It is impossible to present an effective challenge to systematic oppression and simultaneously receive positive media attention, because the big ‘mainstream’ media are the servants of the political movements and thus of the state and the systematic oppression it maintains. The media and the system are one and the same*.
As a result, the only movements that are welcomed with positive media exposure are the ones that pose no real threat to the status quo.
Any effective movement is recognized as a threat and marked as ‘violent’, a category that is flexibly expanded to include anything that inconveniences the state even a bit. From this position, marked as ‘violent’, media attention will be overwhelmingly negative with only the occasional cautious exception.
Don’t want to get bad media exposure? Just adopt the strategies the media approves of (which are the stategies the state approves of) and pretty soon the positive reports and optimistic think pieces will come rolling in and the leaders of your movement will be on magazine covers, while your potential to change the world dies. It’s a defeat disguised as a victory.
Want to continue to change things? Stop trying to please the media. Communicate on your own platforms, on your own terms. Let the slanderous headlines roll. Make sure those that take a genuine interest in your movement can easily find the voices of your own movement online and offline to read and hear what you’re really doing.
*everywhere, this is not a US thing. Don’t be fooled just because it’s a bit more subtle where you live.
QueerAnarchism 