{"id":2435,"date":"2009-08-27T21:44:07","date_gmt":"2009-08-28T01:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedustininmansociety.com\/blog\/?p=2435"},"modified":"2009-08-27T21:44:07","modified_gmt":"2009-08-28T01:44:07","slug":"inspired-by-saul-alinsky-fcc-diversity-chief-calls-for-%e2%80%98confrontational-movement%e2%80%99-to-give-public-broadcasting-dominant-role-in-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/2009\/08\/27\/inspired-by-saul-alinsky-fcc-diversity-chief-calls-for-%e2%80%98confrontational-movement%e2%80%99-to-give-public-broadcasting-dominant-role-in-communications\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC ‘Diversity’ Chief Calls for \u2018Confrontational Movement\u2019 to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNS news<\/em><\/p>\n

Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC ‘Diversity’ Chief Calls for \u2018Confrontational Movement\u2019 to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications<\/strong>
\nWednesday, August 26, 2009
\nBy Matt Cover <\/p>\n

CNSNews.com) \u2013 Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a \u201cconfrontational movement\u201d to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC.<\/p>\n

Lloyd expressed his regulatory call to arms in his 2006 book, \u201cPrologue to a Farce: Communications and Democracy in America\u201d (University of Illinois Press). <\/p>\n

In the book, Lloyd also said that public broadcasting should be funded through new license fees charged to the nation\u2019s private radio and television broadcasters, and that new regulatory fees should be used to fund eight new regional FCC offices. <\/p>\n

These offices would be responsible for monitoring political advertising and commentary, children\u2019s educational programs, number of commercials, and content ratings of the programs. <\/p>\n

Frequently referencing one of his heroes, left-wing activist Saul Alinsky, Lloyd claims in his book that the history of American communications policy has been one of continued corporate control of every form of communication from the telegraph to the Internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizen access to popular information has been undermined by bad political decisions,\u201d Lloyd wrote. \u201cThese decisions date back to the Jacksonian Democrats\u2019 refusal to allow the Post Office to continue to operate the telegraph service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lloyd claimed that neither technology nor liberal reforms have been able to overcome the damage caused when government fails to give everyone an equal voice.<\/p>\n

Throughout history, Lloyd said, \u201c[t]he most powerful communications tool was deliberately placed in the hands of one faction in our republic: commercial industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither Progressive era reforms nor new communications technologies have been able to correct the problems resulting from government abdication of a responsibility to advance the equal capability of citizen discourse,\u201d Lloyd added.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporate liberty has overwhelmed citizen equality,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Government, Lloyd said in his book, is the \u201conly\u201d institution that can manage the communications of the public, arguing that Washington must \u201censure\u201d that everyone has an equal ability to communicate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American republic requires the active deliberation of a diverse citizenry, and this, I argue, can be ensured only by our government,\u201d he says. \u201cPut another way, providing for the equal capability of citizens to participate effectively in democratic deliberation is our collective responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

FCC sealLessons for Radicals<\/p>\n

Lloyd relies heavily on the left-wing radical Saul Alinsky in explaining his strategy. <\/p>\n

Alinsky (1909-1972) was a community organizer and activist from Chicago and the author of the book, Rules for Radicals, which opens with an acknowledgment “to the very first radical … Lucifer.” As for political tactics, Alinsky said, \u201cThe Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away. In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people. This means revolution.” <\/p>\n

With Alinsky as the political guide, Lloyd outlines nine \u201clessons\u201d that people can draw on when trying to combat international businesses. <\/p>\n

1. \u201cOrganizing people must be a priority. In order to counter effectively the power of major corporations we understood that we had to be able to demonstrate the support of hundreds of thousands of people. As Alinksy wrote: \u2018Change comes from power, and power comes from organization. In order to act, people must get together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

2. \u201cUnderstand where people stand on your issue. Once we were clear that we needed to drum up the support of people, we needed to understand what people knew about our issues. As Alinksy wrote, \u2018if people feel they don\u2019t have the power to change a bad situation, then they do not think about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

3. \u201cConnect with groups that have already organized the community. Our means of reaching local communities was through existing national organizations. We reached out to groups that had large constituencies and articulated our message by identifying how our goals fit their core interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. \u201cThe strategy must have an inside and an outside game. For media reform, this means we needed to embrace the necessity of operating both in and outside Washington [D.C.].\u201d<\/p>\n

5. \u201cDon\u2019t wait for events to unfold on their own. Pressure, pressure, pressure. If we wanted events to work in a direction that would benefit us, we knew we needed to push. We needed to apply pressure and to direct that pressure not at the government, but through the government at our true opposition \u2013 the broadcasters. Alinsky again: \u2018The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain constant pressure upon the opposition.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

6. \u201cCommunications is a priority. Again drawing from Alinksy, we understood that \u2018one can lack any of the qualities of an organizer \u2013 with one exception \u2013 and still be effective. That exception is the art of communication.\u2019 It is not just a matter of getting media to cover your campaign. That is, undoubtedly, a part of it, but it is also about getting the sort of attention you want, so the public and your opposition see you and your issues the way you want to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. \u201cResearch is key. We took not only message and public opinion research seriously, we took seriously our obligation to research the activity of our opposition. Our research entailed not only public opinion polling, but academic papers presenting economic and social analysis, legal research\u2026and grassroots research involving the inspections of dozens of televisions station\u2019s public files.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. \u201cEstablish a broad base of funding and never stop raising money. Alinksy is right that people are a source of power, but without adequate funds organizing people effectively cannot be accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

9. \u201cFind allies in power. If civil rights leaders such as King had the Kennedys and Johnson, and the anti-Bork campaign had Ted Kennedy, our main ally was [FCC Chairman] Bill Kennard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solution<\/p>\n

To combat the control of international business and restore government to what he sees as its rightful place in managing public communications, Lloyd calls for a \u201cconfrontational movement\u201d to protest the present order and organize a political movement that could force government to rein the businesses in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our republican form of government is perishing because communications \u2013 the infrastructure of that republic \u2013 is under the yoke of international business how, at last, do we save it?\u201d he asks. \u201cWe must build a confrontational movement to reclaim our democracy, a movement committed to active and sustained protest against the present order.\u201d<\/p>\n

To do this, Lloyd draws on his experience lobbying the FCC during the Clinton administration, counseling would-be revolutionaries to follow the tactics used by other left-wing movements, such as the followers of Saul Alinsky and the people who ran the campaign to block Republican Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.<\/p>\n

“We understood at the beginning, and were certainly reminded in the course of the campaign,” wrote Lloyd, “that our work was not simply convincing policy makers of the logic or morality of our arguments. We understood that we were in a struggle for power against an oppenent, the commercial broadcasters ….”<\/p>\n

“We looked to successful political campaigns and organizers as a guide, especially the civil rights movement, Saul Alinsky, and the campaign to prevent the Supreme Court nomination of the ultra-conservative jurist Robert Bork,” wrote Lloyd. “From those sources we drew inspiration and guidance.”<\/p>\n

Lloyd proposes six initial goals for wresting control of communications from the corporate interests he claims control it. As his book details: … HERE<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNS news Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC ‘Diversity’ Chief Calls for \u2018Confrontational Movement\u2019 to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications Wednesday, August 26, 2009 By Matt Cover CNSNews.com) \u2013 Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a \u201cconfrontational movement\u201d to combat what he claimed was control of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedustininmansociety.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}