Toward a Healthy Media Ecosystem for Philadelphia

The New America Foundation's Media Policy Initiative just issued a report on the media ecosystem in Philadelphia. Through the report they explore the work of MMP and the future of journalism in the city. Full report available at the NAF blog.

By: Joshua Breitbart

"Infection in our Health Care System," an hour-long investigation by Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) into the local impacts of the healthcare crisis, premiered May 18 on PhillyCAM, the new public access cable station serving the people of Philadelphia.

The show is the first episode of MMPTV and it bears both the grandeur and flaws of any new ambitious undertaking. For an issue that has dropped off the media radar since passage of federal health care reform, however, the report adds new perspectives and elevates the public discussion. It seems that we hear more often about the fate of shareholders than directly from the workforce that keeps hospitals running. Those workers dominate the MMP production, leaving anyone used to 60 Minutes-style productions and their ambush moments wanting to hear the spokesperson for Community Health Systems, which owns Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, respond to the claims of its workers.

So, "Infection in our Health Care System" is not a complete picture on its own, but without it our picture of health care in Philadelphia would be even more deficient. From the perspective of the workers, the video corrects an imbalance in the local media ecosystem, what residents of Philadelphia have termed a "media blackout" on poverty that distorts an audience's understanding of the city, leading to policies that harm people living on low incomes. The report examines the issues behind a recent strike at Temple University Hospital, for example, where one of the sticking points was a proposed prohibition on nurses speaking out about problems in how the hospital cares for people without insurance.

A recent report on the Philadelphia media ecosystem continues this media blackout pattern, presenting as comprehensive a review that excludes the news outlets and information assets serving the city's poor and people of color. "Exploring a Networked Journalism Collaborative in Philadelphia: An Analysis of the City’s Media Ecosystem with Final Recommendations" prepared by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, on behalf of the William Penn Foundation, focuses on the decline in reporting from The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and the rise of local issue blogs and neighborhood websites. The report omits the city's longstanding African-American, Spanish-language, gay, alternative weekly, and neighborhood papers, along with substantial new infrastructure such as the hard-won cable access channels, a recently-transferred radio broadcast license, a comprehensive broadband plan and funding proposal, and the production and training network developed by Media Mobilizing Project.

As part of the Open Technology Initiative's ongoing work in Philadelphia and on the future of media, this response paper is intended to identify some of the omissions in the J-Lab report, point to problems in its starting assumptions and methodology, and discuss some of the implications for the future of journalism.

Based in Washington, DC, OTI is an active contributor to Philadelphia's media ecosystem. Our goal is to help local residents achieve a top-notch communications infrastructure that serves local information needs, which we believe necessitates public participation in major decisions about future projects. With support from the Wyncote Foundation, OTI worked as a consultant on the city's broadband plan and federal funding proposal. In that capacity, we worked closely with Media Mobilizing Project, among many other local organizations. Before joining OTI, the author participated in early discussions about the community acquisition of the WPEB radio license and used to share an office with the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, which led the 27-year effort to secure public access cable channels for the city. As part of our own investigation into information ecosystems and the future of media, the Media Policy Initiative, part of OTI, has conducted studies of Scranton and Seattle with more studies in the works. We assume these will receive close scrutiny in the wake of this paper; we welcome suggestions and criticism. We look forward to improving our approach and, we hope, our results. We appreciate the time that people from J-Lab, William Penn, Media Mobilizing Project, and The City Paper took to discuss the issues below and hope that all of them will be open to further discussions in the future. 

Full report available at the NAF blog.