| | | | Dear subscribers and super-scribers,
About once every week or so, WNYC archivist Andy Lanset strides over to the OTM area to give us an audio gift. This week: a December 1995 episode of On the Media featuring a certain third-term Vermont congressman, already distinctly raspy, explaining why it is that a political figure outside the mainstream might have some difficulty attracting the attention of the traditional press.
The panel, which included Bernie Sanders along with USA Today reporter Judi Hasson and Minneapolis Star-Tribune Washington Bureau Chief Tom Hamburger, sought to answer the host's question: "Do the media limit the terms of public debate? If you are a candidate whose views are outside mainstream politics, will you ever read about them in the mainstream media?"
(That host was the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Alex Jones, who is far and away our favorite of the Alex Joneses. No contest.)
The guests all wonder about questions — which should be very interesting for us, especially now, as we dive headfirst into an overflowing pool of presidential candidates — such as: - At what point does a candidate merit coverage?
- Does someone need to raise a certain amount of money to enter the conversation?
- Or, do they have to shout and wave and hope someone notices?
In many ways this episode is a conversation that we've had over and over again. As Jones himself points out, "every year after every election, the press beats itself up thoroughly for not covering ideas." The press promises to do its best the next time around, Jones says, "and then we have the same breast-beating another time." Oh, heyyyyy.
Sanders spends his time on the panel making points that should be familiar to us by now: The press have abdicated their responsibility to ask why "the vast majority of people are seeing and have seen over the last twenty years a decline in their standard of living." He warns about the role of corporate ownership — then, General Electric, Disney, and News Corp — in our political media. And he bemoans that a billionaire — sorry, person of means — can declare their candidacy and end up on Larry King, with ease.
And he reminds the panel that, even then, he was lucky to be speaking with them:
"As a United States congressman, I certainly get into the national media every once in a while, and certainly in Vermont I'm in the media as much as I want. What I am saying, though, is if somebody were not a United States congressman, had not been a mayor for eight years — holding that [socialist] perspective, that would be determined a fringe perspective because Bill Clinton doesn't talk about it and Bob Dole doesn't talk about it and Dan Rather doesn't talk about it."
Anyway, if you have an hour to burn and an aching need for 25-year-old-and-still-eerily-relevant media analysis... boy, do we have the back-catalog show for you.
Onwards. | | [ In Case You Missed It ] | |  | | In this piece from last week's show, Brooke tackles the murky ethics of Twitch's IRL (in real life) section, where streamers invite the internet to view — and, increasingly, shape — their lives in real time. First, she speaks with Radiolab's Jad Abumrad about how he became obsessed with watching Deadmau5's music production stream. Then, she speaks with "VP Gloves," a homeless man who was fed, housed, and emotionally supported by his Twitch followers during his darkest hour. Back on his feet, VP Gloves then found himself beholden to a temperamental online mob that often robs him of his autonomy and dignity. Listen here. | |  | | In 2014, Adrian Chen wrote an eye-opening piece for Wired about how content moderators are subjected to traumatizing work as they sort through what is and isn't allowed on the internet. His piece focused on workers in the Philippines. This week, The Verge has a similarly dark and essential look at the graphic nature of the job -- this time with contractors in the US. Some moderators say watching conspiracy videos led them to embrace fringe views. Others are struggling with anxiety and panic attacks brought on by disturbing material they have to screen. And on top of that, many of these contractors have punitive bathroom policies and confusing moderation guidelines. For all the talk of algorithms these days, here's an essential read about the real humans making our internet run... and suffering for it. | |  | | We're reading this fun new profile of super-star investigative reporter Jane Mayer in Elle. Come for the discussion of her *ongoing* reporting on accusations of sexual misconduct made against Justice Brett Kavanaugh... and stay for the story of Mayer breaking into a home to rescue her dog from Laura Ingraham. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. | |  | | On Sunday night, three Oscars went to a few of the artists who helped bring Wakanda, the mystical homeland in Marvel's Black Panther, to life. A persistent site for utopian longing, Wakanda has once more captured the public imagination: endowed with unlimited access to the most precious natural resource in the world, unsullied by the ravages of colonialism, Wakanda has reignited conversations about what black liberation can and should look like. According to Johns Hopkins University history professor Nathan Connolly, this latest chapter is part of a much longer tradition of imagining and reimagining black utopias. He spoke with Brooke earlier this year; check out their conversation here. | | | A brand-new Breaking News Consumers Handbook. This week: it's Mueller time. | | | Thanks for listening, and for reading. We love feedback, so please contact us with any questions or comments. We're busy, but we read them all, promise. | | | | | | |
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