Progressive Media

Why We Need to Support Media Reform

The Interfaith Network is very conscious of the fact that dissenting voices, particularly voices for peace, are often muffled by the main stream media.  We are deeply concerned because we share the belief of our country's founding fathers that without an informed populace, democracy cannot thrive -- or even survive in any meaningful way.

Today, print media is in crisis as readers migrate to the web and advertising revenues fall.  The web itself, while a vibrant source of new citizen journalism, brings with it the problems of  political fragmentation as people choose only to read those sources whose ideology they agree with.

Far too often those sources spread unsubstantiated rumors as though they were well researched and founded facts.  This leads to distortion and manipulation.

An associated problem is the rise over the past 30 years of Right Wing think tanks that have inserted their biases into the news and hence the national consciousness -- organizations such as The Heritage Foundation,  The Bradley Floundation, or the libertarian Cato Foundation.  It is, we feel, important when assessing information to understand the philosophy behind the publications or the research organizations that provide it.

One organization that we think is invaluable is Free Press.  This citizens' organization is fighting for more public and local control of the media and is particularly focused on net neutrality.  To learn more, go to Freepress.org.

We also recommend the following sources.  Their perspective is progressive.

Center for American Progress

IP Academy

Democracy Now