ACTIVIST TURNS FOCUS ON MEDIA.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Over a long history of political activism, Eugene's David Zupan has championed nuclear-free zones, affordable student housing, union rights, police accountability and world peace. But in recent years, he's fixated on a different issue: the media.

Zupan, 58, is one of two national spokesmen for the Institute for Public Accuracy, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C., that hooks up left-leaning analysts and experts with mainstream journalists working on breaking news stories.

Closer to home, he's also one of the coordinators of this weekend's "Peace, Justice and Media Conference," an annual event sponsored by the Justice Not War Coalition that this year focuses on ways that citizens can "question, work with and even become the media."

As Zupan sees it, there are few issues more important to his brand of liberal politics than media coverage and media bias.

"Anybody who does work as an activist for very long discovers that the media is a crucial and often underutilized resource," he says. "You can really see the difference between those groups who do outreach to the media and those who don't."

Therein lies the genius of Zupan's approach: He's not afraid to challenge or critique the media, even as he cultivates working relationships with journalists and pundits across the country.

He gives the national media a poor report card - "a `D' or `D-minus' ' - and contrasts the coverage that U.S. and European media gave to the war in Iraq as his Exhibit A. Zupan says journalists in Europe gave a more balanced view of the pros and cons of invading Iraq, while much of the media in this country "jumped on the bandwagon to help sell the war."

"Because the media (in Europe) did its job, people were well-informed - and much more opposed to the war," he says.

In this country, news coverage often has a certain sameness because media ownership is concentrated among just a few corporations, Zupan says. "How much coverage do you give to an anti-war demonstration of 1 million people?" he asks. "You've got very few people making those decisions."

But Zupan says Americans are getting more media savvy all the time.

"People are getting smarter," he says. "There's been much more skepticism and criticism of the media in recent years, and that has something to do with people realizing they aren't getting the whole story."

Zupan says he's greatly encouraged by the U.S. Senate's vote last month to kill Federal Communications Commission rules that would allow companies to own even more broadcast stations and newspapers in the same market. A broad range of groups criticized the changes, saying the new rules give large media companies too much control over what people see, hear and read.

The Senate's vote "would not have happened without this citizen backlash, which was across the political spectrum," Zupan says.

Activist's genesis

Zupan's passion for activism was largely buried until he arrived in Eugene in 1974 to pursue a doctoral degree in educational policy, after having taught English at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay for five years.

Reared in the San Diego area, Zupan marched in his share of protests against the Vietnam War - his political views bumping up against those of his father, a civilian electronics engineer for the Navy.

Zupan was raised Catholic, a faith he's since left behind but which instilled in him "the importance of an individual having a conscience and a concern for one's fellow human beings."

Upon arriving in Eugene, he moved into Amazon Student Housing - and watched with admiration as tenants staged a rent strike to protest university opposition to a student cooperative. The strike ultimately led to more student autonomy and better facilities, including a day care center and improved playground.

"I got to see firsthand the power of collective action," he says.

Before long, he was teaching at Lane Community College - and helping part-time teachers there to unionize. He later moved on to nuclear issues, including campaigns to close the Trojan Nuclear Plant and establish a Nuclear Free Zone in Eugene.

It was through his anti-nuclear efforts that Zupan first met Norman Solomon, an activist who would eventually write a nationally syndicated newspaper column on media bias - and who in 1998 founded the Institute for Public Accuracy.

Unlike other media watchdog groups, the institute doesn't critique media so much as make liberal pundits available to the media - an idea stolen from a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, that does the same thing with conservative experts.

The institute has about 500 analysts it can choose among, and e-mails or faxes its media alerts to about 5,000 journalists and others, says Sam Husseini, the group's communications director.

Across the spectrum

Zupan has worked for the institute almost since its inception. One of his strengths, says Husseini, "is his ability to interact with others of opposing viewpoints, especially to talk radio folks."

Zupan says it's often easier to place an analyst with "a right-wing outfit" like Fox News than with a liberal-oriented outlet such as National Public Radio. The reason, he says, is often a desire to generate controversy or debate.

"They're at least willing to have someone on so they can get mileage out of it," he says.

Some journalists see the institute's experts as "too far-out or radical," but most are grateful for the offer of a different perspective, especially when they're on deadline and looking for another news angle, Zupan says.

Closer to home, Zupan offers liberal voices to local media via the Northwest Media Project. A recent $10,000 grant from the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation will help underwrite an updated database of progressive groups and speakers.

Michael Carrigan, a local peace activist who's known Zupan for 20 years, says his friend is very proficient at what he does even as he prefers to work behind the scenes. "He melds this laid-back Eugene style with a `let's get the job done' energy," says Carrigan. "It's a great combo."

Carrigan says Zupan is also a great storyteller and intrepid traveler "who always wants to take the road less traveled." Zupan admits to an addiction to basketball.

While many of his campaigns have faltered, Zupan rejects the notion that he's fighting a losing battle. He says history shows that successful stands - from women winning the right to vote to labor activists winning a 40-hour workweek - often take decades.

And so he keeps at it, typically working from a cramped office in the unassuming home he shares with his partner, a therapist, and their 8-year-old daughter. Two computers share office space with hundreds of books, including one that speaks to Zupan's vision of a better tomorrow.

The book's title: "Things Will Be Different for My Daughter."

PEACE, JUSTICE & MEDIA CONFERENCE

Schedule highlights are listed below. For a complete list of sessions, check the Web site: www.justicenotwarcoalition.org

Jim Hightower: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Lane Community College, Building 19. Tickets, $5 in advance, $7 at the door, available at the University of Oregon ticket office, Foolscap and Bookmine in Cottage Grove, Tsunami Books and Black Sun Books and the Justice Not War Coalition office in Eugene. Hightower will also attend a rally for rights at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the federal courthouse, corner of Seventh Avenue and Pearl Street.

San Francisco Mime Troupe: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, UO Erb Memorial Union Ballroom. Tickets, $19 in advance, $15 for students, $25 at the door, available at the UO ticket office only.

Keynote panel: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, UO EMU Fir Room: "Media Coverage of the War since Sept. 11" with anti-war activist Andrea Buffa, member of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Kelly Campbell, and UO journalism professor Carl Bybee. Free.

Forum for Peace Education: 1 p.m. Sunday, UO's EMU Fir Room. Free.

CAPTION(S):

David Zupan criticizes the media while trying to infuse it with more liberal views. "There's been much more skepticism and criticism of the media in recent years." - DAVID ZUPAN, SPOKESMAN FOR THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY