IPA: Corporate media see organizing as ‘conspiracy’

From the Institute for Public Accuracy: Much media coverage gets DSA organizing wrong. 

In an article for FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), Raina Lipsitz assesses how corporate media outlets have depicted DSA organizing as a sinister conspiracy. 

The article begins: “As he was leaving office in 2017, President Barack Obama urged Americans concerned about where their country was headed to act. ‘If something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing.’

“He said, ‘If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself.’

Ten months earlier, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had made a similar comment at a campaign stop in Minnesota. A young woman pressed Clinton about her past remarks on superpredators. 

After a brief exchange, Clinton said, ‘You know what, dear? You have a different opinion. Why don’t you go run for something?’

A decade later, it’s clear that a new generation of leaders has taken that advice. But instead of being praised for contributing to civic life by participating in democracy, they and the organizations that support them have been pilloried as threats to both the Democratic Party and democracy itself.

Lipsitz told the Institute for Public Accuracy corporate media has gotten quite a bit wrong in covering the Democratic Socialists of America, DSA, of which I’ve been a member since 2017.

These outlets have portrayed DSA as overwhelmingly white, suggested we appeal only to white voters, implied that we are disenfranchising Black and Latino people, and dismissed us as young and naive. 

In fact, as our latest membership numbers reveal, we are especially (but not only) in New York, a much more diverse organization than corporate media outlets give us credit for.

Many of the candidates we have helped to elect are people of color, and many DSA members are in their 30s and 40s.

A recent Siena poll of likely New York voters found that 50% of Black respondents and 45% of Latinos had a favorable view of DSA, compared with the 27% of Black respondents and 23% of Latinos who didn’t know about or had no opinion of the organization. And the 23% of Black respondents and 32% of Latinos who viewed DSA unfavorably.

The fundamental problem is that it’s very difficult to write insightfully and accurately about an organization your bosses despise.

As for the midterms, I believe we are in a moment—a movement moment. 

Americans are eager to elect leaders with strong and consistent principles, a track record of fighting for people who work for a living, and zero ties to wealthy megadonors and corporations.

Raina Lipsitz writes about politics and culture. She is the author of ‘The Rise of a New Left: How Young Radicals Are Shaping the Future of American Politics.‘

Read by Robin Bloomgarden for KEPW Whole Community News. You can read more at Accuracy.org.