Sponsors of the “Peace, Justice & Media Conference” on campus a week ago are not victims of a cheap shot in the Emerald’s Oct. 13 editorial (“Conference mocks goals, loses purpose in hypocrisy”). Rather, what was at work was a misunderstanding by editors of what constituted the event’s stated goal — “Empowering the Movement for Fair, Accurate and Diverse Media.”
The editorial did not complain about presentations failing to be “fair and accurate.” Instead, its concern was absence of diverse points of view to counter what it saw, correctly, as the liberal orientation of the conference. That is what it was supposed to be — a chance to expose liberal perspectives too seldom heard in a media environment held hostage.
I moderated two Saturday morning broadcasting panels whose participants freely identified themselves as progressive with liberal views. They did not pursue any vendetta against the reality of a national right-wing monopoly of talk radio, even though two major Eugene stations, KPNW and KUGN, have a preponderance of right-wing attack shows on their AM bands daily.
The focus in these panels, as throughout the conference, was on the need for balance in commercial broadcasting and how to achieve it. This is a perspective rarely heard in the mass media, especially in commercial broadcasting whose owners and managers are part of a corporate structure that obstructs balance in electronic news coverage. To have heard that power structure describe the conference as “leftist — if not counterculture” would be consistent with its unbalanced reality. For the Emerald to use those inaccurate terms is a surprise.
I take responsibility for and regret any inconvenience caused to commentator Lars Larson, which appears to be what energized the editorial.
I tried to make first contact with participants by e-mail, then tried to follow up by telephone. My phone contact with Larson was late. He could not attend and resented a published notice that he was among invitees.
I’ve had personal experience with Larson as an invited guest on his radio show. Angered by something I asked, he hung up on me. Bad manners, but no big deal. Then he told his audience: I’m going to give you Beres’ phone number, and you can tie up his phone the rest of the day to teach him a lesson. Ugly manners. Also bad business.
Contrary to the editorial’s assumption, having KUGN’s Don Carlin on the panel was no attempt at “political diversity.” He is a balanced broadcast personality.
Were the conference a political rally, or a debate, two sides addressing every question would have been essential. It was neither, but still invaluable for democracy. Considering how rarely the liberal view is heard in broadcast media held captive to conservatism, the event was just one small, evenhanded effort to start to balance the scales.