Let's Occupy News Media

Newspapers seem to convey totality – journalists say they consider all sides of a story and the New York Times motto is “All the News That’s Fit to Print” – that implies there is nothing else. Read through some climate change articles and it's clear that's far from the truth.

To be fair, journalists do struggle in a corporate system that may not let them print exactly what they want. They have also been trained to write what will sell instead of what's rational or just. 

According to Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert, the human brain responds to threats that are intentional, immoral, imminent and instantaneous. We haven't responded to climate change because it's very difficult (yet very rational) to argue that pumping CO2 into the atmosphere is immoral. (Click the link, watch the video; you will be better for it.)

To be clear, the media sells us exactly what will appeal to our human innateness. Journalists know they are selling their words to an individualist society. That individualism is defined by the refusal to make the moral connections between one's self and those around the world, as well as the animal desire to consume the world into oblivion. The individualism in news articles reinforces the individualism of society and the cycle continues. Science is delayed, the public remains skeptical, and the policy solutions don’t materialize.

But what's important about these psychological findings is that they can be overcome, if we choose to use our rationality.

First, we need to quicken the pace of the social tipping points that do make headlines: join a protest and use your skills to help the movement in a socially and globally conscious manner. Climate policies won’t be easy choices, so do some soul searching while you’re at it. Is money more important than global health? than the health of the future?

Second, we need to directly confront the newspaper industry. Give the bad journalists flak – angry letters, phone calls and blog posts – if they don’t get your story straight by committing these offenses:

1. Focusing on individuals instead of collective actions
2. Focusing on authority figures instead of experts or collective actions
3. Focusing on consumer solutions instead of structural solutions
4. Neglecting social institutions like industry and government
5. Neglecting human causes and consequences of climate change
6. Neglecting global inequalities of those causes and consequences

In other words, let's Occupy News Media. Accept the fact that corporate news media is corporate news media. Don’t forget their financial ties to mental and ecological pollution. If you can, educate yourself on methods of media analysis.

Lastly, consider consuming alternative media. Hopefully, the way we interact with media will be radically different in a few decades so start experimenting with consumer alternatives while the jury is still out on a champion replacement.

In your fight against a global, structural problem, don’t forget that true inner peace does not come from a compact fluorescent light bulb. You can find peace and empowerment by acting on global morals in a collective action protest. May rationality enrich our lives and save our planet!

Collective Action!