My conversation with Jeff Cohen

My interview with Jeff Cohen is up over at WVaBlue. Here's an excerpt:

Jeff Cohen is the founder of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting and the author of the 1995 book "The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error" one of the first investigations into the inaccuracies of conservative talk radio.
He was the producer of MSNBC's "Donahue"program in 2003, but his time at the network was cut short when the show was canceled. An internal memo from network heads showed that the program was axed for opposing the war with Iraq, despite the fact that it was MSNBC's number one show at the time.
His book, "Cable News Confidential," tells the story of his experience as an on-air pundit at the cable networks.

In most "conservative vs. liberal" debates on cable TV, they often take a hard-right, activist conservative and pair them with a centrist, establishment Democrat. As a result, the debate frame is limited to the center-right. Do you think this is an intentional effort or are the producers of these programs simply ignorant as to what an actual liberal is?

It's more of the former. It's more a conscious effort to construct a spectrum that would comfort those at the top of the media and those in our political elite. I think they understand that a center-right spectrum won't get them into trouble with corporate sponsors and won't get them in trouble with the Bush administration.
It was constructed during the Reagan era. I've been talking about this issue since the 80s. It's not a new thing. It didn't begin with "Hannity and Colmes" on FOX news. The major factor is this is their comfort level - these are their beltway friends. Their idea of the American spectrum is the rightwing of the Democratic Party and the rightwing of the Republican Party and thereby excludes close to 50 percent of the country.
I think it's mostly a conscious, semi-conscious "This is the establishment spectrum and this is the spectrum we're going to put on our channel." A slight percentage of the problem is just their ignorance, but mostly it's going to their comfort level. They're going to the establishment voices that are funded by corporations on both sides - the Democratic voices that are corporate friendly and the Republican voices that are corporate-friendly.
It's rare on TV that you see a pundit that is firmly aligned with the labor movement. I was one and I was a huge exception. Very rarely do you pundit on TV, a regular pundit, who sees himself aligned with the peace and justice movement. I was one of those and one of the only ones. But on TV, you see all sorts of pundits that are aligned with the rightwing movement. Patrick Buchanan has been on American television day after day for 25 years.

Read the rest here.

Mike Papantonio interview

If you haven't read it yet, my interview with Mike Papantonio made the 50 State Blog Network Roundup.

An excerpt:

On October 22, 2007 a jury ordered Dupont to pay $196.2 million to residents of Spelter, W.Va. The company was found negligent in creating a 112-acre waste site laced with arsenic, cadmium and lead. The poisons left for 50 years, had become airborne and had contaminated the groundwater. Health problems were abundant in the town, causing the area to be known as the "cancer triangle."

Representing the citizens of Spelter were environmentalists Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Mike Papatonio. The pair are co-hosts of Air America's news magazine Ring of Fire and are founders of GoLeft.TV a web site devoted to progressive video.

Papantonio, known for stinging "Pap Attack" commentaries on the network was featured in the 2006 documentary "Jesus Camp," in which he takes the camp's founder Becky Fischer to task for indoctrinating children into rightwing fanaticism.

Papantonio spoke with me before the Spelter case went to court.

Q: Your program is one of the few media outlets that regularly reports on mountaintop removal. How do think activists can overcome the mainstream media blackout and bring the issue to national attention?

A: If you look at how disastrous West Virginia's been treated - mountaintop Mining - In the history of this country, since the Bushies took over, there's never been so much complete destruction of mountain land mass as we've seen under this administration. Not only do you have the power elite to overcome, but you've got the power elite that controls the message completely.

In other words, activism doesn't do what it used to do. If you look at activism marches anymore, the mainstream media chooses to ignore them. So it's an uphill battle. I think that's what the tragedy is in West Virginia.

I kind of wear two hats. You may know about the Spelter case I have going on. Dupont got away with killing, absolutely poisoning an entire community in Spelter, West Virginia. It's unbelievable, these documents.

Now, can I take these documents and give them to media up there that will do something with them? I can, but I have to get the case to trial first.

Activism alone doesn't work anymore. There has to be something dramatic that happens.

In West Virginia, my god, every time I turn around, it's another disastrous story about corporate America, either attacking labor, polluting streams, blowing off the tops of mountains. It's as if people yawn and say, "You know, well that's West Virginia." They don't pay attention to it until somebody punishes Dupont or one of these corporations.

I know it sounds pretty cynical, but I've done progressive radio for nearly four years and have done plaintiff's trial law for 25 years and see it's pretty clear what has to happen.