Thread by @thrasherxy

1/x Short thread on why all journalists ought to read @BernieSanders' (very good) @CJR essay: "we do not have enough real journalism in America right now is because many outlets are being gutted by the same forces of greed that are pillaging our economy. " cjr.org/opinion/bernie…

@BernieSanders @CJR 2/x For awhile, I've been saying journalists need to reckon with the fact that ***IF*** we want to practice journalism professionally and full time w the resources needed, we must create the economic conditions for journalism to exist in U.S. society

@BernieSanders @CJR 3/x This means giving up the idea of "objectivity" (itself a lie) & instead embracing that journalists have a LONG history of subjectively embracing trying to create/bolster a society which they think will allow journalism to flourish.

I.E...

@BernieSanders @CJR 4/x ...major journalists and news outlets have long supported the U.S. military (abroad & at home), police departments, business & industry under the naive belief that a (so-called) "free market" & American Democracy™️ were needed for a "free press" to exist.

However...

@BernieSanders @CJR 5/x...this is misguided on two fronts.

1. Many journos who support the US military/police STILL cling to a fiction of objectivity. (What they really support is the status quo of a certain race/class/nationality)

2. The voracious "free market" depends on an ever weaker press

@BernieSanders @CJR 6/x How can anyone argue a "free market" allows for a free press?

San Francisco is one of the densest concentrations of wealth the world has ever seen.

It's mainstream press? GUTTED.

It's alt-weekly press? GUTTED.

slate.com/culture/2015/0…

@BernieSanders @CJR 7/x Press in NYC, a global center of finance, is still going but is constantly under assault.

There is no lack of capital sloshing around.

There is a lack of will for it to be shared in projects which benefit the many, such as journalism—and @BernieSanders outlines this well.

@BernieSanders @CJR 8/x Journalists cannot rely upon the benevolence of oligarchs to keep the presses churning & the servers streaming; as I wrote a couple weeks ago, @nbj914 was doing wonders w @PacificStand. Patrons can—and do—pull out anytime.

https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1159191570635272192

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 9/x The Intercept, funded by a billionaire, had cut backs...at a moment when a pub based in the US and Brazil could not be in need of more, not less, robust coverage.

Journalism as a profession needs to push for the economic conditions to exist...

cjr.org/business_of_ne…

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 10/x And why should the profession be afraid of embracing a political/econ agenda for it to exist? Many other (more nefarious) professions have no compunction about trying to create an environment in which they can survive.

Journalists already form unions, have trade groups...

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 11/x Journalism would do well—like coal, oil & corn—to demand all POTUS candidates give a detailed plan like @BernieSanders' of how the profession will do under their administration...which would require a society w decent wages, affordable housing & breathable air FOR journos

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 12/x As 2020 nears, if journos don't try to create a society in which they themselves (& the profession) can exist, then they themselves (& the profession) will be relegated to more consolidation, less autonomy & less freedom—as @BernieSanders outlines cjr.org/opinion/bernie…

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 13/x Too many journalism fix schemes involve, "Let's see if we can hack/disrupt within the current, ever more dystopian, militaristic, economic horror show."

But what if such crumbs aren't enough & journalism needs...

needs...

an economically fair society in order to exist?

@BernieSanders @CJR @nbj914 @PacificStand 14/x Talked about these ideas some more in this interview with @CourthouseNews

https://twitter.com/thrasherxy/status/1166469214435237888?s=20