scribbling on the bathroom wall

Last night the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights screened the mediocre Rich Media Poor Democracy as part of their Spring film festival. The usual talking heads complaining about the state of journalism: corporate owned, suffering due to massive consolidation, skewed toward the interests of big business, etc, etc.

I don't disagree with this assessment of mainstream news media, but I grow frustrated at the failure (futility?) of the 'critical documentary' genre: get Mark Crispin Miller or Noam Chomsky or Robert McChesney to sit in his office, surrounded by learned books, dressed in tweed, to summarize his latest book in front of the camera. Juxtapose with clips of Respected Journalists From The Past (Murrough works best, but Cronkite will do in a pinch). Add a clip of superficial media coverage of the WTO or Iraq war or UN Sanction protests. Add a clip of Tom Brokaw and his ilk fawning over an army general or CEO. Add a clip of celebrity "news" coverage. Stretch to either 50 or 75 minutes (coincidence that the length of these docs is usually the length of a college class?).

Sorry to sound harsh. Again, I'm on board...but I'm also bored. This genre is as pre-fab as the public relations genres that Miller, McChesney, et al often critique. Look at this "news article" that really just takes sound bites from press releases. How lazy. What a breakdown of objectivity. Presented as if it's legitimate information. More importantly, I'm struck by the genre's ineffectuality.

Anyway, Jack Lessenberry moderated the film and subsequent discussion. Lessenberry professes journalism at Wayne State and writes a weekly column in Detroit's alt weekly. Interesting writer. I've used his columns to teach irony and sarcasm. Lessenberry offered a useful (but again, not terribly original) formulation of the issue of media monopoly, suggesting that "deregulation" is a misnomer for something akin to regulation that benefits corporations instead of public interest. He's an engaging and funny speaker, too, and when one audience member suggested she had given up on countering the sad state of the media, Lessenberry asked why, if that's the case, she wasn't at home watching coverage of Lindsay Lohan.

But Lessenberry seemed completely disinterested in talking about podcasts, blogs, and even independent media. Why? He bemoaned the lack of solutions for the problems of media consolidation, but shut down discussions of new forms of media, giving the usual critique that online venues lack rigor. What about blogs?, an audience member asked. Nothing more than scribbles on a bathroom wall, Lessenberry replied. Now, Lessenberry was clearly reveling in his curmudgeonly persona, but still, I was struck by the lack of imagination, the lack of optimism, and the adherence to a nostalgic vision of media. Mostly I was just bummed.