threadbear wrote:Why would a journalist necessarily be on the front lines when it came to direct corporate pressure? It would be the owners of the paper, not the editors or journalists who would get the direct heat. The editors may just get a little warm.
Our paranoia to the contrary, media owners have many more important things to worry about than censoring news stories. It would take energy to monitor everything that appears in the news columns for ideological correctness. So, the owners don't tend to get involved in the details, the exception being news organizations that are frankly propagandistic, like Fox.
Owners would set the general policy, which in most case would be: "Print whatever gets us readers and doesn't cause too much of a stink." Some owners will cave in to outside pressures and others will stand up to it.
Editors are good at understanding the unspoken taboos and knowing how much they can get away with.
Reporters are young, adventurous and don't earn much money. They are curious and willing to investigate crazy ideas like Peak Oil. That's why you see so many articles in small and regional newspapers about PO. You can often get good coverage by cultivating young reporters.
In general, you can get things into the media if you understand how it works and play the game. For example, before you submit an article for a publication, study its style and policies. Don't write a philosophical rant for a small town weekly; instead, find a local angle to the story (local group, local author, local project) and capitalize on that. About a month ago, a Maine reporter wrote some dynamite articles on PO by using this strategy:
http://energybulletin.net/4439.htmlAnother way to get into the media is in special interest publications (websites, etc.) For example, I read a forthright description of PO in a construction trade journal by a contractor who told how he was changing his business to capitalize on PO.
threadbear wrote:And, what is a local newspaper, anyway? With media consolidation "local" no longer exists. It's all corporate, right down to tiniest community paper
Same with radio, television. It is myth that a reporter in Boston can lambaste a corporation based in LA, as their parent company may own a sister publication in that area.
It would have to be a very big issue for corporate people to expend the issue to squash a story in a subsidiary publication. Really, they don't care that much. In fact, news coverage often improves when a chain buys a local media outlet -- they can be more professional, less interested in taking sides in local stories.
The big problem is that the media have become more bottom-line oriented, and news departments are cut.