from my good friend John Christian Sevcik:
Hello–is anyone out there still listening? Mic check.
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS (and mainstream media) – PLEASE READ.
Hi guys,
I know I’ve been posting a lot over the last week. I hope all of you know me to be an intelligent and rational person who wouldn’t bombard you with information unless it was absolutely necessary. I want to take a minute to talk about that ‘why’–to hopefully get you to understand how important it is that you pay attention. Please grant me these few moments, and, if after reading this, you’re still not interested in what I’m attempting to share with you, I thank you for your time and encourage you to disregard any subsequent posts.
Still here?
We proceed.
1.
When television first began being broadcast in this country, the media was accountable to its viewers. Networks would not be issued a broadcast license by the FCC unless they agreed to provide so many hours of informative programming each day, informative being the operative word here. This is way back when the news still looked and sounded like news and the press still believed in the idea of journalistic integrity.
The reason that the FCC was allowed to require this of these networks–they are broadcasting on public airwaves. That was the fee for using these airwaves–informing the public.
My point–the airwaves used to broadcast by these networks are yours and mine. They use a public infrastructure–those airwaves belong to all of America.
2.
Media is considered by sociologists to be one of main institutions of socialization.
A socializing institutions–family, religion, education are examples of some of the other institutions–are the ways in which we as citizens become members of our society. It is through these means that, as we are raised, we come to hold our beliefs about the world around us–our norms, values, and social mores.
It is for the reason that the idea of the media of a country being accountable to its citizens is so important. It is for this reason the press should feel a moral responsibility to journalistic integrity.
3.
In the same way that we find it unconscionable and unethical for a political campaign to receive disproportionate funds from a contributor, we should understand that information is a currency, and when it is unevenly distributed, it is unethical and creates an imbalance to justice.
4.
Since September 17th, organized demonstrations on financial districts, to protest wealth inequity and political corruption that have led to poverty for millions if not billions, have been occurring in cities all over the world and most importantly in our own country. Most people in our country have no idea that this is occurring because mainstream media has imposed an almost ubiquitous blackout.
5.
Even if you don’t agree with what’s occurring right now with the OccupyWallStreet movement, even if you find yourself unmoved by it, or politically apathetic in general–I know that many of my friends no longer believe in the idea of their own political efficacy–I urge you to consider the implications of tolerating media blackouts.
Twenty-four people showed up to the big Tea Party Rally that filled the airwaves at the advent of their movement. OccupyWallStreet has thousands demonstrating in cities all over our country, tens of thousands all over the world and has yet to be picked up by CNN, FOX, or MSNBC in their primetime news hours.
It’s okay to not want to be politically involved with the movement, but, in my opinion, it is not okay to be complacent in the intentional ignorance imposed by the media.
By standing up and spreading information by means of social networking, by demanding that your local and national media pay attention, you are simply fighting for access to information.
Even are you already informed and don’t care, I pose to you that you still have a moral and ethical obligation, a duty as a citizen of our society and citizen of the world to stand up to media blackouts and do you everything you can to make sure that others are informed and have the chance to decide their own level of involvement.
6.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed in the vast majority of my friends right now. I know you to be intelligent, compassionate, ethical people–yet the general apathy I’ve seen in the last week has shocked and disgusted me.
7.
If you are entirely comfortable with your position in life, with the economic and political climate of our country, if you see nothing wrong with the media, if you feel no unrest at all, then by all means, go back to doing whatever it is you were doing.
But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek — then I urge you to join me in sharing information.
With an abiding love and a deep concern,
John Christian Sevcik & Ron Heacock
NOTE: Please sign your name to this and re-post. Pass it along!
