Media Heroes

Media heroes are everywhere:

Journalists, activists, media innovators and educators making sure that we all have access to media that supports democratic values of justice, community and respect. Some media heroes are solitary voices keeping a candle of truth burning through a period of darkness. Others are organizers working to expand the range of people who can wield the power of publishing and broadcasting. or reveal hidden aspects of the media that is all around us.

1. Robert McChesney

Critical scholar, author, educator, media activist

Submitted by Craig Schroeder, Columbus OH: Bill Moyers described Bob McChesney as today's Paul Revere. More than anyone, it seems to me, McChesney has boiled his huge, scholarly understanding of the media we have today, and how it affects us, and how we got here, into certain key messages. Those key messages -- such as the idea that our media is a system created by policymakers and rich media owners, and it can be changed through democratic pressure -- are crucial to understanding power, media and democracy.

They're the messages that so many progressive journalists and political observers all over the place have picked up, expanded on from their own particular vantage points, and re-channelled back into the debate. They're the things you hear people say so often at the media reform conference.

People like Ben Bagdikian and I.F. Stone deserve a lot of credit, but I think McChesney, more than anyone, was the one who got these messages out to the people who then gave them the momentum and widespread dispersion they needed to set today's media reform ball rolling.
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Protecting Privacy, Promoting Consumer Rights and Ensuring Corporate Accountability

Perhaps the most powerful - but largely invisible - force shaping our digital media reality is the role of interactive advertising and marketing. Much of our online experience, from websites to search engines to social networks, is being shaped to better serve advertisers. Increasingly, individuals are being electronically "shadowed" online, our actions and behaviors observed, collected, and analyzed so that we can be "micro-targeted."
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Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC)

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) are also referred to as life care communities. Entering one is usually a once-in-a-lifetime choice and that's the appeal. Many have large campuses that include separate housing for those who live very independently, assisted living facilities that offer more support, and nursing homes for those needing skilled nursing care. With all on the same grounds, people who are relatively active, as well as those who have serious physical and mental disabilities, all live nearby. Residents then move from one housing choice to another as their needs change.
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What is Medicare?

Medicare is our country’s health insurance program for people age 65 or older. Certain people younger than age 65 can qualify for Medicare, too, including those who have disabilities and those who have permanent kidney failure or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The program helps with the cost of health care, but it does not cover all medical expenses or the cost of most long-term care.
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Federal Whistleblower Protection in Jeopardy

Special Counsel Scott Bloch, appointed by President Bush in 2004, is overseeing the virtual elimination of federal whistleblower rights in the U.S. government.The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the agency that is supposed to protect federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse is dismissing hundreds of cases while advancing almost none. According to the Annual Report for 2004 (which was not released until the end of first quarter fiscal year 2006) less than 1.5 percent of whistleblower claims were referred for investigation while more than 1000 reports were closed before they were even opened. Only eight claims were found to be substantiated, and one of those included the theft of a desk, while another included attendance violations. Favorable outcomes have declined 24 percent overall, and this is all in the first year that the new special counsel, Scott Bloch, has been in office.
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