Oliver Willis: Don't count on msm. What will work? Producing media that out shouts the right and the msm.

[Dennis Donovan]

Oliver Willis
‪@owillis.bsky.social‬
lotta things i dont know about. politics/media is one thing i do know. what wont work for liberals is hoping the public becomes civics nerds overnight, regulating media issues, hoping the msm gets better. what will work? producing media that out shouts the right and the msm. and a lot of it.
November 25, 2024 at 10:28 AM

lotta things i dont know about. politics/media is one thing i do know. what wont work for liberals is hoping the public becomes civics nerds overnight, regulating media issues, hoping the msm gets better. what will work? producing media that out shouts the right and the msm. and a lot of it.

— Oliver Willis (@owillis.bsky.social) 2024-11-25T15:28:47.660Z

[Passages]

1. We missed many opportunities years ago with small radio markets.

All hands on deck now for good ideas.

MSM pundits are mostly millionaires who present a commodity for their owners. They don't venture outside those lines much.
How often did the "liberal" MSNBC go after the NRA and which politicians did they fund after every new American gun slaughter?

[Basso8vb]

2. I haven't watched MSM since 2003.

I continue to fail to understand why anyone still watches or trusts it.

I'm not here to be convinced otherwise.

[maxsolomon]

5. I haven't watched "MSM" since 1903.

I win by a century.

[MontanaMama]

3. The current rumor on social media

right now is that Elon Musk wants to buy msnbc. Can you imagine that shit show?

[maxsolomon]

4. We've known this for decades, since the rise of RW Hate Radio in the 80s

Yet there still is no Liberal or Progressive Media aside from 8-10 on MSNBC, Democracy Now, or other low-power, left-of-the-dial options like Thom Hartman. Air America was a failure.

NPR has been "Now Promoting Republicans" for a decade-plus.

Is there ONE left-leaning AM channel in America?

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Resistance media will stem from a resistance. We're still stunned from the election.

There will be a well-organized resistance that comes from this. Whatever it uses as a megaphone BECOMES the MSM.

[maxsolomon]

7. I'm sorry, what does that mean?

Is the "Resistance" going to buy radio stations?

[Dennis Donovan]

8. I never mentioned radio.

[maxsolomon]

9. OK, then I don't understand what "Resistance Media" is going to consist of.

nt

[Dennis Donovan]

11. YouTube, Bluesky, TikTok, etc...

As many people are watching their phones that watch their TVs. Maybe more. I don't know.

[Elessar Zappa]

13. We don't need radio.

Resistance media will primarily be on social media and podcasts, which are now much more influential than radio (and cable, for that matter).

[maxsolomon]

15. Well, that's a relief.

From Pew, 2022:

About eight-in-ten Americans ages 12 and older listen to terrestrial radio in a given week. Weekly terrestrial radio listenership in the U.S. has remained relatively stable in the last two years after dipping slightly in 2020. In 2022, 82% of Americans ages 12 and older listened to terrestrial radio in a given week, according to Nielsen Media Research data published by the Radio Advertising Bureau.

Nearly half of U.S. adults say they sometimes or often get news from radio. In a summer 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 47% of U.S. adults said they get news from radio at least sometimes, a figure that has remained relatively constant in recent years.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/17/for-national-radio-day-key-facts-about-radio-listeners-and-the-radio-industry-in-the-us/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%2082%25%20of%20Americans,of%20the%20U.S.%20coronavirus%20outbreak.

[keep_left]

12. There are a few left/lib stations, but they're mostly local.

WCPT/Chicago and KTNF/Twin Cities are two good examples. Democracy Now! is syndicated mostly through small community radio stations. However, it can also be heard on some progressive stations like KTNF. Some of the progressive stations are beginning to form regional partnerships with other stations. For example, KTNF simulcasts a show from Madison (The Devil's Advocates) as well as one of their own (The Matt McNeil Show).

The important thing to keep in mind about new media startups is that they will require ongoing and long-term support from listeners and benefactors. Right-wing radio was a steady money-loser for many years, and I'm still not convinced that a significant number of those shows are making anything close to real money. (There's absolutely no way that hosts as boring as Laura Ingraham and Monica Crowley are raking in the ca$h).

https://democraticunderground.com/100219743630#post6
https://democraticunderground.com/100219687367#post39

[OnionPatch]

14. Yes, it's so frustrating!

I always hear it dismissed with "liberals don't listen to talk radio" and it might be true but liberals shouldn't be the target audience anyway, working class people should be our target. I'm rural and working class enough to have witnessed how rightwing radio pushed many, many of my rural, working-class aquaintences into their rightwing views.

Do we not have rich liberals to fund better radio? Yes, I know it's been tried, but they gave up too soon and didn't fund it enough, and expected to make profits and high ratings too soon. The right shoved that crap out everywhere, whether they had good ratings or not, even if they had to fund it, until it was plastered all over the waves and pounded into listener's heads. We need the same on our side and it needs to be funded, liberally funded, if I may pun, by our rich supporters. I'm not holding my breath, though.

[leftstreet]

10. Unless you shout for Medicare4All and $25 min wage, why bother n/t