Last month I said the only constant is change. So now, here’s another change. After almost a year of calling my upcoming book, Whose $$$ Pays for the News You See, I have changed the title to DIRTY NEWS with the subtitle, Learn to Dig for the Truth Like a Pro.
My cover artist, George Voorgalos from Red Barn Muse, showed me what he’d drawn from my description of what I envisioned and put the words ‘DIRTY NEWS’ above it. It looked so good like that I kept it! After all, that’s what the book is about anyway. Since we lost the FCC Fairness Doctrine ─ a piece at a time over a period of years ─ as is explained in detail in Chapter 2 of the book, most mainstream media has been playing games with us.
I’ll bet some of you are thinking, “that’s no way for a reporter to talk about the industry where she works,” right about now. Unfortunately, nobody knows about these games better than reporters. It hurts us because it gives all journalists a bad name.
When I speak of the mainstream media, I’m not talking about the local newspapers and television stations that cover only a small radius around wherever it is you live. Those reporters are generally spot-on because they live in their coverage area and are responsible to the people they see every day in local businesses and on the street. No, I'm talking about the national media conglomerates. It’s frightening (but important) to know that at this point, there are just six. Yep. Six giant corporations have eaten up all of America’s once-free-speaking national media.
How and when that happened is described in detail in Chapter 3, Who Controls What We See & Hear, right down to naming names.
The loss of The Fairness Doctrine is tragic. It was an FCC rule that said (among many other things) that “issues with more than one side had to present all sides” and “nothing should be printed or broadcast that would deliberately hurt someone or mislead the public.” Since it's demise, it’s hard for the average person to know the difference between news, native advertising, propaganda, entertainment news, opinion disguised as news, and downright lies.
When I ended my monthly letter for January, this book was still in the hands of an agent in New York City who had approached me on LinkedIn. Since then, we have parted ways, and I am preparing to launch it myself as an eBook, audio, and paperback. (No, I will not take out the names behind the buyouts or the amounts these people and corporations contribute to politicians.) I can’t say when it'll be out though, because I am in the middle of making a housing change for the first time in twenty years and showings, closings, sorting, packing, and other chores will continue for at least another month.
Despite all this, I have reactivated the blog AMERICANS FOR TRUTH IN NEWS that I told you about last month. This blog became quite popular back in the mid-2000s when I wrote it for about a year before it began to conflict with my work as a local reporter, and I had to quit. You can find it on my website, pennyfletcher.com, or you can hit it directly from here if you haven’t yet checked it out yet: https://pennyfletcher.com/penny-fletchers-blog/
It comes out weekly, usually between Tuesday and Thursday, depending upon when Web.com gets it up. Yes, after about fifteen years, I have finally given up doing my own websites. There just isn’t enough time in the day for that anymore.
Before I sign off, I encourage you to check out my new Editing Client of the Month below, Susan N. Williams. I really enjoyed her book, and I think most of the people who read this letter will too.
Until next time (the 15th, now remember?)
Toward Truth,
Penny
