Yes, "Democracy Now" Should be on WOUB!

I am delighted to hear that a group called "Athens Free Press" has been urging WOUB to air the truly independent alternative news program "Democracy Now."

Several years ago, I got fed up with the poor quality and highly filtered nature of the news available in the mainstream US media. As a political scientist specializing in things international, I was painfully aware that the news we get through the corporate media tends to ignore many important stories and facts which might prove inconvenient to corporate owners and their friends. Instead we get what I would call "tabloid news" featuring the current antics of Britney Spear or O. J. Simpson, the search for the latest missing pregnant housewife, etc. International coverage is
sparse and sanitized.

Nor is the admittedly less sensationalist news on public TV significantly more substantial or truly investigative. After all, the budgets for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting must go before Congress and the Republicans are constantly screaming about the mythological "liberal bias" of media. Though he's now returned, the outspoken journalist Bill Moyers was forced off of public television until the Republicans lost their control of Congress in 2006 elections. In addition, our supposedly "commercial free" public media are no longer, in fact, commercial-free. And many of the corporate sponsors of news programs such as the News Hour and Washington Week are big companies that have a vested interest in the way a hugely profitable war, globalization, and global warming are covered. All that tends to delay and inhibit open discussion of important issues on public TV.

Accordingly, the Walkers gave up and switched from cable to dish. As a result, we could watch news programs from Germany, Great Britain and even the Middle East. To our delight, we also discovered two truly independent media outlets, Free Speech TV and Link TV. Funded entirely by donations from private individuals, these rapidly growing stations are completely free from the commercial and political restraints that are put on main stream TV. Their main hour-long news program, "Democracy Now," features really good, hard-hitting investigative journalism and discussion. Many public TV stations around the country are now carrying it. As a donor to both WOUB and the other two stations, I hope WOUB will also soon pick up "Democracy Now."

Tom Walker
Political Science Department
Ohio University