Resisting Abridgment Librarianship as Media Reform

Abstract

Media reform is a vital component for sustaining public access to information, and supports libraries in fulfilling their mission as what educator Robert D. Leigh termed “a public agency of communication,”. In many ways, the struggles for media democracy are waged side by side with those of librarians. Like media activists, librarians are deeply concerned about issues related to information production, dissemination, and access. In this article, the author will describe how American librarianship complements a democratic media system and will provide examples of how libraries have played a key role in providing public access to independent media (i.e., alternative, noncorporate, or small press) in print and electronic formats. Finally, considering the interdependency of their goals and interests, the author wishes to advocate for greater collaboration between the media reform movement and library activists.

Good news, bad news, and fake news

“…For instance, there have been substantive literature reviews that have set a baseline on information and technology equity and democracy (Lievrouw and Farb, 2003; Doctor, 1992), and analyses and reviews that problematize the simple relationship LIS posits between access to information and democracy (Dervin, 1994; Lievrouw, 1994). LIS scholars have gone on to ground their work in the substantive scholarship on political concepts of power (Cope, 2010), media reform (Nappo, 2009), neoliberal education reforms (Buschman, 2003, 2012; Soutter, 2016; Waugh, 2014/2015), justice and community (Buschman and Warner, 2016; Budd, 2012), political philosophy (Mathiesen, 2015) and sociology (Lenker, 2016; Winston, 2016), the politics of climate change (Lilburn, 2017; Oltmann, 2013), and a plethora of critical theories (Leckie et al , 2010). In other words (and to sum up), there are good reasons to think that LIS efforts can have some purchase, fake news as a problem has become a focus of attention and highlighted the role of librarians/libraries as a result, LIS has responded vigorously – and politically, and these efforts have been informed by and are grounded in LIS scholarship that has deepened in its theoretical sophistication.…”