Possible Communication Solutions

In my most recent blog I shared my concerns about the future of the United States. I expressed concern that communication is not nearly as responsible as it needs to be in our nation and said two of the biggest and most influential culprits are the media and politicians. The media is too niche -oriented and far too many politicians are not working on behalf of the greater good of society because they are blinded by their own ideologies and desire for power. The result is our nation is in a downward spiral on a number of fronts, including economic, cultural and education. My comments represented a broad brush without acknowledging small pockets of media outlets that really are trying to be informative and contribute to the national dialog and politicians who are putting the welfare of the nation ahead of their own political standing. Two I will cite are The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and U.S. Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who lost his bid for re-election in 2010. Granted, it is a short list, but, to me at least, it contains impressive entries.

Assuming for a moment my concerns regarding the state of communication in America are valid, what can or should be done about it? I have a thought regarding both the media and elected officials. Regarding the media, particularly the cable networks, a better job of identifying which of their programs are opinion and which are straight-news should be done. A person might argue that viewers should be able to distinguish between presentations of straight news and opinion pieces. Sadly, what people should do versus what they are able to do is not the same. The line between straight news and opinion shows has become far too blurred. My sense is many of the the cable shows are doing all they can to purposely keep make that line invisible as a way of more easily incorporating their biases into their news broadcasts. If they can't or won't reverse this, then perhaps the Federal Communication Commission should require them to do so.

Getting politicians to place their own needs and desire for power and voter support behind the greater needs of our country is a tougher nut to crack. We are talking human nature here. Fundamentally, people want to be accepted and influential. This is especially true of public officials. As is the case with many of these men and women that depend upon the goodwill of constituents for their professional survival and well being, these representatives often tend to say what they feel people want rather than should hear when it comes to matters that are complex, deep-routed and controversial. This is not good enough. Neutral measures of political effectiveness and, yes, collaboration should be identified and implemented that rank politicians by how well they advance measures that assist their constituents as well as by how often and well they confer and collaborate with their peers. The more they collaborate with persons of the opposite the party the more likely they are to receive a high ranking. Effective communication generates partnerships. But because too many politicians are focusing on their own interests, there are few meaningful partnerships in Congress and between The White House and Congress these days. That must change.