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Mikhi got an email from the Elders the next day. It gave him a name with a street and email address. It suggested he should meet this guy sometime that week. He was a media expert who was to manage his interviews. He’d explain what the Elders wished him to say, and why. Bookchin made an appointment.
The bus dropped him off at another one of those nondescript office buildings the Elders liked to use. He found the address, checked with the security at the front---who found his name on the list. The guard buzzed his contact and activated the elevator so he could go up to the correct floor.
The sign on the door said “Kien Media Consultants”. Someone he’d never seen before was there. He was tall, slight, balding with a fringe of curly red hair, a thick red mustache, and, a twinkle in his eyes. He wore a denim shirt, blue jeans, and, cowboy boots. “Hi. My name’s Wayne and I’ve been selected to help you deal with all those folks who want to interview you during what Andy Warhol called your ‘15 minutes of fame’”. Come on in and sit down. Would you like a coffee? I’m having a coffee myself. Black? Cream? Sugar? I’ve got it all!”
Wayne danced around the studio, humming some reggae tune to himself. Mikhail sat down at a table that seemed to serve as a desk. He looked at the walls. There was an acrylic painting of his host wearing a flamboyant Jamaican shirt, some Japanese prints, and, a bookshelf with a very eclectic collection of well-worn books. They ranged from Rudolph Otto through one on the relationship between Protestant theology on American retail businesses to a biography of Bob Marley. There were others on the Kabbalah, Sufism, Native American spirituality, and, psychedelic drugs. Mikhi tended to judge people by the books on their shelves and this guy promised to be interesting.
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When he gave Mikhi his coffee he got right down to business. “You’re famous now. And lots and lots of people want to interview you. I’m going to coach you on how to say what we want you to say in a way that will minimize the chances that your words will be manipulated against you. I’ll select who does and doesn’t get a piece of your time. I’ll negotiate the venue. And we’ll go through mock interviews before hand so you know what you’ll be up against before walking into the studio.”
“I know that you’ve done some free-lancing, publish a news blog, and, have a few friends who are journalists. The thing you have to remember is that the experience you’ve gained from this will do nothing to prepare you for what is going to come. The journalists you’re going to deal with are successful, corporate, elite broadcasters. These are not idealistic people. They aren’t poorly paid scribblers who identify with the working class. Instead, these are millionaires who go to expensive parties, who live in mansions, who’s children go to private schools, etc. They have drunk the Kool Aid and totally believe in the dominant mythos of American society. They are social Darwinists who believe that people are poor simply because they made bad life choices and that the rich deserve everything that they have.”
“Moreover, they believe that they personally deserve everything that they have because they have had to scratch and claw their way to the top. They have all back-stabbed co-workers. In addition, there is a good chance that any woman who interviews you has had to degrade themselves sexually with abusive, predatory bosses. They carry the burden of feeling like they’ve dirtied themselves to get ahead. They have also had to put in very long hours for a long time---and they believe that because this has worked out for them, anyone who isn’t similarly successful simply hasn’t worked as hard or sacrificed as much as they did. Almost all of them have had a string of divorces and are estranged from their children. They know that most journalists think that they’ve ‘sold out’ and have zero credibility with many of their peers. They tell themselves that none of this matters, but deep inside this lack of respect eats them alive. They feel both entitled to everything they have and also jealous of anyone who still feels that they are ‘their own person’ instead of being a “sell out”. They also know that their privileged position will only last as long as they can further the corporate agenda of the news organization that pays their wages. That means that they will try their absolute damnest to get a ‘gotcha’ quote from you. They want you to look like a fool and if they think that you are starting to look like you make sense they will pull the plug and move onto the next story.”
“I know that for you delivering the news to the public is a vocation---a public service. But to them it’s entertainment and it’s a business. They don’t want to enlighten the public, they want to get clicks on the web, build their ‘brand’ with the ‘movers and shakers’ on the Right, and gain more money and personal prestige. You shouldn’t ever see them as colleagues because they are the enemy.”
“But having said that, we can’t just ignore these people. If you refuse to come onto their programs they will simply bring in other people and use them to tell their viewers what you think. This might seem odd because all of those people will have the option of looking up the Climate Trials on You Tube. But most of their viewers won’t. That’s because they aren’t curious people. Even if they do, since they’ve been ‘primed’ to look for inconsistencies, contradictions, hidden agendas, and, so on, they will spend most of their attention looking for evidence that supports these things rather than listening to what you have to say.”
“Let me walk through what an interview with one of the ‘stars’ of the right-wing corporate media will look like. First, the story will be set up by a video clip where whatever you are supposed to be in favour of will be shown in the worst light possible. Since you’re in favour of preventing runaway climate change, there might be a shot of coal mine closure or oil workers being laid off. There will probably be an emotional interview with someone who has a large mortgage and doesn’t know how they are going to keep up the payments now that they’ve lost their job. At that point, some strongly-worded “quote” could be introduced as ‘some experts say’ or attributed to someone you’ve never heard of before---because he or she really isn’t an expert in the field other than being in employ of some right-wing lobbying group or news channel.”
“Once the audience has been ‘cued up’ about what their emotional reaction should be, then the ‘interviewer’ will bring you in for the public execution. It’s tremendously important that you fight the urge to treat the person you are talking to as a real human being. Instead, you have to remember that she is actually more like a robot programmed to shove you into a corner and make you look like a fool. Her ability to do that on command while looking like a fashion model is why she makes a couple million dollars a year.”
Wayne took a sip of coffee, put the cup down for emphasis, looked Mikhi in the eyes and continued. “It’s not right, it’s not just, it doesn’t serve the public good. But it is what it is and all the outrage over it being unfair is not going to change what happens one little bit.”
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