Taking On the Radio Goliaths

Campaign for America’s Future urges readers to “reclaim the power of broadcasting from the politicians, corporations and mainstream media” by forwarding articles from the site. Great idea. Let’s take it a step further.

Liberals and progressives are tired of politics as usual? Here’s a proposal that is anything but.

Over the last decades, conservatives constructed an extensive, well-funded network of think tanks, media outlets and talking heads that trained generations to think and vote like conservatives. Liberals and progressives have had little besides complaints with which to challenge it.

Democracy Now, Air America and blogs like this one do an excellent job of pushing back. They spend most of their time, however, debunking conservative messaging. Essentially, playing defense. It’s almost reflex. Having played defense for so many years, many of us think offense is just playing defense harder.

That has to change.

Because while hitting back may feel good and energize the progressive base, it does little to expand it. Liberals and progressives excel at telling voters what’s wrong with the other guys. But it’s only half a strategy. The missing ingredient is, telling voters what is right with us.

A new “chorus” of action:

• Promote a progressive world view in addition to debunking theirs. Stop trying to win a rigged game – heads, they win; tails, we lose – and start playing our own game. Yes, the Right Wing Noise Machine has had the ample backing of the Scaifes, the Bradleys, the Kochs, Coors and Murdochs for decades. But instead of complaining about what resources progressives don’t have, they should focus more on creatively using those that they do.
• Become the media. Harness the power of the grassroots to build a nationwide media counter-offensive that promotes progressive narratives. Begin with 30-second AM radio spots, for example, in small, inexpensive media markets. Not just on progressive talk radio, but on the Limbaugh stations too. That’s the point. Why just preach to the choir?
• Build an upbeat, progressive identity through creative, entertaining messages that speak to voters’ hopes and dreams, to their "better angels." Avoid wonky messages about programs and policies. They presume public identification with their underlying ideas and assumptions – agreement we should cultivate, not assume. Voters vote their identities anyway.

A hearts and minds campaign. Hearts first.

As I wrote elsewhere [1],

We begin not by attacking conservative memes voters may already believe. Instead, embrace them – a kind of political aikido – then expand upon them. Identify points of universal agreement. Use common ground as the foundation for promoting a more progressive worldview. A view they share with us, and maybe didn’t know it.

That’s leadership. Meet people where they are, and lead them to where we are.

Campaign veterans know that in smaller markets, radio is an efficient and inexpensive way of getting out a message. In some markets, 30-second spots can cost as little as a movie ticket. Digital technology allows anyone to produce radio spots without needing expensive recording facilities. Many computers come preloaded with audio editing software. Or there is Audacity [2]. It is free, open-source editing software.

Few grassroots groups can afford blocks of radio airtime in large media markets. But in that swath of our country’s middle recently rediscovered by Howard Dean, it is still possible for those with limited resources to compete with media conglomerates’ talking heads. The way forward is not to think big, but small – grassroots. Unlike “the other guys,” we don’t need billionaires to do this for us. We do it ourselves.

If you’re not Goliath, fine. Be David.

A loose network of citizen activists (and/or 527 committees), operating locally, can in time erode the message dominance of conservative talk radio. We will plant seeds we may not harvest in a single election cycle. That’s okay. It’s not a quick fix – it took conservative think tanks decades to build their infrastructure – but it won’t happen unless we have the patience and discipline to begin. Start in the provinces where costs are low. Build support there and work towards the capitol. It is a classic strategy for taking on a more-powerful, more-centralized adversary.

Will local media outlets work with you? Not all. But in the end, here is the kind of pressure the corporate media responds to: cash, credit and travelers checks.

This is not theory. You don't have to be Rupert Murdoch or Roger Ailes to do this. Our group is on the air [3] now in western North Carolina. It may not be much yet, but it’s a start. Rather than remain mute, or complain about what resources we don't have, we choose to reclaim our country with the means at our disposal.

As the bard said, “A little less conversation, a little more action.”