"Rather than respond to Goodman’s ideas and the many other media professionals at the gathering who challenge the corporate media, the Times reporter employs a classic ad hominem fallacy that basic journalism courses teach students not to do."

I sent the following letter to the editor, New York Times, in response to their article on the recent Bioneers Conference. They are unlikely to publish it, so I wanted to expand my critique of this snide story.

Dear Editor,

“First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Finally they integrate what you have been saying,” someone famous first said decades ago. After seventeen years of ignoring the growing Bioneers, you finally evolved to ridicule. The Times’ Oct. 24 article cynically describes the annual event as a “pep rally,” a “megachurch for the Prius set” and “true believers” and “a monoculture, a love-fest between graying activists and youthful idealists.” As one of those “graying activists,” I appreciate the Times’ growth into adolescence and await its maturing to understand some of the ideas advanced at Bioneers.

The corporate media was skewered by “Democracy Now” host Amy Goodman, both at Bioneers and in her best-selling new book “Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back.” Though your article does not mention Goodman or her book--still trying to ignore the journalist whose radio and TV program appears on over 500 stations--one wonders if there might be some childish payback going on here.

Sincerely, Shepherd Bliss

The Bioneers drew 3,200 people to its 17th Annual Convention in San Rafael, California, Oct. 20-22. Another 10,000 people attended satellite gatherings in eighteen communities around the United States, where the morning plenary sessions were beamed in and supplemented by local afternoon and evening programming.

Bioneers, according to founder Kenny Ausubel, seeks “to bring biological pioneers together to restore the Earth.” Co-producer Nina Simons describes its intention as being to “co-create a living social system. This is not a spectator sport.”

On Oct. 24 the New York Times published its cynical story on the Bioneers. The article by Patricia Leigh Brown, allegedly reporting on the event, does not even mention what may have been its trigger: the dozens of presenters in one of the weekend’s main tracks— Independent/Alternative Media.

Amy Goodman led the weekend charge on the corporate media, mentioning the New York Times by name and skewering it. However, rather than respond directly to her and the many other journalists of the alternative media who spoke at Bioneers, the veiled Times article ignores them and attempts to ridicule the gathering.

Now here is what Goodman actually said, reporting on her 80-city tour with her new book: “The media are the most powerful institution in the world. The Pentagon has employed the media and we need to take it back. We need a media that covers power, not one that covers-up for power.” Her book, Static, though not reviewed by the Times, continues to climb up its best-selling list.

“It’s the mainstream media that is not mainstream,” Goodman contended. “It is extreme and does not reflect the mainstream. It is important not to accept their framing of the issues. We must take the territory back.”

But rather than respond to Goodman’s ideas and the many other media professionals at the gathering who challenge the corporate media, the Times reporter employs a classic ad hominem fallacy that basic journalism courses teach students not to do. She ridicules people, rather than deal directly with their ideas.

Some of America’s top journalists in the alternative media presented at Bioneers. Among them were Mother Jones publisher Jay Harris, Alternet founder Don Hazen, Air America broadcaster Laura Flanders, and radio veteran Thom Hartmann. None of them are mentioned in the Times article.

Among the many workshops in the media track were the following: “Internet Interventions and Cyberspace Strategies,” which included subversive blogger Brad Friedman (Bradblog); “SourceWatch: A Hands-on Workshop in Citizen Journalism,” with the founder of the Center for Media and Democracy, John Stauber; “Getting RadioActive: Airwaves for Change” with Pratap Chatterjee of Corpwatch and KPFA radio; “Visionary Activism” with Coyote Network News head Caroline Casey; and “Change the Story” with James Bell, formerly of Fox News and ABC.

Bioneers itself has a radio series that airs on over 180 stations. It seeks to “bring home a revolution from the heart of nature.” The Bioneers weekend had various media partners, including Mother Jones, Utne, Ode, E—The Environmental Magazine, Plenty, and HopeDance.

Beneath the published Times story is the unreported story of the analysis and contextualization of today’s corporate media and how it slants the news to fit its corporate interests.

“There is a hunger for independent voices,” Goodman observed. She advocated “reporting from the victim’s perspective” and that the media should show “humanity responding to humanity.” Though the corporate media has the technological tools to educate and inform, Goodman contends that “we live in a globalized world, but we are isolated from information.”

Goodman’s award-winning journalism now appears on over 500 radio and TV stations, making it the largest public media collaboration in the U.S. Goodman will soon be writing a new column called “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” which will be carried by King Features.

“The media world is in turmoil,” according to publisher Jay Harris. “The internet changes everything.” Author and broadcaster Hartmann spoke about the “Fox effect,” noting, “The presence of Fox News can swing 6-10% of votes.” Hartmann also asserted, “Newspapers today represent business, which is why we have business sections and not even a labor page.”

“It’s a myth that there is objective news,” Hartmann added. There is a danger to think that there is an objective source of news. Now we have a phony filter. You used to know the bias of the newspapers you were reading.”

The New York Times article was not without its merit. Perhaps better to be ridiculed than ignored, which at least gives one exposure. A City Councilmember in this reporter’s hometown of Sebastopol, Larry Robinson, noted, “Any publicity is good publicity, because it builds name recognition,” echoing ancient political wisdom. Just getting the word Bioneers out there is cause enough to thank the Times.

About half way into their article, the Times does begin to do more objective reporting and cover a few things that actually happened at Bioneers, rather than merely the subjective discounting and framing by the reporter. But studies reveal that the vast majority of newspaper readers tend to read only the first few paragraphs of articles; some readers continue, but few get to the end of stories. The Times article has few quotes, the majority of which are one-liners, hence possibly taken out of context. Their cynical reporter clearly had a different experience than this reporter did at the event.

Dr. Shepherd Bliss, sb3@pon.net, is a retired college teacher who has owned a farm in Northern California for the last 15 years. He has contributed essays and poems to 18 books.