EDITORIAL OPINION -
THE RATINGS GAME
 
  by Michael Costello

 

The commercial media industry depends on funding supplied by the advertising industry. Commercial radio stations compete for that nourishment. The accepted means for judging the relative positions of the horses in this race is yet another commercial business, the radio ratings industry. Even the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio find themselves at the mercy of Arbitron. Foundations and other underwriters want their philanthropy noticed by the largest possible audience. The result of the pressure for higher ratings is all too evident in the space devoted to listing "who made possible" previously commercial-free programming. The Pacifica National Board wishes to enter our non-commercial Pacifica Network into the commercial race for ratings. We must object. Pacifica is a free bird not a racehorse.

The value of the Pacifica Network is as a service; to access at will, to nourish the hunger for information - the need for truth. The Network should be as a library. Truth should be available on Pacifica, as information is available in a library. A library should not be competing with a bookstore, or a magazine stand. The National Board has lost the vision of the founders of Pacifica. They have become confused by the direction society has taken. Too much in American society is framed in terms of contest. Media treats even the release of a film as a contest of sport. The highest box office wins the game. Quality is unimportant, meaning irrelevant. Political debate is lost in the race for the office. Who has moved ahead of whom? Whose numbers have shifted ever so slightly to change the lead? This is the national method of measure.

And so, our radio network has become the odd one out. Pacifica is the only non-commercial radio network in the United States. We must fight to protect it from the competitive madness - the bigger-is-better mentality. As long as the National Board continues to accept funding from the government through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and courts involvement from organizations like Public Radio International, there will be pressure to compete in the radio market and controversial programming content will be threatened. It's time for the Pacifica National Board to live within its means and provide the service to our communities that Lew Hill originally intended.

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