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Book Reviews
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Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from
the Margins of the Mainstream
by Robert Jensen
(Peter Lang Publishing, 2004)
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It’s not uncommon for students at the University of Texas at Austin to approach journalism professor Robert Jensen and ask him in hushed tones if he is a liberal. He professes horror and exclaims that he certainly is not. He tells them he is an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, socialist radical! With those credentials, it is amazing how often his opinions appear on the op-ed pages of mainstream newspapers. In Writing Dissent, Jensen explains how he does it and tells us that we can do it too. Though Jensen is a strong supporter of alternative media, he believes that “as long as the majority of Americans get the majority of their information from the conventional mass media sources, it will be important for radicals to exploit the opportunities that exist to use these media to try to expand our movements and reach new people.”
Jensen believes that mainstream media operate from two primary unstated assumptions: that capitalism is the only viable economic system and that American foreign policy is always benevolent. It is the role of the radical to challenge these assumptions and any other manifestations of conventional wisdom and hold the powerful accountable.
Journalists are generalists, not specialists. We usually know more about the subjects that interest us than they do. The secret is to give them new information without directly challenging them and accusing them of bias. Never tell them that they are under the control of the state-corporate-military nexus.
Jensen begins his book with a discussion of radical analysis, followed by an explanation of the way media work in the United States. It is important to learn to work with, not against, the media as they exist – like it or not. He analyzes the op-ed structure and style and explains how to work with editors.
The subsequent chapters illustrate different angles for writing your op-ed and getting published. Each contains several examples of op-eds by Jensen that were published.
In “Piggybacking on the News”, he asks “How does a writer find openings for timeless truths that are politically important?” He tells us to look for the “current news hook” that will let us present a few “big ideas.” The WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999 provided the perfect opportunity to write “Corporate Power is the Central Issue.” A statement by then-governor George W. Bush that he had been “chosen by God” led to “Idea that US is God’s Chosen is Dangerous.” Jensen also covers the alternative press, which he considers vitally important. First, when it preaches to the choir, it validates us and our beliefs. Second, because we can’t all do independent research, it informs the choir.
Jensen concludes with an explanation of why he writes. His reasons are many, but they boil down to this. “I write because I hurt, and because I see others hurting.... I write to keep the world from melting in front of me.” Whatever your reason, this book will help you get that radical idea into print.
Susan Lamont (reprinted from Peace Press, Sonoma County’s Peace & Justice newsletter; http://www.peaceandjusticesonomaco.org)
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