American unrest is at an all-time high. The Occupy Movement has turned the heads of government, corporate America and the rest of the nation. People are somewhere between getting on with their day-to-day lives and holding up signs, occupying their local cities and parks because they have something to say about the state of the country. Some are rolling their eyes or browsing their Facebook and Twitter feeds to find out what exactly is happening right now. In short, the Occupy Movement is one that everyone across the country (and world) is watching.
While a collective voice is beginning to arise, the message isn’t crystal clear. And for good reason. Americans are confused and realizing (or trying to communicate) that there isn’t just one issue to address – there are several. The complaints range from big business bailouts, an ominous unemployment rate, the government’s ineptitude in controlling corporate America and financiers, our national debt, the Federal Reserve, our devaluated currency. The list goes on. Americans are waking up and they want a solution.
It’s interesting to me, as a professional public relations practitioner and a professor, to see the media’s response to all of this. I’ve seen anywhere between serious accounts of different Occupy movements in Manhattan’s financial district to snarky blogs about seemingly unorganized groups in smaller cities, across the states. I’m shocked to see the media almost tsk’ing their way through their news stories. In the late 1800’s during the Industrial Revolution, the media was on our side. But today, I get the sense the media want to see an organized agenda in order to take any of these people seriously. It just isn’t enough that people know something is wrong and want it fixed.
All of this reminds me of a history lesson I learned years ago and one that I teach to my students today. And it got me thinking about how we’ll look back one day at how the media behaved and responded to everything that’s happening right now. Let’s go back to the Populist era. The media played a pivotal role in helping to expose big business – proudly accepting their label as “muckrakers”. They shook up industrialism as they knew it and the robber barons lost their control. With the aid of the mass media – the government started paying closer attention to corporations and the public taught these industry leaders a huge lesson about the power of the people.
Americans are losing their trust in the mass media. As someone who has worked closely with some of the best journalists in the industry, it’s saddening to see the mainstream media get a bad rap. I strongly believe, that while many of the media consumed by Americans today are owned by a small number of big companies known as “The Big Six”, there are true journalists at the helm who would rather rot than compromise the truth in order to please a suit in an ivory tower somewhere.
Today, we look to the media to provide the public with the same in-depth journalism rooted in the same ethical code and commitment to truth that the profession was founded on. This also goes for public relations professionals who work closely with the media. We have a grave responsibility to give the public what they want – the truth. While I deeply value citizen journalism and the blog sites out there (there are 115 million and counting) – I still believe that the news media we have relied on for many years can be an answer to the problem by, first, not sweeping these issues under the rug, or blowing off what is going on in the country right now. There are some so-called “media” out there who would like to write off the protestors as hippy malcontents, but I think we’re on to something. And the media can help us change things. We don’t need a leader or a hero. We need our voices to be heard.
Yes, Americans are restless and they’re making a lot of noise that doesn’t make sense right now, but they aren’t asking for anarchy – they’re asking for a solution. They want to work. They want a government that functions. They want Corporate America to be held accountable. They want to feed themselves and raise their families and just live their lives. Pretty basic stuff when it comes to being an American. Speaking of American, the media is as American as Apple pie – maybe more so. The call to action here is for the media to be on our side – no matter who signs your paycheck at the end of the week.
No comments:
Post a Comment