Berkeley Blog

In Foreign Media I Trust

The Knight Foundation just came out with an historical brief on the decline in the U.S. of our trust in media as well as in government. No surprise, since the two institutions are so closely entwined that, like Siamese twins, they needs to be severed at birth in order to thrive and survive.

I grew up partly in Germany and spent some time living in France, so I have always felt as if I had one foot on a different continent than the one I’m living on now: Silicon Valley, which based on its values – progress uber alles – seems as if it were a continent unto itself.

So I read a medley of publications, including the Guardian, BBC News, der Spiegel, RT (the independent Russian media site), and even Le Monde occasionally. Not that I trust any of these publications more than the NY Times or Axios (although the latter with its Why It Matters coda for each story is gaining more of my respect), but by reading news from other countries I can find out more about what’s going on in parts of the world our national media seem to ignore unless there’s a natural disaster or government overthrow.

I can also discover what the rest of the world thinks about our disintegrating government, our shooting-in-schools gun culture, and the #MeToo movement.

As for truth, I try to look beyond individual events, such as crazy people planting explosives at FedEx offices and who is the latest person to lose his or her job at the oh-so-White House. Instead, I read trusted thinkers, people like Robert Reich, George Lakoff, Noam Chomsky, and yes, Michelle Goldberg, Maureen Dowd, and the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, who get the larger picture and can delineate the mindset and motives of the players making the world go under.

So that’s my response to your brief, dear Knight Foundation. Keep funding a free press even if it belongs to the corporations that fund them, as it always has. Maybe some day the promise of the Internet will make us all reporters and create a truly free press. The answer lies in technology that now supports the likes of Facebook but could easily be transferred to an open platform that would allow free access of knowledge and information to all.

Facebook's 21st Century Company Town

Facebook might not be bringing democracy and enlightenment to the peoples of the planet, but after my visit to its headquarters in Menlo Park the other day, it would seem the company is delivering contentment if not euphoria to its 18,000 employees. From my initial encounter with valet parking lot attendants to tram drivers, receptionists, food workers, and a few professional employees, everyone was so Disneyland friendly and helpful, it seemed as if the entire kingdom of Bhutan had been transplanted to Silicon Valley.

Frank Gehry designed a vast room, high enough to fit a standing rocket ship, that houses thousands of employees in an open floor plan, interspersed with wackily named meeting rooms and centered by the glass offices of CEO Zuckerberg and COO Sandberg, neither of whom was around that day. Desks are arranged in clusters, chairs are ergo high end, and vending machines offer employees free cables, batteries, and other devices.

The décor is wake-up orange walls adjacent to plain particle board partitions plastered tastefully with posters designed and printed by employees themselves in one of the “analog” workshops available in a nearby building. Mantras about kindness and inclusion are strung along the corridors much like Tibetan prayer flags, and a cool Gehry Mobius-like winding staircase ascends from the reception area to the grassy rooftop, replete with benches and trees. No one was there, probably because it was lunchtime or because Wednesdays are optional work-at-home days.

Next door, cranes were erecting an identical twin edifice to encompass new hordes of employees. The people we passed at their computers seemed seriously at work but since we were not allowed to photograph anything, we had no idea what they were doing….taking out Russian interlopers? In appearance, the workers seemed to be mostly male, white or Asian, and under 40, and the dress was decidedly Silicon Valley casual.

As a mother myself, it seemed as if Facebook management extends a maternal concern for its employees. The company provides an onsite laundry, dental office, spa, gym, bank, woodworking shop, bicycle repair shop, sweet shop and cafes with food offerings from almost every continent except Antarctica. The day we visited the main dining hall featured German food, including spaetzle, breaded chicken cutlets, red cabbage and a coffee cake with liquor, raisins, and nuts as well as chocolate dipped butter cookies. As good a mom as I thought I was, I never kept a stack of disposable toothbrushes fully loaded with toothpaste next to the bathroom sinks. And the day I was there, an EO pop up near the Facebook swag store offered a hefty 20 percent discount on its cosmetics to employees.

With all necessities taken care of, one need never leave the workplace except to go home to sleep, and maybe do something else on the weekend.  

Buses transport employees from their homes and back. Or employees can borrow company cars and bicycles for short trips. The company leases a row of apartments next to the campus where it houses new employees for a month before they find a place to live. It offers a generous moving allowance to anyone who needs to relocate from more than 10 miles away. Famous people like Condoleeza Rice come to speak to anyone who has the time to listen, and employees are encouraged to invite visitors, like myself, for a tour and free meal, so they can share in the enlightenment.

Facebook has built the 21^st century version of the company town. It’s visually stunning, it’s eco, it’s ergo and all encompassing. Why would anyone ever want to leave?