Craig Aaron, president and CEO of the media advocacy group Free Press, spoke Thursday in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum about the dangers of media consolidation and the importance of journalism to a functioning democracy.
Aaron’s talk, attended by about 25 people and part of Medill’s Crain Lecture Series, centered on the need for journalists to be activists with respect to media policy.
However, he acknowledged that this stance was at odds with traditional interpretations of journalistic objectivity.
“Many journalists are very uncomfortable with the idea of advocacy and activism, even as it relates to their own survival,” Aaron said.
Aaron portrayed the media as dominated by conglomerates like News Corp., which have eschewed relevant and local news for gossip and “waterskiing squirrel stories,” or reporting that has very little news value. He also referred to the current media environment as a “perfect storm” of an economic recession combined with the rise of the Internet.
Aaron argued local news outlets have taken the biggest hit as a result of both these factors. Many have either shut down or been absorbed into huge media companies, leading to a significant decrease in quality and coverage.
“No matter where I go, what everyone agrees with is that their local news must be the absolute worst in the country,” Aaron said. “If local TV, the primary source of news for America, doesn’t provide any in-depth reporting on local communities, we have a real problem.”
This tied into another of Aaron’s larger themes: Efficient local journalism is essential for a functioning democracy.
“If we can agree that journalism is an indispensable part of a democratic society, and we can see that the market is failing, we need to look elsewhere for answers,” Aaron said.
To find these solutions, Aaron proposed greater government involvement in public and local media, both as a source of funding and an organizing entity. One idea he raised was the creation of an
“AmeriCorps of journalism,” which would put younger journalists, as well as unemployed veteran reporters, to work covering local issues in under-reported areas.
He also suggested an “innovation fund” for journalism, which he said would encourage the creation of start-ups that could help reform existing media practices.
“Journalism has always been subsidized,” Aaron said. “Just because advertising is no longer sufficient doesn’t mean we don’t require news. We invest a lot of money in science and medical research, and we could do just the same for journalism.”
However, he also cited recent attempts in Congress to slash funding for NPR and PBS as examples of opposition to greater funding of public media, saying some politicians are already “gearing up for another assault.” Such opposition, he argued, makes continued activism by journalists even more vital.
Aaron closed his talk by circling back to the main theme of the evening, arguing that journalists have to be the voice for structural reforms in media across the country.
“It’s not just about the best policy ideas, but also the organizing necessary to achieve them,” Aaron said. “You’re right, you can’t be objective. But you can actually do something about it.”
Although Aaron delivered a similar lecture to Medill students earlier in the day, mostly Evanston residents attended his afternoon speech. Of the 25 audience members, only a small number were NU students.
“It’s not that people aren’t interested, ” Medill senior Rowena Li said. “If they had the lecture in the evening, so many more students would be able to come.”
However, the event was met with approval by many of the older audience members, some of whom openly praised Aaron in the question-and-answer session that followed his lecture. Scott Sanders, 54, an organizer of the media reform group Chicago Media Action, said Aaron presented innovative solutions for a notable problem.
“The big part of this solution is for people to see that the only way to get the journalism they want in a democracy is to have control over the journalism in the democracy,” Sanders said.
