TIME FOR MOVEON TO MOVE ON?

Attention MoveOn members.

I am real disappointed to report that the organization whose membership TRIPLED because of opposition to the War and the Bush Administration doesn’t have the inclination or energy to help us promote our film screenings of WMD on the media and the war when it opens this Friday in Manhattan, Buffalo and Portland.

When you Google MoveOn, you read that the organization “offers information on the anti-war movement and resources for activists.” When you go to the website, you see information about several causes, but we were told that they won’t help WMD because it doesn’t fit into any of their campaigns. That’s after the Iraq elections and in the week of the State of the Union.

Apparently, only explicitly partisan projects meet their criteria. I don’t get it. Yesterday on Buzzflash, political organizer Carolyn Kay of Makethemaccountable.com asked why MoveOn pumps millions of dollars raised by its members into ads in the mainstream media and puts only a few sheckels, from time to time, into independent and alternative media outlets. She accuses them of reinforcing the mainstream media system, not changing it.

MEET-UPS ANGRY ABOUT MEDIA

I am told that at their latest round of “meet-ups”, members prioritized media issues as their #2 concern after the Supreme Court. As someone who knows and has supported many of their campaigns, I find it difficult to understand why they are so dismissive even condescending on this issue — perhaps they fear they will “alienate” the media if they are too critical beyond the Democrat/GOP divide. Attempts by MediaChannel to reach out to MoveOn often go unanswered.

Sorry, but elections and inside-the-beltway politics is not the only arena for political activism, in a country dominated by corporate power and those that do its bidding.

As I wrote back to their two sentence rejection, I believe as we have shown on MediaChannel that media hostility, journalistic imbalance and deference to power helped sink the Kerry campaign. At least it was a major factor. The Dems had enough money to challenge the GOP but were often thrown on the defensive by a media system that was anything but open to all views and distorted the issues raised.

MoveOn does not seem to have moved on to this understanding. They don’t really seem to be about movement building and citizen activism as much as replacing one set of politicians and power brokers with another.

I would like to hear from MoveOn members. Do you share the expressed view of a key member of their “team” that they “own” the Democratic Party because they “bought it?”

IS MOVEON DEMOCRATIC ITSELF?

Who elected the leadership of MoveOn? How democratic and diverse is it? Is this another case of elites and outsiders who want to be insiders and power brokers?

I don’t know — and I am not against what they do, They have revitalized politics but we live in a mediaocracy — not a functioning democracy — and that requires more media activism and education.

MoveOn needs to rethink how to be more than cheerleaders for pols who in the end will look after their own interests without all that much accountability to the grass roots. I would like to see more internal discussion and candor in assessing its impact. Yes, they are great at raising money and hiring talented pros to do traditional political advertising, but is that enough to help us revive our democracy.

These questions are not just about WMD because many groups have rallied behind the film. We need a MoveOn that is about educating its members and making media matter as more than a simple complaint.

Speaking of which, this just out on Alternet:

THE GOP MEDIA MACHINE CHURNS ON

Robert Parry, Consortium News
Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher are not breaking new ground in accepting money for favorable coverage. The ethical line separating conservative “journalism” from government propaganda has long since been wiped away.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/21149/

As for the limits of elections, let’s go back to Iraq. President Bush is certain to blow his trumpet about their success in tonight’s State of the Union address.