The Real Political Issues are the Issues the Corporate and Public Media Seldom Cover
Broadcasting Reform - with Darrell Udelhoven
Publisher of the Series - The Real Political Issues & People Empowerment

Both, commercial and public radio and television broadcasting tend to sidestep or provide a one-sided view of the most critical public interest issues. In my experience you will not hear "with any on-going consistency," comprehensive in-depth reality based reporting anywhere in broadcasting on the vitally important issues that most impact our citizenry. Also, where is the convergence of broadcasting with the Internet? It is time for Public Broadcasting to become a genuine watchdog advocate for the peoples' public affairs interests'.

The broadcasting industry should be treated in similar access manner to the transportation system, the lakes and rivers, to the public parks and buildings that are owned for the purposes of the public interest. There should also be constitutionally based, substantive equity of access provided, to all of the major politico economic citizenry class interests. If we treated our public parks, rivers, and lakes, the way we treat the public owned broadcast frequencies, we would license them to private interest's and allow them to determine who would have access and on what basis. The private entity would determine whether you have any access at all, as is the situation with the  Public owned airwaves. That is why we must have broadcasting reform.

My critique is about developing telephone call-in program formats with a moderator that controls the guest's time, and keeps the guest on point, disallowing what amounts to long protracted filibustering responses. This is compared to a minute or less of the callers’ arguments, which are seldom allowed a single response. As you listen to the program progress, you will notice that the professors’ arguments are not at all understandable or convincing, and are largely rhetorical alibis for the widespread failures of corporate free trade, outsourcing of jobs and investment advantages. These policies and laws were made primarily by Transnational Corporations, solely for their own advantage, through the various trade organizations like the WTO, GATT and NAFTA.

Connie Walker in for Joy Cardin - 01/05/04 - The Ideas Network of Wisconsin Public Radio
From the stock market, to interest rates and unemployment....will the year ahead (2004) be better economically than the one we left behind. That's the topic of discussion, after eight, with Connie Walker and her guest economist. Guest: Bill Duddleston, professor of economics at Edgewood College in Madison 
An excellent Ideas Network radio talk program concerning economic conditions. My Global Economic Issue Views Split Screen
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The central arguments against the existing globalization policies and practices go to the heart of how we can build real wealth within each country and, --that has nothing to do with isolationism or protectionism. Fair trade practices, off shoring, and outsourcing can be regulated so that the developed countries do not lose the breath of their countries per capita earnings and purchasing power – that is the "Demand Side" of every country’s economy.

When corporations off-shore good paying manufacturing jobs and outsource good paying service industry jobs, the demand for higher level services and products can no longer be purchased. Additionally, the much lower incomes of those receiving such jobs would not purchase squat; this ultimately destroys the demand breath for many businesses. When businesses fail and incomes numerically and per capita drop therefore the tax base decreases and social; costs, at the same time, skyrocket.

What would have happened to America during the buildup for World War 2 if we had outsourced all of the huge military productions and outsourced every conceivable job? Would we have had an even distribution of wealth to offset the concentration of wealth that bought on the Great Depression of the 1930’s? (NO)  Such practices do not build wealth within countries but do concentrate wealth to the powerful corporations.

America's trade deficits have risen over a trillion dollars over a very few years....
What are these dirt cheap employees going to buy from America? How wealthy are they going to become, ha?
Net incomes and income tax revenues fall. Oh, there is a ton more salient argument for fair regulated globalism!

 More of my critiquing of call-in talk programs, soon....  It is time for you to think about what would improve these programs.
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Ervin Duggan, president and CEO of Public Broadcast System (PBS), was on C-Span2 talking about the future of public broadcasting. He laid out a very intelligent, foresighted, and visionary plan for PBS, that I am in full agreement with. He is for multiplexing the new High Definition Technology to provide a lot more channels to meet the circular civic affairs communication needs of America's citizenry. He is for a plan for more and better usage of Local Cable Access Channels.
I am also for Satellite Services to provide regional Access Channels. Mr. Duggan wants to cooperate with the idea of the cooperative convergence of the big three: Radio, Television, and the Internet. I am 100% for all of these initiatives, and more. Thank you, Mr. Duggan, for your genius of vision!

I know of few resources that are as vitally important to all politico economic interest sectors as is the right of some sense of equity access to mass communicate to the Republic and to the World Citizenry. Under existing discriminatory policies, corporations dominate mainstream broadcasting. With the large channel capacities of cable and satellite systems, the audience target is ever smaller and much more definitive. Therefore, there is now no excuse for these systems not to meet the basic information and mass communication programming access needs of these vitally important mutual public interest classes.

As a matter of fact the largest audience interest group worldwide is the mutual politico economic interest of  employees, family farmers, and all small business operators of all countries. For example, global economic policy should revolve around the mutual national interest of these domestic homeland business operators; that include family farmers; and all of the employee economic units within each country.

Meeting the basic mass communication needs of all the majority politico economic public interest class sectors, should be the first priority of both public and commercial operated broadcasting stations, networks, and satellite systems. The heart and soul of self governance is incorporated in the ability to mass communicate with the electorate and effectively participate in political interest networking. There is no other democracy facilitating resource that equals or parallels that of our "public owned" commercial and public broadcast frequencies. The Federal Communications Commission is regulating broadcasting in the narrow economic and political interest of Big Business; this is government regulatory discrimination at its worst!

The new digital frequency technologies will soon make it possible to accommodate the merged interactive broadcasting and Internet-PC  content production, along with sovereign airtime access for mutual public interest governing needs of homeland business operators, family farmers, and all employees.

Right wing left wing, liberal and conservative balance is pure nonsense and wastes valuable airtime. The most important governing issues are incorporated in the national and global economic policy making arenas. These policy making issue arenas determine whether employees and small business operators will be able to earn a decent livelihood. Therefore, the mutual interdependent economic policy needs of small business operators, employees, and family farmers, requires substantive equity access to mainstream broadcasting. We should all be provided an opportunity to participate in the economic policy making process that determines whether we will have an opportunity to earn a livelihood. No means to earn a livelihood, means premature death.

The other major shortcoming of "The Ideas Network," is that they tape and rerun their weekday morning programs in the evening from 6 PM on. The weekends are also loaded with taped reruns. My point is that large new audiences could be developed with new program productions through the allowing of sovereign broadcast productions by that vast citizenry that has no other access to mass broadcast, as does the corporate moneyed interest.

Specific majority classes of our citizenry have no effective access to broadcasting's proficient networking capabilities that would be helpful in facilitating a more effective self-governance. Telephone callers to The Ideas Network were nameless except by geographic location until today, 1-28-98. Thank you, Wisconsin Public Radio for doing away with this former practice. It is critically essential for the majority citizenry classifications of employees, and all small business operators which includes family farmers to be enabled to "Network" toward building much needed politico economic interest coalitions.

It is easy for corporations to network, but impossible for citizens to effectively network without sovereign access to the mass communications of broadcasting. The Internet is not a mass broadcasting medium in the way that radio and television is. Eventually when these technology resources merge their production and delivery systems to meet the mass communications needs of ordinary citizens we will have effective self governing networking capabilities toward effective public policy making. These policies will be in the interest of the homeland economies of each country, and not in the selfish exploitive interests' of the global corporate sharks.
Consider the whole new large loyal audiences at pledge time! Oh I know, it takes courage to do what is right; but the rewards are multi-faceted and extremely important to the process of effective self-governance and to the well being of our world's citizenry. I published this example because, it is a vital communications policy issue to all who will be on the Internet.
  Broadcasting Internet - Convergence

What is the present level of what I call, "high utility value information content programming, "in Iowa and Wisconsin and, where are the viable options we could use to increase the utility value levels of our broadcasting endeavors?

Iowa's Public Radio Network runs National Public Radio feeds until 8:30 AM on weekdays, and then plays music. Music contributes nothing to meet, "the monumental immediate mass communication needs of this potential audience at large," that is served by their network of stations. These Public Radio resources have the potential to fill, at least some, of the general publics mass communication needs. Cost is not a factor: they could and should be allowing broadcast intern students along with other competent citizens to volunteer gratis to program important interactive telephone talk content.

Music is accessible everywhere you can buy it and replay it in your car or home over and over again at your convenience, but the kind of reality based informational and networking mass communications I'm talking about isn't conveniently available.

Consider the whole new large loyal audience at pledge time! The broadcast standard was always: "public interest, convenience, and necessity." We must have adequate quantities of programming content that meets all three of the standards! Public broadcast networks don't meet these needs; they are little different from commercial news reporting.

In Conclusion

My conclusion is obvious, public broadcasting could, should, and must, bring American citizens comprehensive politico economic civic, and public policy making public affairs information on those critical issues that commercial radio and television omit or decline to air. Public broadcasting could empower these powerless politico economic class interest sectors of the electorate, and help return self government to America.

The Hierarchy Establishment broadcasters, be they Public or Private entities, want the new Information Super Highway to be their Highway, and not the common citizenry's highway to each other and the world. This is the new way for common folks to hear their own Non Establishment spokesperson sources; which is what Public Radio and TV should be about!

I was a BR major and have studied these one sided relationships all of my life. This is not a novice communicating with you. Get on radio and/or television and talk about these critical matters in respect to your economic and political interests'!

Communication for Empowerment: Developing Media Strategies in Support of Vulnerable Groups
Found this article 05/07/08 - Darrell