Media in America: A Guided-Discovery Class Exercise
Nightline (Linea de Noche): A
Case Study of Pro-Corporate Bias
It will take us a while to get to Nightline tonight; most likely, our discussion
will only begin later on tonight and will continue next week. But here is how I suggest we
proceed. Your task, as a group, is to answer every question and sub-question below.
For instance, get prepared to say: "the answer to Q2e is . . ."
First, I had to choose which Nightline program(s) to show to the class. To do
so, I recorded the two Nightline programs immediately preceding this class. Q1: The
first question your small group needs to discuss is: Was this a fair procedure?
At this point, you need to read this document (2 pages), so that you know what
to focus on while watching Nightline.
The next step involves watching in class two hours (last Thursday’s and
Friday’s) of this beacon of "serious journalism," reputed, in fact, to be
among the best TV programs in America. Let’s take TV’s best and see how good it
really is. Please bear in mind that I did not record most of the commercials. Yet, recall,
the commercials are the heart of the program. It’s they who pay Piper Koppel
and, perhaps, call his tune.
The next step—and you’ll be getting no help from me—is for you to decide
whether Lee and Solomon’s ancient (more than 10-year-old) analysis is correct. To do
this, you will need to respond to their key assertions:
- An editor of the prestigious, mainstream, Columbia Journalism Review watched 30
consecutive shows (Q2 : Why consecutive?) and concluded that important
points of view were excluded; the range of opinion was kept very narrow. (Q3: a. Was
this true in the last two episodes we watched? b. Were some views excluded? c. Was the
range of opinion narrow?)
- FAIR studied 40 months of Nightline—865 programs with 2,498 guests. The
guests for the most part were white, powerful, conservative men from government and the
corporate world. Only 5% spoke on behalf of the environment, labor, consumer
organizations, minority issues, poor people. Virtually all the guests came from the upper
class. When talking about economic issues, corporate people outnumbered labor 7:1. When it
came to foreign issues, Americans outnumbered foreigners 39:1. (Q3: a. Was this true
for the two episodes we’ve watched? b. Were the guests conservative? c. Were there
any foreigners? d. Were they rich or poor? e. Is Nightline merely a forum for those in
power and their pundits? f. Are government critics excluded? g. Cuban are white and black.
Of all the Cuban-Americans shown in the audience, was there a single black Cuban? h. About
50% of all Americans believe that the U.S. should establish diplomatic relations with
Cuba. Were these people represented in Nightline?)
- According to FAIR, "when it comes to foreign policy, the ‘solutions"
Koppel seeks are essentially outcomes that the U.S. government finds desirable?" (Q4:
Is this true for the two episodes?)
- We have seen, over and over again, that the media are reliably superficial about any
issue, and that they evince pro-corporate bias. We talked about environmental issues, and
have seen that they are distorted beyond recognition (remember the midday naps
assertion?). So far, the presentations we have heard concurred (although I suspect a few
will disagree later on). Thus, Sharon Oumedian and Stuart Henry studied crime coverage,
and found it misleading, superficial, and biased in favor of corporate America (our white
criminals). Vivian Johnson found a media cover-up of the distinct possibility that Walter
Reuther was murdered by corporate America and our government. Barb Flis today will
disclose her findings that the media failed to tell us about the pro-corporate way
Michigan’s tobacco money has been used. Bob Thomas today will discuss how disabled
the press is, especially when it comes to portraying corporate responsibility for, and
culpability in, the lives of the disabled. We talked about women’s rights as well,
about MLK, and other issues. (Q5: This perhaps is the key question: Were we given
enough information, enough history, enough depth, in those two hours of Nightline
to judge the issue at all? Did we learn anything significant about Cuban-American
relations to help us judge the issue? Was there a pro-corporate bias?)
As I’ve said, I’d like you to struggle—seriously, passionately—with
this issue in small groups on your own. But, as it happens (I didn’t plan it this
way, honestly), I worked in Cuba for a 5 weeks (photos are circulating), know its history,
especially its turbulent relations with the U.S. I saw Raul Castro give a speech, live, in
Cuba. So, since we are talking about this issue, I am going to give you, in a brief
presentation, the background of this controversy. When I’m done, you will need to ask
yourselves: Q6: a. Why didn’t Koppel take a few minutes to tell us this? b. You
have heard by now so much about Elian: Did anyone mention history? Reality of Cuban life?
And finally, I want you to read what a highly respected American writer has to say
about this issue. Q6: a. What are Alice Walker’s views? b. Have you ever seen her
on TV talking about Cuba? c. Why not, since she knows and loves Cuba? d. Is she right?
Finally, my friends, Lee and Solomon obviously have strong views on the question of Nightline.
Fairness demands that the other side is given a say. Q7. So, what can be said in
favor of Koppel in this case? (We need especially, someone who would like to argue
that Nightline is indeed wonderful. Do you know anyone who could competently defend
Nightline? Can you invite anyone? Whoever it is can have at least half an hour to
defend this program and answer the questions above, next week, probably [April 7, 2000]).
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