Bill Moyers may be the only television journalist with any interest in or understanding of what might be called "civics." In his programs Moyers is concerned about two things: what is a citizen in a democracy (and the public good for which the citizen should act) and what are those forces which erode citizenship.
In his most recent offering, "The Public Mind," Moyers explores how images have been substituted for moral and political issues, and the ways in which image-makers manipulate the way people feel and perceive in order to sell then something: soap, a candidate, an ideology. His concern is that such a strong emphasis on the intuitive and the subliminal undercuts, and indeed makes irrelevant, what he likes to refer to as the "political dialogue of a democracy."
Moyers is quite clear about who and what is responsible for this. First, we live in an economic culture that values marketability over utility: if something sells, it must be valuable. This may work for concrete goods, but when information becomes a commodity, then, as Moyers says, "the market becomes the heart of the visual experience."
Once information and ideas become considered commodities, no different than cars or shoes, then an idea's value is proved by how well it can be sold, not by whether it is sound or useful. In terms of democracy, which depends upon the conflict of ideas, Moyers says that the urge to make everything a visual commodity to be sold to some group turns "representative democracy [into] the representation of democracy" and deprives people of a chance to say what they think, indeed, to think at all.
The practical effect of this transformation of ideas into salable images is to rewrite the Golden Rule: He who has the information makes the rules. And there are some very big players making the rules. Ben Bagdikian, in his recent book on media corporations, points out that more and more information is being controlled by fewer and fewer groups, and that devotion to the bottom line has reduced all information to its "entertainment" value. This is most evident in news shows, which are increasingly evaluated on the basis of their ratings rather than on their ability to deliver news honestly, accurately, and engagingly. In fact, Moyers says we don't have news any more; we have "infotainment," world events reduced to sit-com.
Those who cry loudest for increased civics education should make Moyers' programs required viewing. The image they present of American democracy is not flattering, but Moyers believes that when people are given the right information, they'll act like democratic citizens. His shows are a step toward that.
Robert Mapplethorpe
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