Moyers: 'Journalism in profound crisis'
by Bill Moyers via rialator - Freepress Saturday, Jun 7 2008, 11:10pm
international / mass media / other press

Legendary Journalist Electrifies Packed Crowd at National Conference for Media Reform

MINNEAPOLIS -- Today, legendary journalist Bill Moyers electrified an audience of more than 3,500 in Minneapolis, calling the media reform movement "the most significant citizens' movement to emerge in this new century."

Moyers was speaking at the National Conference for Media Reform, an event that brought together thousands of people dedicated to making America's media system more democratic, diverse and accountable.

Addressing the packed auditorium, Moyers said the work of the media reform movement has "challenged the stranglehold of mega-media corporations over our press" and fostered "alternative and independent sources of news and information that people can trust."

Moyers cited the recent exposés about government propaganda in mainstream media as a symptom of "journalism in profound crisis."

"You couldn't find a more revealing measure of the state of the dominant media today than the continuing ubiquitous presence -- on the air and in print -- of the very pundits and experts, self-selected 'message multipliers' of a disastrous foreign policy, who got it all wrong in the first place," he said.

At the root of this crisis, Moyers said, is media consolidation.

"As conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses and broadcast outlets, news organizations are folded into entertainment divisions. The news hole in the print media shrinks to make room for ads, celebrities, nonsense and propaganda, and the news we need to know slips from sight."

Watch Bill Moyers' keynote speech at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y0r71L7cojE

http://www.freepress.net/node/41332