Live From (the New) Main Street

Election year coverage that centers on citizens rather than candidates enjoyed a visible boost Sunday as “Live From Main Street Minneapolis” inaugurated a five-show series of town hall events around the country.

Hosts national radio journalist Laura Flanders and Al McFarlane of Insight News and KFAI radio in Minneapolis led conversations with national and regional journalists and activists on media performance and opportunities. The town hall was televised and streamed Sunday night and was to air on radio later in the week.

While there was ample criticism of traditional mainstream news outlets, it was clear that that the long-dominant conventions for telling America’s stories have vibrant competition.

Among the diverse experts gathered for the taping at the venerable Woman’s Club of Minneapolis, commonalities emerged. One was that authentic reporting rises out of what people are doing and care about in their communities. Another theme was that cooperation among independent journalism outlets amplifies the capacity to gather and deliver stories that matter.

Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now” said getting as close to the story as possible lets the listener learn what’s really going on. “We have to bring out the voices of the grass-roots,” she said.

Amalia Anderson focused on bringing out the voices of rural America through media. She directs the Main Street Project (not a part of “Live From Main Street”). For advocates for rural community-building, she said, “it is not about who, what, where, when, why and how…It is about community members knowing they have a story to tell.”

Malkia Cyril, director of the Center for Media Justice, expanded on the need for the storytellers to get past outdated notions. “Main Street is a different street than it was 50 years ago,” she said. She cited coverage of the sub-prime mortgage crisis as a failure to see and tell the depth of a major economic story.

Because the 2008 Republican National Convention is to be held in St. Paul, which adjoins Minneapolis, the “Live From Main Street” town hall devoted a segment to reporting on dissenters and on official attempts to diminish civil rights. To veterans of the 1960s’ wars in American’s streets, as I am, this segment belabored the obvious. Heads get knocked and police round up journalists of all stripes just as routinely as they round up protest participants. Still, in a 2008 context, the point about ensuring the whole world can watch was well made.

Coleen Rowley, who will host a war protest on a Mississippi River island visible from the Republican convention arena, told the town hall meeting that the “antidote for fear of reprisals is to take one step and do something.” The former FBI agent, whose warnings of a possible terrorist suspect before the September 11 attacks were suppressed, said she and supporters are encouraging people to come to St. Paul during the convention and exercise their rights. Rowley and company will gather on Harriet Island, named for Harriet Bishop, St. Paul’s first schoolteacher and a pioneering feminist.

Goodman, who participated in a review of lessons learned from covering protests at the 2004 Republican convention in New York, emphasized that she finds the official tendency to silence dissent is neither Republican nor Democratic behavior. She also called on journalists to do their jobs and report what is happening. “We have to break the sound barrier,” she said.

One route for adding sound and images to the established narratives of politics is by going beyond journalism.

Marlina Gonzales is organizing around freedom of expression through art in a program called the UnConvention. The program of Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis is innovating across media. “What we are doing is turning the camera around,” she said of media attention on Republican Convention. UnConvention is doing things that encourage people “to activate democracy in their own neighborhoods,” she said. One example: Political yard signs are popular in Minnesota. UnConvention is holding a lawn sign contest to express opinions about public issues important in the fall election.

Some of the town hall’s most pointed observations arose in response to questions from the friendly audience of more than 400.

Cyril, who is African American, took on the question about media treatment of gender and race in this Democratic presidential primary where the top contenders were Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “It’s not a new strategy to pit gender issues against race issues to draw attention away” from substance in a political contest, she said. “The way the media treated Hillary was atrocious,” Cyril said. But, she said, neither Clinton nor Obama pointed out the way the other had been mistreated because of race or gender.

When introducing the town hall, Flanders offered a vision of an inclusive national reflection in this exceptionally important year of political decision-making. This premier in the series made a good contribution to the cause.

Except for a polemical presentation by John Nichols of The Nation, who distorted the view of the late Senator Paul Wellstone about the press, all the conversation offered constructive examples and well-considered analyses of how to expand the democratic process through responsible media.

The “Live From Main Street” series will continue July12 in Miami, then proceed to Denver during the Democratic National Convention, Columbus, Ohio, in September and conclude in Seattle in October.