People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.--A.J. Liebling
First, I'm back. There's controversy in the blogging world about taking breaks, feeling guilty and apologizing to your audience for your absence. Let me just say, sorry I've been AWOL. Thanks for hanging around, and if you're new, thanks for signing up. From the rise in my stats and subscriptions during my hiatus, I'm thinking that perhaps I should not post for a while longer. ;).
Though I haven't been writing much, I've been doing lots of research on good media, which is at the heart of the HumanKind Media mission. Lately, I have become a student of the "news." In 3 ideas for changing your media diet we suggested paying attention to your media intake the way you would your food intake--cut back on the fats, sugars, and empty calories, but especially pay attention to how what you take in makes you feel. We started out suggesting a meager 5% shift to inspiring stories about possibilities (rather than stories about what's wrong), and then early this year we boldly upped our recommendation to 10%.
Lately, I've been in a question about that other 90% of my media intake. A democratic world depends on an informed public making informed choices. I realized that by "dropping out" of the news stream, I experienced fewer of the adverse mood and spirit effects of "non-news" news, but I was also becoming less informed about issues I care about. While exploring how I can find news that informs me and inspires me to take an active interest, but doesn't make me feel like I just ate two Big Macs (sick), I've learned 3 things about staying informed as a global citizen:
1. Be aware of homogenized news. Find the entrepreneurial journalists inside and outside of mainstream journalism.
In my trips to the media conferences, I was disheartened to learn the story behind media consolidation (see this great piece on media consolidation) and its impact on the information we all receive on a daily basis. At the same time, though, I was astonished and inspired by the number of serious journalists (and an amazing number of amateurs like me, too) who care about the media and who are committed to keeping good journalism alive in this new community forum, the internet.
I'm guessing that even before the printing press people learned who in the village or countryside they could go to for news and who they could count on to sensationalize events and spin stories and stir things up. Later, the newspaper was easy, because you could just sit down and read it. But now that I know who "owns" my news in the newspaper and I know who supports my newspaper (advertisers), I'm more likely to pick the headline I care most about and go on-line and search out more points of view before I decide to believe it's "news". I still go on-line to my favorite columnists (Nick Kristof is a personal favorite) but am finding more and more independent news that broadens my understanding and awareness of the complex issues.
For "topical news of the day", I've subscribed to NewsTrust who asks readers to find and rate good news stories not only from the top news producers, but bloggers, independents, and international news sources. I like the idea of reading a variety on a single topical theme. I also subscribe to Common Dreams and the Huffington Post. These support my political leanings and interests. If you lean differently, take some issues you care about, google them, and find the independent voices that resonate with you.
2. To be truly informed, find a variety of independent sources on events and issues you're interested in.
As the mother of two boys in school, I have attended many story-telling meetings. The principal had one story, the teacher had another, and out of several boys (and sometimes girls) there were a few more stories. This was my greatest lesson in perspective and point of view. Though it's time consuming, the best picture in any event or issue comes from many points of view. In the past few months I have learned that there are as many amazing people out there trying to tell good, informative stories as there are people out there who are the stories.
When my son was in India I was reading more international news. I stumbled upon several articles in the Middle Eastern press about Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani's visit to America--all centered around hopes that there would be a resolution around the US unilateral air strikes, the most recent of which killed civilians on the Pakistani border in June (I had not heard about these). So, I turned to the NYT and the Post and the big US papers, and didn't find a single mention of unilateral air strikes--it was all about the Pakistani support of terrorists. Here was storytelling I could relate to--just like in the principal's office. After about 3 or 4 different articles from different places, I could see a bigger picture.
Also while reading Middle East news, I came upon this great series, People and Power, from Al Jazeera, not the first place Americans usually look for news. I especially liked this piece on Peak Oil which we don't hear much about in our mainstream press. I have to say I've been interested in AJ ever since I saw The Control Room (I highly recommend this film about journalism, war, and humans.) So many important events in the world shaping our future, I think it's important to hear many sides.
3. Bias is everywhere, but bias is not the news.
In the mainstream media in the US, one of the things that turned me away a few years back was the dividing of us (and the media itself) up into red and blue, republican and democrat, citizen and immigrant, for and against, you and me. It was upsetting to me. All the organizations, groups, and individuals we like to follow at HumanKind Media have been moving toward that single bias - humans.
I love the work the CS Monitor is doing at Patchwork Nation for the upcoming US election. Any journalistic enterprise that plays to our similarities and common difficulties, and appreciates our diversity has my vote. (Read about the Monitor's unique history and mission here.) They also write great HumanKind kinds of stories for the 10% media about possibility like this one.
For the 10% media about possibilities, we've found many (see the sidebars) resources and will uncover more, no doubt. For the other 90%, for your health and the health of all of us humans, we hope you'll ask yourself, who owns your media? Who's writing your news? What are all the views (or at least a couple more) on the topics you care most about? Pretend you're in the principal's office and you want the whole story, so no one is harmed and all are appreciated for their flaws and their contributions. Let us know what you discover!
Stumble It!
Comments