?
Thanks for clarifying that this should not be a choice between strategies. We absolutely need to build support for our policies. Contrasting our positive agenda with R’s track record/silence I think will help the media focus. They’re most comfortable talking about “both sides” and that’s what I’m suggesting we aid/abet. If the R’s won’t tell the public what they’re for, let’s tell that story for them.
I started doing a Message of the Day on Twitter. I spend 2-4 hours a day getting it out, I’ve built my followers from like 350 to almost 4000. The goal is to put the message out and then have 100,000 or so followers amplify it. I suppose if I keep at it I’ll eventually get there, maybe, right now it’s mostly just me. One mistake I made was to use my personal account, @storiesbyrusty … so I’m kinda stuck with that for now. I’ve been saying for years Democrats need a 24/7 war room to put out a clear and consistent message every day especially on weekends. There is a thing called @DNCWarRoom that I follow but I rarely see any content, and when I do, it gets like 3 likes. I’m not kidding. Anyway they should be doing this not me. I am retired though so I do have the time. Today’s message:
Message of the Day:
Less than a year into the Biden Administration, unemployment is at a fifty year low and for the first time in decades labor has bargaining power and we’re using it.
#ThankYouBiden
I try to always use that hashtag as long as it’s appropriate. I generally write a new message every day, rarely it gets so many whaddya call it chartbox? interactions I’ll use it two days in a row.
Thank you for this. It was just this morning I saw that an excellent NYT editorial from yesterday titled “It’s Jan. 6th Every Day Now” sported a new tagline mentioning Trump, obviously in an attempt to get more views. Same editorial. Pushed with better clickbait…clickbait that undermines the whole point of the piece, which is that this is an ongoing event and that it’s not about Trump and that we all have to act. Effing NYT…
Maybe it's just the end of year slow news filler, but there seems to be an uptick in stories on how threatened our democracy is by the Big Lie. I think we need to click and click again on all those stories and encourage the media to focus on that, ask more questions of Republican leaders and candidates and make that the scary story that they focus on for most of the year. Yes, tell the world about good economic policies but since the media is driven by clicks for scary stories, let's keep looming autocracy on that Chartbeat list.
Thanks very much for this, but I think there is a component we must insist on from the media. It is their failure to highlight and hold accountable the Republicans for the failure of their policies and the consequences of their scorched earth politics. Two examples are 1) the coverage of BBB in which the narrative of the bumbling Dems predominated. "How did they get snookered by Manchin?", "Biden's presidency is in jeopardy" etc. There were terrific pieces about the consequences for W. Virginians because of Manchin's position (see Tessa Stuart's piece in Rolling Stone Magazine), but nothing about the same for Maine and other states of supposedly moderate R Senators. Bernie Sanders tried to get reporters questioning him to at least ask how ALL 50 R's could oppose this, but there is nothing in the way of an effort to examine this question. The fact is that the media could find all sorts of bad news directly attributable to the R's, but one has to ask if there is truth to the corporate media bosses and their true bias.
2) Susan Collins and the Supreme Court- again, how does one ignore that she told America that Kavanaugh assured her that Roe was precedent in the aftermath of Texas SB 8 being allowed to stand and the Dobbs v. Jackson oral arguments? How is there no effort to hold those beyond Mitch responsible for what will be the deconstruction of years of progress and the dismantling of democracy via Shelby County, Citizen's United etc.
I agree with the need to change strategy, but in my mind that must include shaming the media for its imbalance and ossified narratives.
Thanks for this. The headline focus on the faux dramatic became super evident to me with the story (NYT?), "40,000 Service Members Still Unvaccinated", when the data was that some 90%+ of the military had been vaccinated, that 40k was a very small percentage. That information was buried in the article, which of course few people read compared to how many see the headline alone. Banging the drum against this, while banging a bigger drum extolling the good news, is so important. (My illustration's numbers might be off a little, it's from memory, but it's close.)
Let me play devil’s advocate and offer what is probably an unpopular opinion.
Your analysis offers another logical option, which is for D’s to give the media what they want. I know we take pride in going high when R’s go low—but if our strategy is limited to shouting our positive story into the political winds, we are doomed. R’s will happily fill the void with their negative, crisis-driven stories. The difference is that while they fabricate tales about caravans, Antifa, CRT, etc., we can tell the truth. Mitch McConnell handed us a gift when he said R’s wouldn’t release a legislative agenda ahead of the mid-terms. Of course they won’t because much of their legislative agenda is deeply unpopular with swing voters. D’s would be fools not to fill that blank slate by reminding voters of everything R’s did the last time they controlled Congress—and what they could do if they win in 2022. Use their track record to offer plausible scenarios--dismantle the ACA? Abortion rights? Invoke McConnell’s name as much as possible—he’s perhaps the most disliked figure in U.S. politics. Do we want him in charge again? Why won’t they tell us their plans? What are they hiding? Hammer this narrative in every competitive Senate and House race. Put R candidates on the defensive while D’s aren’t afraid to offer a positive alternative.
Give the media a D-friendly frame that will help them write the kinds of stories they’re going to write anyway. It’s not media bashing to recognize current structural incentives. I heartily support efforts to change things for the better. I am grateful for organizations like Crooked Media, Demcast, and Indivisible and of course outlets like The Message Box. Having a positive message is critical. Sadly, it’s not enough.
I spent 40 years in journalism, most in community journalism, a term metro folks used to say with derision even as their corporate bosses bought us up and closed us down. I still cringe when people media bash. So thank you for pointing out that the real source of the problem is both readers and owners and not exclusively reporters or even editors.
Support your nonprofit news outlets and amplify achievement over fear-mongering by all means possible.
Thanks, Dan, for pointing out that WE the activists need to be the purveyors of good messaging on social media and with our personal contacts. We, in fact, are THE MOST IMPORTANT messengers, because people we know trust us. Demcast is great, and there are other orgs that do similar things, like More Perfect Democracy (Indivisible) www.moreperfectdemocracy.org, which I founded to help create and amplify tested messaging. Fellow Pfeiffer friends, we're looking for people to help create and amplify content and are committed to breaking down information silos among activists across the country!
Dan - can you direct me to a succinct list of the positive status of the economy over the first year of the Biden presidency? I have read different stats from different places, but can't recall seeing one good list. I will use that to post on Facebook in a non-political manner, just a list reminding everyone how bad the economy ISN'T. Why not try to use the Facebook algorithm to our advantage?
Thanks for clarifying that this should not be a choice between strategies. We absolutely need to build support for our policies. Contrasting our positive agenda with R’s track record/silence I think will help the media focus. They’re most comfortable talking about “both sides” and that’s what I’m suggesting we aid/abet. If the R’s won’t tell the public what they’re for, let’s tell that story for them.
I started doing a Message of the Day on Twitter. I spend 2-4 hours a day getting it out, I’ve built my followers from like 350 to almost 4000. The goal is to put the message out and then have 100,000 or so followers amplify it. I suppose if I keep at it I’ll eventually get there, maybe, right now it’s mostly just me. One mistake I made was to use my personal account, @storiesbyrusty … so I’m kinda stuck with that for now. I’ve been saying for years Democrats need a 24/7 war room to put out a clear and consistent message every day especially on weekends. There is a thing called @DNCWarRoom that I follow but I rarely see any content, and when I do, it gets like 3 likes. I’m not kidding. Anyway they should be doing this not me. I am retired though so I do have the time. Today’s message:
Message of the Day:
Less than a year into the Biden Administration, unemployment is at a fifty year low and for the first time in decades labor has bargaining power and we’re using it.
#ThankYouBiden
I try to always use that hashtag as long as it’s appropriate. I generally write a new message every day, rarely it gets so many whaddya call it chartbox? interactions I’ll use it two days in a row.
Thank you for this. It was just this morning I saw that an excellent NYT editorial from yesterday titled “It’s Jan. 6th Every Day Now” sported a new tagline mentioning Trump, obviously in an attempt to get more views. Same editorial. Pushed with better clickbait…clickbait that undermines the whole point of the piece, which is that this is an ongoing event and that it’s not about Trump and that we all have to act. Effing NYT…
Maybe it's just the end of year slow news filler, but there seems to be an uptick in stories on how threatened our democracy is by the Big Lie. I think we need to click and click again on all those stories and encourage the media to focus on that, ask more questions of Republican leaders and candidates and make that the scary story that they focus on for most of the year. Yes, tell the world about good economic policies but since the media is driven by clicks for scary stories, let's keep looming autocracy on that Chartbeat list.