Gwen Ifill and Corporate Conformity

A better word for her job would be hostess, not journalist.
Share your thoughts....what is her job and who profits from her questions?....


Wednesday, 08 October 2008


The Public Broadcasting newsperson's new book should have been no concern to Republicans, and is bound to get good reviews from white corporate media.

Click the flash player below to hear this Black Agenda Radio commentary

Gwen Ifill and Corporate Conformity
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
"Gwen Ifill is around to assure her white colleagues that there are Black people who agree with them."

Public Broadcasting Black news personality Gwen Ifill caught a bunch of flak from the Right when she was tapped to moderate the Sarah Palin-Joe Biden vice-presidential debate. The Republicans excel at psychological warfare; they knew that by questioning Ifill's objectivity - by suggesting she harbors a pro-Democratic bias - they could cause her to give their not-too-bright would-be VP, Palin, a free ride.


It worked. Whatever they paid Ifill was too much. If a moderator can't even request that a candidate respond to questions, what good is she? But then, I've long questioned Gwen Ifill's usefulness to the service of truth in general, and Black people's interests in particular. The Republicans threw Ifill off her game by charging that she has a monetary interest in a Democratic victory in November, when her book, titled Breakthough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, hits the stores. By that standard, journalists who write books about politicians would be disqualified from doing news stories about, or moderating interviews with, politicians. The whole notion would be silly, except for the fact that it turned Ifill into a useless lump on the screen.

Ifill's book should get good reviews, since her line on race is also shared by much of white corporate media. Ifill focuses on Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Alabama Congressman Artur Davis, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. These are the "breakthrough" politicians whose success proves that Blacks are well on the way to achieving racial equality, according to Ifill. That view is also widely held at the places like the New York Times and among most corporate broadcasters outside of FOX News, so Ifill fits right in. Corporate media reporters seem to share the same list of the "good" Black "leaders" who speak their language and don't upset white folks, unlike the Reverends Al and Jesse and those poor souls who are still supposedly "trapped" in the Sixties. Gwen Ifill is around to assure her white colleagues that there are Black people who agree with them. For this, she is trusted, and rewarded.

"Washington Week is a celebration of shared world views."

White favor is that special something that Ifill shares with the six Black politicians featured in her book. All are decidedly to the Right of the Black political spectrum - which should logically disqualify them from being considered as "Black leaders." But they are Ifill's soul mates, floating, like her, on a carpet of white media approval which, in the twisted logic of the post-Civil Rights era, is the equivalent of Black success. In truth, these politicians' primary usefulness is to provide an amen corner for rich white people's critiques of Black people.

Every Friday evening, Gwen Ifill hosts a little get-together of corporate media buddies, called Washington Week. It is a celebration of shared world views: Time magazine concurs with the New York Times, which agrees with the Washington Post, which is pleased to share the same opinion as Newsweek, and so forth. At the center of the table is Ms. Ifill, who agrees with them all. She is the hostess of perfect corporate conformity - which is her personal and professional "breakthrough." Gwen Ifill has a lesson for young Black people: Don't fight The Power.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

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written by beverly , October 08, 2008

Race is a profitable thing. Profitable financially wise as there seems no end to the books turned out and media time spent on the subject. Profitable figuratively (or maybe financially, also) as it serves as a diversion from discussion of and action upon other issues such as the real reasons for nonstop war and economic malaise.

While Ms. Ifill and her ilk gab incessantly about and make money off the race debate, Rome, er, the U.S. burns. No wonder Wall Street and Washington can get over on the public 24/7. Deregulation Babylon, giant sucking sound of job outsourcing, healthcare mess, cost of living outpacing wages, environmental meltdown – all this and more going down but what fills print space and air waves? O.J. and the race question. Obama and the race question. Imus and the race question. Yes, race is an issue but it is not the only matter and it is being used by media and others to avoid tackling the hotter infernos on the domestic and foreign front.

The right need not have fretted over Ifill being debate moderator. As a card-carrying member of the mainstream media steno pool, there was no way Ifill would perform anything resembling actual journalism. Her public broadcasting cred means nothing as that medium also carries the water for the corporment (corporation govt).



hostess not journalist
written by ea , October 09, 2008



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