safe cities
in digital-age democracies
use the digital-age media
that comprise their
public communications systems
to make themselves safe.
HERE ARE EIGHT CONSIDERATIONS
FOR EFFECTIVE USE of CHICAGO's
public communications system.
(FOR US, THEY ARE AXIOMS.)
I. media POWER
chicago, like all
21ST CENTURY CITIES, IS
A MEDIA-DRIVEN CITY. its PUBLIC AND
COMMERICAL MEDIA IMPACT OR SHAPE THE
BUYING HABITS, CULTURAL PREFERENCES
AND VOTING DECISIONS OF ALL CHICAGOANS.
(MOST OBVIOUS IS the often decisive
IMPACT OF televised election-time
political attack ADS ON ELECTION
OUTCOMES AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT.)
II. POWER OF DESIRE FOR SAFETY
ALMOST ALL OF CHICAGO'S
2.7 MILLION RESIDENTS YEARN
FOR SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS AND A
SAFE CITY. MANY OF US DESPERATELY.
(THIS DESIRE FUELS THE ENGINE THAT
MAKES AND KEEPS CHICAGO SAFE.)
Iii. SIZE OF Market FOR SAFETY
CHICAGO'S 2.7 MILLION
RESIDENTS constitute the
largest of all large local
markets: the MARKET OF THE WHOLE
OF ALL CHICAGOANS WHO YEARN FOR
- OR HAVE A STAKE IN - safe
NEIGHBORHOODS AND
A SAFE CITY.
(THIS market OF
CITIZEN/CONSUMERS
IS A PROFIT CENTER FOR THE
CHICAGO tv STATIONS AND OTHER
CHICAGO MEDIA THAT TAP IT EFFECTIVELY:
IN WAYS THAT EARN THE RESPECT
AND TRUST OF CITIZENS
AND LEADERS ALIKE.)
MEMO TO CHICAGO'S MEDIA:
Iv. IMPACT OF MISTRUST
TROUBLE IS, MOST
CHICAGOANS GAVE UP
ON THE VERY POSSIBILITY OF
SAFETY YEARS AGO. presently,
most OF US ACCEPT WARTIME LEVELS
OF VIOLENCE AS PERMANENT,
UNALTERABLE FACTS OF
CHICAGO LIFE . . .
. . . LIKE
BRUTAL CHICAGO
WINTERS.
WORSE YET, FEW
CHICAGOANS TRUST
CHICAGO'S LEADERS. MOST
have heard too many broken
campaign promises of safetY.
AND SEEN too much BLAMING
AND BUCKPASSING
AT CITY HALL.
(ALL OF IT
HEADLINED, day
in and DAY out, IN
CHICAGO'S SOUNDBITE
NEWS MEDIA, ALONG WITH
ITS IF-IT-BLEEDS-IT-LEADS
CRIME STORY COVERAGE OF
CHICAGO'S VIOLENCE
ITSELF.)
BUT IT NEVER HAD
TO BE THIS WAY.
v. POWER OF TRUST AND
MEDIA'S POWER TO BUILD IT
in a DIGITAL-AGE,
CHICAGO'S MEDIA ARE FULLY
CAPABLE OF GETTING CHICAGOANS
AND THEIR LEADERS LISTENING TO AND
LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER IN WAYS
THAT BUILD THE TRUST CHICAGO NEEDS
IN ORDER TO DO GREAT THINGS,
LIKE MAKING ITSELF SAFE.
(THIS CAN ONLY HAPPEN
GRADUALLY, AS CHicago's leaders,
ITS citizens AND ITS MEDIA COLLECTIVELY
dECIDE tHAT'S WHAT THEY WANT TO DO.)
vI. MEDIA BUILDING TRUST
THE FIRST STEP
TOWARDS BUILDING
TRUST IS for chicago's
leaders to earn A DEGREE
OF CITIZEN trust. THIS TRUST
CAN ONLY BE EARNED ON THE playing
field where POLITICAL trust is EARNED
or LOST IN a digital age: in A CITY'S MEDIA.
AND THIS PLAYING FIELD MUST BE LEVEL. AS LEVEL
AS THE PLAYING FIELDS OF CHICAGO'S BELOVED
PRO SPORTS TEAMS, WHOSE RULES, INSTANT
REPLAYS AND EXPERT COMMENTARY EARN
AND MAINTAIN THE TRUST OF
CHICAGO SPORTS FANS.
(THE NEXT STEP
TOWARDS MAKING CHICAGO
SAFE IS FOR CHICAGO'S MEDIA
TO CONNECT CHICAGOANS AND THEIR
LEADERS IN RULE-GOVERNED DELIBERATIONS
THAT get good things done IN CHICAGO
BY BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN CITIZENS
AND LEADERS ALIKE.)
SIMPLE AS THAT.
vii. MEDIA TAPPING THE
POWER OF CITIZENSHIP
FOR CHICAGO'S
MEDIA, BRINGING OUT
THE BEST IN ALL CHICAGOANS
MEANS FINDING DYNAMIC WAYS
TO TAP DEEP INTO THE ExperiencES,
Insights, Talents, Wisdom,
boundless energIES AND
Yearning for Safety
OF THE PEOPLE OF
CHICAGO.
(LEADERS INCLUDED!)
Viii. POWER OF TELEVISION
SO WHICH OF CHICAGO'S MEDIA CAN
BRING OUT THE BEST IN ALL CHICAGOANS?
CHICAGO'S SIX NETWORK TV
STATIONS CAN MOST QUICKLY AND
EFFECTIVELY REACH CITYWIDE AUDIENCES.
FOR THEM, WE'VE
DEVISED A DYNAMIC,
LOW-COST WAY FOR CITY
LEADERS TO EARN PUBLIC TRUST,
AND THEREBY TO GET THE SAFE
CHICAGO BALL ROLLING . . .