“…as
long as the mainstream news media fails to cover the influence of
powerful interests, there will be a need in society for citizens to
participate in its events…”

Attending a Senator Chuck Grassley town hall meeting is a gift for people interested in what is going on in Iowa. Grassley refers to his town hall meetings as “representative government.” There are two sides, the people and the elected official representing the government. He said, “We gotta have these sessions for representative government to work.” After attending his Williamsburg, Iowa town hall on January 12, I can report that the 125 people in attendance (by the Senator’s count) are getting a lot of their information from the mainstream media. Rather than informing the citizenry, the mainstream media is distracting people from what is more important to them. That’s what is going on in Iowa.

The issues raised by citizens in attendance are many of the same ones that get attention from MSNBC, FOX, CNN, and the broadcast networks: immigration, ACORN, Al Gore, polling data, cap & trade, health care, banker bonuses and the tea bag movement within the Republican Party. If we had more than the hour allotted we would have covered them all. The question is, do these issues come from the people, or are they reflections of distorted information fanned by the bluster of the mainstream media?

When public opinion is formed by a media that serves to make a profit rather than inform the citizenry, these are the results. One citizen expressed outrage about the national discussion over climate change and called for a bill to investigate Al Gore. Another citizen said “Democrats are intent on destroying our medical care. Can’t we persuade someone to change their vote?” Another suggested that Republicans should delay everything in the Senate by demanding that every bill be read aloud.

We respect the right of people to make these statements and the town hall meeting enabled them to express their emotions. It’s all good from an emotional release standpoint. The speakers all seemed to be decent people. The challenge of a society with a for-profit news and entertainment media is that it is difficult to hear real issues amidst all the noise. It is also difficult to know what represents truth and what represents exaggeration or falsehood.

Some truth came out of this town hall. A dairy farmer recently “retired” because the government’s dairy policy was bankrupting him. He said, “When the government helps dairy farmers, things get worse.” He indicated that changes in milk prices related to Washington dairy policy led to his losing $9,000 per month and going out of business. The exchange between Grassley and the citizen was a slice of reality right in front of us.

Grassley asked the former dairy farmer why dairy producers like him send their lobbyists to Washington with policies that are bad for dairy farmers. “We were doing what the dairy association wanted,” said Grassley. This is an example of the disconnect between citizenry and government. It also exemplified an issue largely absent from the national discussion in the mainstream media, the dairy lobby. Maybe the Senator took a note to discuss the situation with the dairy association, but the whole notion of “representative government” Grassley-style seems fatally flawed.

At some level, Grassley’s office appears to exist to serve the needs of trade associations rather than citizens, as this example suggests. The presumption is that these powerful interests represent what individuals want. By failing to cover the story of the influence of powerful interests like the dairy associations, the mainstream media is failing the citizenry.

Perhaps this is because there are not enough news gathering people in the media. Perhaps it is because reporters have to rely on corporate public relations staff to get their stories. Perhaps it is because citizens have been conditioned to consume news broadcasts the same way we consume the sugary drinks, salted snacks and medicine they advertise. I don’t know the reason, but as long as the mainstream news media fails to cover the influence of powerful interests, there will be a need in society for citizens to participate in its events and report back to their family and friends with hope that someday, someone in this country will stand up to the powerful interests.

~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County.  Check
out his blog, Big Grove Garden.
   E-mail Paul Deaton