Screened Out: How the Media Control Us and What We Can Do About It

232 Pages·2000·10.623 MB·English

by  Carla B. Johnston

SCREENED
OUT
MEDIA, COMMUNICATION, AND CULTURE IN AMERICA
Michael C. Keith and Donald Fishman, Series Editors
SCREENED OUT
How the Media Control Us and What We Can Do About It
Carla Brooks Johnston
WAVES OF RANCOR
Tuning in the Radical Right
Robert L. Hilliard and Michael C. Keith
SCREENED
OUT
How the Media Control Us
and What We Can Do About It
CARLA BROOKS JOHNSTON
| J Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2000 by M.E. Sharpe
Published 2015 by Routledge
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Copyright © 2000 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnston, Carla B.
Screened out: how the media control us and what we can do about it / Carla Brooks
Johnston.
p. cm. — (Media, communication, and culture in America)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7656-0488-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Mass media—Influence. 2. Mass media and propaganda. 3. Mass media—
Ownership.
4. Media literacy. 5. Mass media—United States. I. Title. II. Series.
P94.J638 2000
302.23—dc21 99-056893
ISBN 13: 9780765604880 (hbk)
Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
1 Stealing Our Futures 3
2 Killing Our Culture 3 8
3 Scaring Us to Death 79
4 Why Is This Happening? Who Is the Gatekeeper? 115
5 What Can Be Done? 159
Notes 193
Index 205
About the Author 217
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Foreword
The growing influence of mass communication as society’s chief source of
information has become a commonplace topic on the public agenda. The
media’s influence frequently is characterized as being two dimensional: ubiq­
uitous and omnipresent, but difficult to discern and virtually impossible to
oppose with alternate frames of thinking. Carla Brooks Johnston’s approach
to this problem of the media’s influence is unique in three ways.
First, Johnston paints a vivid picture not only of what the media does to
influence and entertain the public, but also what issues the media ignores or
fails to pursue. Among the overlooked items are issues of economic diver­
sity, a realistic portrayal of cultural diversity, meaningful discussions of
healthcare, educational opportunity, the environment, and an intelligent analy­
sis of economic questions. Instead, Johnston argues that the media more of­
ten than not presents discussions that pander to stereotypes and preexisting
prejudices rather than probe emerging transformations in society. As a re­
sult, by ignoring meaningful discussions about children, the elderly, gender,
racial and ethnic discriminatory practices, the media fail to grapple with
changes of major importance as society evolves. Johnston intelligently asks
whether it is in the industry’s self-interest to “screen out” two-thirds of the
population.
The second virtue of this book is that it provides an underlying and com­
pelling explanation to account for the varied missteps of the media. Johnston
analyzes many of the difficulties related to the “media influence thesis” in
terms of Kurt Lewin’s concept of gatekeeping, contending that the strategic
role of the gatekeeper function is heavily influenced by ratings, advertisers,
and self-interest by the ownership of media organizations. Collectively, these
factors serve to undermine, or diminish, the “public interest” standard that
the media should be pursuing.
Third, Johnston encourages action steps to change the current media mal­
aise. Among her recommendations are steps to increase the public’s lobby­
ing of the FCC and Congress, expanded approaches to media literacy, and
increasing the public’s awareness of the rights and regulations that were de­
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viii Foreword
signed so that the “public interest” standard could play a more powerful and
encompassing role in guiding media decisions.
Screened Out: How the Media Control Us and What We Can Do About It
is a book that challenges common assumptions, synthesizes a wide range of
information, and provides alternatives to current frames of thinking.
Johnston’s book will inform, persuade, entertain, and even cajole the reader.
In addition, this is a work that yields more that its fair quota of insights and
observations about the influence of mass communication as the new century
begins.
Donald Fishman
Boston College
Acknowledgments
Once people believed they shaped the world, that they—rather we—could
change it. I am a product of this gestalt of the 1960s and 1970s. I know we
changed the world in those years. We ended government sanctioned segre­
gation. We ended the Vietnam war, and much more.
Screened Out is based on my belief that we need not follow the lemmings
off the edge of a cliff driven by the self-interests of transnational media mo­
guls and their handmaidens who care only about what we buy and what
profits they make. Screened Out draws on the insights of many people who
share my view that what we each do matters to the quality of life and the
progress of civilization. The book spotlights the dangers and the opportuni­
ties before us at this millennial crossroad as we begin to emerge from the
valley of self-indulgence and cynicism through which we have traveled in
the 1980s and 1990s.
It draws on forthright commentary about the effect of our mass communi­
cations on the state of our nation from experienced and astute observers such
as Jane Alexander, Ed Asner, Michael Dukakis, and John Randolph, all of
whom continue to move society toward progressive change.
The trailblazers of recent decades, whose work validates the belief that
societal change is possible, provide both inspiration and examples for this
book. For example, Robert Hilliard pushed public broadcasting and govern­
ment media toward increasing acceptance of the concept that all members of
our society are entitled to access and the opportunity for free speech—even
if they happen to be women or black or poor; and, Nicholas Johnson as
Federal Communications Commissioner, unceasingly steered the Commis­
sion toward proconsumer policies for American media—a position that con­
stantly disturbed the cozy symbiotic relationships among those in industry
and government who placed profits before people.
Screened Out is shaped by friends and colleagues. Nat Segaloff, Susan
Shaer, George Hover, Hubert Jessup, Paul Walker, Art d’Lugoff, Mark Potok,
Bernard Mann, and Ramona Hernandez provided clear thinking, important
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