Political Writing

Radical and political writing has been around as long as there have been people. I remember during the 1960s and 1970s there was many articles about war, poverty, racism, sexism, and greed. The difference today is that the radical and political element has been pushed aside or made silent by corporate sponsorship and funding. No one is going to bite the hand that feeds them. This is the downside of organizations being funded by corporations.

Nowhere has this had an impact more than in media and the publishing companies. Journalism, once a viable career path, is unappealing.  The mainstream media is controlled by corporations. Even some of the so called 'alternative' media has gone this way. I was an avid read at one time of the Village Voice, an alternative newsweekly here in New York City. Forty and fifty years ago it was almost as thick as the New York Times. It touched on the social issues of the day on a regular basis. Today, the Voice is a shell of what it once was. All it is now is advertisement for sex and massage and dull and boring articles about much of nothing. I refuse to read the Voice anymore.

It's difficult for a fledgling writer to break into the mainstream publishing houses because they only want authors who will make money for them. I'm thankful for chapbooks and the small presses for porviding a vehicle for fledgling authors. I see more political and radical writing here and I would like to see more. This is my observation of the state of the media and publishing these days. I pray that it will change one day.