I read the Buffalo News every day. I start with the comics page. It's the only page that makes any sense sometimes.
I ignore the sports section. Never anything useful or interesting in there to me. And I rarely have the time to pay attention to sports anyways.
So after digging through the local news I plunged into the first section. It's supposed to be the most important news nationally and internationally. Sometimes local news makes it in there.
I was amazed when the News reported on a third political party. They almost always stick with the "Big 2" capitalist parties - the Democrats and the Republicans. After all - they hold the keys to power and the news media likes interviews with the powerful.
So count me amazed when I saw an article on ... the Libertarian Party. OK. It's the third largest capitalist party, so I shouldn't be surprised at all really.
I mean, it's not like the News is going to report outside of its ideological leaning - capitalism.
So here the News is stepping out of its tightly controlled comfort zone and reporting on an alternative (yet capitalist) party.
Why? Because people that are opposed to a Clinton-Trump battle might want to vote for someone else. After all, the Libertarian Party pulled 11% of the vote in the last election. If they can poll a little higher, they could get in on the capitalist controlled debates.
Imagine my joy. Another reason not to watch the debates. I can get three sides of the capitalist perspective. And one of them is to the right of the Republican Party and wants totally unrestrained capitalism.
As if what we have right now isn't bad enough. And they want to loosen the rules even more. No minimum wage. No worker protections. No worker benefits. All power to the business class - the workers can take it or leave it.
Well, I'm not voting for Hillary or the Donald. And I'm not voting for a free-market capitalist party either.
If the News were serious about increasing their coverage and subscription base - they would start covering the political left more seriously. And I'm not talking about the Democratic or Working Families parties. Both are capitalist parties and - at best - are trying to put a friendly face on capitalism. (Try putting lipstick on a pig and tell me how it looks.)
There's the Green Party - my understanding of them is that they are (at best) social democrats and want to put an environmentally friendly face on capitalism.
So, what about the socialist parties? The Socialist Party USA is running a candidate. And the Party of Socialism and Liberation are also running a candidate. Why aren't they covered? If I remember correctly Rod Watson ran an article on the PSL during the 2012 election. Granted it was in his column, so if you were not looking for it you would not find it. But still.....
The news media - and I am going to include television, radio, and print in on this - have the responsibility to inform and educate people on the issues. Advocacy from the news source's point of view belong on the op-ed page. Otherwise, they need to get out and give the public all perspectives on the issues.
I know so many people that don't read newspapers, listen to the radio, or watch TV news (outside of the weather)because it's (to borrow a quote) "all the same crap."
If the news media were interested in increasing its appeal to the people they would start by covering parties and perspectives outside of the Democrat-Republican divide.
And certainly outside of the capitalist perspective.
And that might help the bottom line that they are all so concerned about.
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