Media Matter

American Liberalism #2



GoLeft TV sounds very radical but seems to fit comfortably into the American liberal tradition. This online service has regular news reports and a range of videos channels such as documentaries, the labour movement, consumerism and the environment. Like the Huffington Post, it is worth a visit to see what our American friends think about their President and issues which often get superficial coverage, at best, in our mass media.

In fact some of the videos explore what has happened to the ownership of the mass media, which has been concentrated in fewer and fewer grubby hands. If anything is globalised it is the control of the media empires. We live in a media hegemony which was unthinkable forty years ago. During the early '70s the Australia Party and to some extent the ALP fought against unfettered foreign ownership of Australia's economy and the concentration of media ownership. Both those battles were lost in the '80s. There is little debate now about the former because of the victory of the latter.

Hence the need for alternative media sources and networks which use them effectively. A form of internationalisation that the web does so well and also so badly at times.

More at: Labor View from Broome