By Robert Parry
June 21, 2005
For those who see U.S. news as tilted to the Right, the good news is that wealthy Left funders are beginning to earmark more money for media. The bad news is that little of the money is going into the kind of media infrastructure that could restore a balance.
So, from my 27 years in Washington journalism and 10 years as editor of this independent Web site, here are some suggestions about how to best spend the precious sums for media, whether from small or large donors. (We, by the way, are entirely funded by donations from our readers.)
1. Outlets and content are the keys.
The ultimate answer to today’s media imbalance is for progressives to build strong outlets for getting information to the American people and to develop powerful content for those outlets.
Conservatives have followed this formula for the past three decades, though often their content is more propaganda than information. Nevertheless, this combination of content and outlets has enabled them to reach the public with their message and put enormous pressure on the mainstream media.
Back in the 1970s, the situation was quite different. Then, the Left had a clear advantage in media, especially from the so-called “underground press