Mission Statement

 

With regard to addressing the issues we face in this country, I believe that “knowledge is power”, and that without that power, our vote is worth nothing, and that there is, in fact, no democracy.

Advance The Dialog’s mission is to promote deeper and more accurate reporting by the news media of the issues facing our nation.  ATD establishes a set of Rules the media is asked to follow that are designed to increase the public’s knowledge on issues by identifying the facts, engaging in analysis, and promoting honest discussion based on facts and logic.  The goal is to reject ‘coverage’ that is arrested or stalemated at a superficial level for prolonged periods of time.  It is also to examine and resolve differences of competing claims or interpretations of facts and data, by digging down in pursuit of the fullest, most comprehensive understanding of them.  (See [intlink id=”129″ type=”post”]Welcome to Advance The Dialog[/intlink] to read about the inception of the idea for this website.)

The Society of Professional Journalists Bylaws state “The motto of this Society shall be: They Serve Best Who Serve the Truth.”  I agree with this.

The focus of this blog will be primarily on television news (network and cable), since, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2011 report, that is still the main source of news for most people–66%.  But the Rules apply to all media, so discussion and input, either my own or the public’s, will not be limited to just television news.

As the creator, moderator and sole operator of this site, I also reserve the right to focus on the issues that have the biggest impact on the most people.

Above all, Advance The Dialog is a tool for the public to use to hold the media accountable in fulfilling their mandate as The Fourth Pillar of Democracy.  As such, the public is actively encouraged, implored, in fact, to participate in this site and make their voice heard in terms of what topics, questions, etc. the media is being deficient in covering, whether or not I, myself, have chosen that topic or question to blog about.

This site is non-partisan.  I will make an attempt to not exclude issues that ‘politically favor’ either of each of the two ends of the political spectrum.  I will, however, stick to the biggest issues.

This site is also non-political. I will not focus on politics, or the ‘politics of an issue’, per se.  Only to the extent that politics becomes critical in discussions of big issues, will it come into play.

This site is not for profit.  There is no attempt to make money from it.

I am not a journalist, merely a consumer of their product.  My daily print news consumption consists of reading the San Jose Mercury News (which reprints many articles and editorials from the major US newspapers and news services), and the Sunday New York Times.  I sample other journals on ocassion that include the Economist, Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and others, in addition to various online sites.

For television news during the week, I watch News Hour on PBS and dip in and out of CNN, nightly.  I also watch both CNBC and Bloomberg, both of which cover the stock market, Wall Street and the economy in general.  On weekends I watch one or two of the major broadcast news shows for major events.  I also tune in to Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose, both of whom cover topical issues interviewing experts, journalists and others. For this blog, I will expand my viewing to other news shows.  Occasionally, I will engage in ‘news projects’- doing research on subjects, reading other online news sources, etc., and blog about what I find. Finally, I will depend on the public to assist me in this media canvassing- together, all of us collectively widening our reach to all news media.

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