In praise of independent media

Brian Back

Green-collar jobs champion Van Jones has stayed shy of the public eye since his revolving-door experience as Obama’s green jobs czar. Even at last month’s State of Green Business Forum in San Francisco, Jones made himself available to the audience via a 15-minute phone call with moderator Joel Makower, who wisely avoided questions about the past in favor of forward progress.

But last summer’s boogeyman media campaign against Jones, led by Fox News hero Glenn Beck, most certainly spurred audience curiosity. Simply because of Jones’ conference call, right-wing bloggers were apparently demanding boycotts of the forum’s sponsors and speakers. One attendee, perhaps a newbie to the green business circuit, asked a colleague of mine, “Van Jones? Isn’t he that crazy guy from the Obama administration?”

Yes, if by crazy you mean a dedicated family man who’s worked tirelessly toward the perfect trifecta in sustainability, powerfully marrying urgent economic development needs with environmental innovation and social benefit for the people who need it most. The attendee’s question speaks to the widespread residual damage caused by “shock and awe” campaigns deployed by a popular mainstream media outlet, and a polarizing pundit whose ability to simultaneously purport sensitivity and back-handed cynicism is trumped only by his ideologically underlaced campaigns of misinformation. As if we learned nothing from Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare a half century ago. The day after Van Jones stepped down amid the media torrent, I tuned into Beck’s program for the first time to observe an entire hour-long epitaph dedicated to chummed waters and shameless self-congratulation. Comical if it were not so destructive.

Mid-way through Beck’s tirade, there suddenly appeared on the screen the Sustainable Industries September 2007 cover photo of Van Jones’, an up-close portrait. Except the Sustainable Industries masthead wasn’t there, nor were any headlines or attributions to the source or the skilled photographer to whom we paid our hard-earned money. The image was placed in a peculiar context, with an unrelated voice-over of Van Jones from a random interview long ago. Indeed, our copyrighted Van Jones photo was plucked—read: stolen—off our Web site and placed in an orchestrated campaign meant to inspire hate and fear. Not one Fox intern even called or emailed to ask for permission to use the photo.

This is just one instance of amazingly sloppy journalism from some amazingly fat cats. It’s also disingenuous, knowing that few entities have the power to stand up to Fox’s deep roster of fancy-feathered lawyers even if they wanted to. You can bet this media company wanted to. I suppose you have to pick your battles. I’m often heard saying it’s better to be for something than against something. In this case, I am endlessly passionate about the vital role of independent media in a democracy. Sustainable Industries is a manifestation of that passion, joining a vast community of peers and allies that need our support.

These voices, and the vibrant communities they serve, challenge otherwise unchecked media, its protection of the status quo, its political witch hunts, and the type of propaganda that can blindly lead nations to war. They also show us other ways of being, and other ways of doing business, among thought leaders and entrepreneurs who will one day soon eat the establishment’s lunch.