By Savannah Russell
I am no stranger to the classroom, but I am foreign to the idea of a Republican lecturing in one. So I got a chuckle when I heard that our Oct. 10 class would be graced with the presence of Dan Proft, a Chicago-based conservative radio commentator for WLS-AM. As I awaited his arrival, I imagined what he would look like. To his credit, he did not disappoint me. He arrived looking sharp and hawkish; pressed black suit, slick back hair and oversized gold rings weighing down his “right” hand.
With my journalistic instincts in tow, I propped up and listened intently. However, after a few minutes, he began his attack on the news media and my natural defenses went up. Now the idea of a right-winger lashing out at the “liberal media” is nothing new to me, but Proft came out swinging. Not only did he argue that local news provides information with “no context or consequence,” but--get ready for this--he had the solution to fix it! His answer: start up his own Internet site that brings “intelligent audiences” issues and news that really matter.
Here are a few of Proft’s blows at the local news media. First, he said, there needs be a fall off of consumption of traditional media, simply because it is useless. “All television news is cookie cutter,” Proft said. “Local news gives you no valuable information.”
My favorite example was his point about stories on gas prices. Proft believes that these local stories are repetitive and irrelevant. “Every spring there is the same story about the inflation of gas prices,” Proft said. “I can predict what they are going to say before the story even airs.” Apparently, the fact that gas prices go up to $4 a gallon in the Spring doesn’t phase Mr. Proft. He seems to believe that this information is not worth sharing with the public. I happen to believe the opposite. Isn’t it the media’s job to give us information about things that affect our lives? I think that discussing the effects and reasons for increasing gas prices is worth reporting. Lord knows that everyone else is talking about it.
Proft also said that we should be “insulted” by what the local news media throws at us and that instead, we should look to his Internet site for valuable news. I agree that it is important to get news and information from many different sources, but I am wary of getting my information from a man who wants to abolish traditional news altogether; and replace it with news that he, alone, thinks is significant. I am also wary of putting my confidence in a man who says that, “Television news is worthless.” Besides, if there is one thing that I do know, it’s that I don’t trust men that wear oversized gold jewelry.
1 comment:
Savannah,
Judging the content of remarks by my physical appearance says more about you than it does me.
Apparently, my rings were so captivating to you that you were unable to focus on what I said and so chose instead to assign to me views I do not hold and conclusions I did not draw.
First, my critique of local media had nothing to do with left vs. right. I don't believe I complained about the oft-referenced "liberal media" once. That is not and has never been my focus.
Your statements to that effect highlight that your preconceived notions of me ("a Republican") overrode what I actually offered. To the extent you choose to hear only that which comports with your prejudices, you'll fit right into the traditional media orthodoxy.
Context and consequence is not partisan issues, they are quality control issue. This critical distinction was lost on you as evidenced by your feeble attack on my critique of "evergreen stories" like gas prices.
I never said that the media should not report on gas prices. What I said is that the media's reports on gas prices every spring are non-contextual, labotomized nonsense. The problem is not the story topic but rather the way the stories are reported. For example, as I said in class, the stories lack adherence to basic Econ 101 principles such as when you compare prices over time, you must adjust for inflation (and in my view consumer purchasing power) to get a true apples-to-apples comparison.
There is little reporting to explain why gas prices fluctuate (and why, as oil is a commodity, they always will). There is little reporting as to why Chicago routinely has the nation's highest gas prices (because our gas is the most heavily taxes at the state and local levels).
And then, where is the story about gas prices when the inevitable decline because of less consumption as the fall and winter months set in?
These are examples of the contextual factors that are lacking from local television news--they know no party affiliation.
Finally, your silly blanket statement that I want to "abolish" traditional media and live in a world where only I decide what is newsworthy is truly breath-taking in it's baselessness.
I am not "abolishing" anything. Many traditional news outlets are cannibalizing themselves. As much as I would like to take credit for it, I cannot.
Moreover, I am not an advocate for abolishing anything. I am an advocate for expanding the parameters of debate, augmenting intellectual plurality in our free society, and improving the quality of news reporting.
My aim is to build a better mousetrap--that's a market approach, not a command-control approach. You should take an Econ 101 class if you do not understand the difference between persuasion and force.
Finally, I do not recall offering myself up as the nation's Media Czar deciding by executive fiat what is and is not newsworthy. I offered myself as a commentator and an entrepreneur who advocating both policy ideas and media concepts about which I feel strongly and so thus pursue aggressively.
Hopefully, my explanation via the blogosphere (and thus sans my gaudy jewelry) will register this time and demand that you review what I actually said as opposed to what you had hoped I said.
Regards,
Dan Proft
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