Media and Democracy

Media Reform

 

 

LAMG Members with Congressman Waxman

 

 

Introduction
Media Reports
Local Efforts

Take Action!

Introduction

 

Media reform issues have a direct bearing on how—on if—people will have access to the information and communication tools they need to participate in a democracy. California Common Cause has a long history of working on media reform issues beginning in 2002 when we worked with the Alliance for Better Campaigns to build public support for giving election candidates Free Air Time. CCC has since educated our members and encouraged them to take action to safeguard access to the Internet; support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and local Access or public, educational, and government (PEG) stations; and oppose media concentration and favor a diversity of voices in our media. To take effective action on media reform, sign up for our CauseNet alerts and contact JoAnn Fuller at jfuller@commoncause.org or (916) 443-1792 extension 11. CCC has on-going media reform groups meeting in Sacramento , San Diego, and Los Angeles.

 

California Common Cause has shown leadership on media reform issues through our public education work, the media monitoring undertaken in Sacramento and Los Angeles, the Media Summits organized by the Los Angeles Media Reform Group, and the educational work in San Diego. Please see each group’s page on the website to learn more about their current activities.

 

The role of media in our democracy is at the core of Common Cause’s mission. Our organization is devoted to ensuring that our democratic system works for us all. That means people should have access to the information and the ability to take effective action to easily communicate with their representatives on the web. We believe the media has a responsibility to provide information that citizens can use to make their decisions in our democracy.

 

In the United States, broadcasters use the public airwaves for free to make profits for their large corporate owners. In return, they have an obligation to provide for the public interest. Media reform advocates argue that providing information on issues, such as informing voters before elections is an important way to provide for the public interest especially since it is documented that most people get their news from television. Quality public affairs programming and local news and information are critical to our democracy if citizens are to make responsible choices and participate in civic life. See the Sacramento Media Group’s reports documenting their findings on election coverage for more information. See also the Los Angeles Media Group’s study on news content on their local TV stations.

 

Media outlets in America are increasingly being owned by fewer and fewer individuals, narrowing the variety of voices heard, seen, and read and poorly serving our democracy. See the San Diego Media Group’s page for information on their work to provide for more diversity on their local radio stations. See the Los Angeles Media Group’s work on saving their local Access station which airs many diverse options.

 

New media offer unprecedented opportunities for the public to access diverse sources of information and to provide a platform for individuals to express themselves to a broad audience. These new opportunities are being threatened by corporate and political efforts to commercialize the Internet and monopolize the public spectrum to serve narrow financial interests. Without “net neutrality” as the law of the land, we could see this amazing new resource undermined.  See the Sacramento Media Group’s page for information about their work to bring free, pervasive broadband access to city residents.

 

As we raise concerns about the lack of substantive coverage of public affairs issues, the increasing consolidation, and the attack on new media access, we find the public is extremely hungry to engage in discussions and solutions. See the Sacramento Media Group’s page for information about the community discussion on local media they organized.

 

Media Reports


Sacramento Television Coverage of the February 2008 Primary Election

Sacramento Television Coverage of the November 2006 General Election

2006 Sacramento Media Group  follow-up to the 2004 TV coverage report.  In 2006, the Sacramento Media Group found poor local TV election coverage, yet the stations earned over $32 million from campaign advertising (triple the amount made in 2004).


The Fear and Fluff of LA's Nightly Local News
2006 Los Angeles Media Group report on nightly news coverage in Los Angeles

Sacramento Television Coverage of the November 2004 General Election
Executive Summary of the Report

2004 Sacramento Media Group report detailing how local stations made over $12 million from campaign advertising, but did not enhance our democracy by producing programming on local campaign issues.

Check back soon for SMG's report on the 2006 elections news coverage! (expected July, 2007)

 

Local Efforts

 

Media reform issues have a direct bearing on how—on if—people will have access to the information and communication tools they need to participate in a democracy. As Common Cause raises concerns about the lack of substantive news coverage, the increasing consolidation of news sources, and the attack on new media access, we find the public hungry to engage in discussions and solutions. In the next few weeks, California Common Cause is presenting opportunities to come together and take effective action for media reform. Won’t you join us at one of the events in Los Angeles, Sacramento or San Diego!

 

Sacramento Community Efforts

The Sacramento Media Group (SMG), affiliated with California Common Cause, is a group of citizens committed to the belief that strong, free, independent media are essential to the health of American democracy. SMG focuses on a number of issues related to print, broadcast and internet media. Click here to learn more about SMG.

Los Angeles Community Efforts

The Los Angeles Media Reform Group focuses its efforts on local television news coverage, monitoring and detailing the extent of coverage of important issues and meeting with six LA television stations. Click here to learn more about the Los Angeles Media Reform Group.

 

 

Take Action

Preserve Public Access Studios and Stations

  California Common Cause has a long history of working on media reform issues educating our members and encouraging them to take action to safeguard access to the Internet; support the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and local Access or public, educational, and government (PEG) stations; and oppose media concentration and favor a diversity of voices in our media. To take effective action on media reform, sign up for our CauseNet alerts and contact JoAnn Fuller at jfuller@commoncause.org or (916) 443-1792 extension 11. CCC has on-going media reform groups meeting regularly in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego.