PREAMBLE
TO THE PREMIER ISSUE: Forging
An Anti-Capitalist Tool
The
premiere issue of CYRANOS'
JOURNAL appeared in 1982.
It was, at the time, the
only media review launched
in the US with an authentic
radical intent. Incredible
as it may sound, in 1982
the US still had no media
critiques with real teeth.
While
excellent media analyses
had existed for quite a
while, some dating back
to the turn of the century,
the subject remained an
orphan issue in the overall
left agenda, a situation
which allowed mainstream media
reviews to literally own
the field.
Most publications,
whether sponsored by universities
or commercial publishers,
concentrated on issues
relating to "professional
journalism"--the kind
of routine nitpicking that
obsessively looks at how
a story was covered,
omitted, mangled, downplayed
or otherwise mishandled
by colleagues in the mainstream
media, but which never
stopped to ask WHY this
behavior, far from the
exception, was the norm.
For that, the analysts
would have had to probe
far deeper, into the systemic
roots of the US
media's abysmal performance,
and that was clearly taboo.
Taboo at the professional
J-school centers, which
to this day chiefly
concentrate on cranking
out media personnel ready
and eager to fill the slots
in the corporate-dominated
communications system,
and certainly off-limits
at the handful of publications
operating with commercial
backing. In short, reflecting
the larger, "rump" political
culture, media
commentary went from liberal
to ultra-right--hardly
challenging to the status
quo.
The preceding
does not imply that there
were no radical critiques
around. A precious few
(for a nation of this size
and importance) did exist,
in a smattering of venues
from academia to progressive
publications. Among these,
we all owe a huge debt
of gratitude to Alex Cockburn
for his biting, pioneering
"Press Clips" column in The
Village Voice (which has morphed considerably through various tenures, and in Cynthia Cotts' hands became more of a trade journalist's running commentary on fellow members of the "media industry"—than anything resembling wide-ranging cricicism of media performance with political implications, which just about says it all, although this is probably not so much Cynthia's fault, who is eminently gifted, but her Voice editor's "ground rules" preferring "reported columns" to freewheeling opinion), plus,
of course, that seminal
ground for superior political
analyses, Monthly
Review,
helmed by Paul Sweezy and
Harry Magdoff. In addition,
many thought-provoking
pieces saw light in
the leading left-wing publications,
including The
Nation, The Progressive,
In These Times,
and Mother
Jones. Overall,
however, the topic was
largely neglected by the
left, a huge strategic
error that has haunted
progressives in the US
for generations and which
only now is beginning to
be corrected.
As is
often the case, the situation
in the US was peculiar.
While media work was common
in many "more
political"
nations, notably Italy,
France, Spain, and Britain,
the US seemed to lag far
behind in interest and
output. Eventually, of
course, as we all know
the homegrown intelligentsia
would stir itself into
action and close the gap
with a vengeance, once
again confirming Churchill's
ironic dictum that, "The
US always does the right
thing, but only after trying
everything else." (His
words apparently apply
to all Americans, including
radicals!)
When it
finally happened--from
the late 1960s to the early
'70s--radical media work
began to gain momentum
mostly as a result of interest
in other issues (Chomsky
and Herman's focus, for
example, was primarily
US foreign policy and democratic
processes). This new interest
soon paid off in a host
of compelling analyses.
Today, with a generation
that includes the unique,
probing contributions of
Michael Parenti; the groundbreaking
work of Herbert Schiller;
and the all-encompassing
critiques of Robert McChesney--in
our view the culmination
of this intellectual
journey--the American
left can no longer pretend
that it lacks the theoretical
foundation to understand
the nature of the media
problem, nor for that matter
the dangers implied by
its glaring bankruptcy
to a working democracy.
With a superb body of work
on hand, the time
has finally come to get
really serious about media
work. Despite the huge
odds against the left--from
overwhelming financial
superiority to all the
tactical advantages implicit
in controlling the system's
assets--the battle of communications
must be joined and won.
Cyrano's
first issue tried to lay
the foundation for an ongoing,
in-depth critique of US
media performance. As such,
it included landmark pieces
by Noam Chomsky, Ed Herman,
Michael Parenti, Herbert
Schiller, Dick Ohmann,
Bertram Gross, Don Lazere,
Bill Lutz, Bob Entman,
David Paletz, and other
leading observers. Some
of the material was original
work expressly prepared
for Cyranos' debut. Other
articles were basically
specially edited excerpts
from books already in circulation.
The object was to offer
a comprehensive introduction
to the problem of the media
as deliberate gatekeepers
and protectors of the status
quo. In addition, the premier
issue presented its readers
with a rather novel aproach
to mass comunications
analysis: a literal "catalog"
of media biases,
falsehoods, distortions,
and mythologies routinely
utilized by mainstream
media personnel in their
formulations of reality.
The catalog was meant to
be a "work in progress,"
with additions to the index
in every subsequent issue.
The opening salvo was
penned by Cyranos' founding
editor, Patrice Greanville (under the nom de guerre David Montcalm),
but later chapters were
expected to be furnished
by free-lance contributors.
Lack of funding--the perennial
scourge of left publications--prevented
this, and Cyrano, after
evolving into a newsletter,
foundered in early 1983.
In this section, we present
a selection from the premier
issue. Since, regrettably,
not much has changed in
the mainstream media landscape
in two decades, except
for the coming of age of
a self-conscious media
reform movement--perhaps
the most promising development
in US politics in a long
time--we believe that readers
will still derive substantive
benefit from inspecting
these selections.
--The
Editors (2004)
Rev. 8.07
|
SELECTED
EXCERPTS
AT
LONG LAST, CYRANO/FIRST
EDITORIAL --The
Editors
THE
PACKAGED CONSCIOUSNESS-
Herbert
Schiller
COUP
D'ETAT, AMERICAN STYLE-
Bertram
Gross
REFLECTIONS
ON CAPITALIST CULTURE-
Donald
Lazere
KEEPING
THE LID ON THE WASHINGTON
CONNECTION--Noam Chomsky,
Ed Herman
FIRST
CATALOG OF US MEDIA BIASES,
DISTORTIONS & SUPPRESSIONS--Patrice
Greanville |
