Gore Fires Bold Shot Across Media Bow

Gore fires bold shot across media bow

http://www.hibbingmn.com/dailytribun...tory_id=207335

Aaron J. Brown
Monday, October 17th, 2005 09:00:27 AM

Former Vice President Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic Presidential nominee, delivered a bold speech before a media group on Oct. 5. People in the news business should take special note of what he said, but so should anyone who cares about America.

“I believe that American democracy is in grave danger,” Gore begins the address.

As we are at war in Iraq, Gore points out that as many as half of all Americans still believe the false premise that Saddam Hussein planned the 9/11 attacks. Meantime, trivial sideshows dominate most so-called news programs on television, while important issues remain ignored or misunderstood.

This matters, Gore said, because television dominates all media and also the majority of most Americans’ free time. When the medium fails to show any sense of public responsibility for disseminating actual news and analysis, America is harmed.

“… Extremely important elements of American Democracy have been pushed to the sidelines,” Gore said. “And the most prominent casualty has been the ‘marketplace of ideas’ that was so beloved and carefully protected by our Founders. It effectively no longer exists.”

News coverage has moved from being a public service to a profit source for TV networks, Gore explains. The results, among them nonstop coverage of celebrities and shark attacks, have been bad for the country.

“So long as the only means of engaging in public dialogue is through purchasing expensive television advertising, money will continue by one means or another to dominate American politics,” said Gore. “And ideas will no longer mediate between wealth and power.”

“Our democracy has been hollowed out,” he said later in the speech. “The opinions of voters are, in effect, purchased, just as the demand for new products is artificially created.”

I thought Gore made the right call in not running for president in 2004. It would have been a divisive repeat of the post-2000 Florida election legal wrangling. That said, a 2008 Gore run might be a worthy consideration for the former Vice President and the rag-tag coalition that makes up the Democratic Party. We can find no shortage of criticism of the Bush Administration, but few people doing much to fix problems or provide alternatives.

Since bowing out of presidential politics after his loss, Gore has probably been the most consistent, articulate voice from his party. His political style seems to have grown richer in defeat than it would have in a 2000 victory. He’s also done something that most critics of the current state of affairs in America haven’t done: taken action to make things better. He’s co-founded a nonpartisan open forum cable news network to let people discuss all manner of ideas. He even quietly chartered a rescue plane in the hours after the levies broke in New Orleans to evacuate hospital patients, without any publicity or fanfare – and long before federal assistance would have arrived.

Democrats and Republicans should agree that this country doesn’t need another shallow 2004-style election in 2008. The best thing would be a spirited debate about the direction of America that gives us a president supported by more than just a plurality of special interests. Me, I’d love to see someone like Gore and someone like Republican Sen. John McCain debate enter their liberal and conservative beliefs into a substantive debate without all the polarizing television ads and PR-style campaign tactics.

If democracy is going to work, we’re going to have to do something that party bosses and special interests hope we never do – think for ourselves. Whether conservative or liberal, we gain nothing by letting important public policy matters fester in the hands of lobbyists and power hungry politicians while we watch the tube.

We are a long, long way from the next presidential race, and even have a busy 2006 midterm election to consider, but the process starts early. Demand substance. Never get your information from just one source. Question your own beliefs before dismissing the beliefs of others.

Our democracy is at stake.

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. E-mail him at aaronjbrown@yahoo.com.