Capsule
review:
This book belongs
in a special category.
Bob McChesney,
professor of communications
at the University
of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign,
has given media
activists and would-be
political reformers
a tool whose impact
on progressive
politics will be
felt for years
to come. Lucid,
comprehensive,
impeccably honest,
well-argued, and
with tons of valuable
information, this
book is simply
MUST reading for
any person interested
in learning what
kind of democracy
the US really lives
under, and where
it is heading under
the present media
regime...Monthly
Review, as usual,
deserves recognition
for publishing
books of this caliber.
With materials
like this, we could
finally start winning
some major battles. RECOMMENDED
Vox
populi: What other readers are
saying about this book
“ This
masterful study leads the reader
step by step from the fundamental
principles that should guide a free press in a free society, through the process
of transition from ‘a feisty fourth estate in service to democracy...to
a commercial institution dedicated to the rule of big business,’ on to
the latest government-corporate machinations to undermine the threat of functioning
democracy that might challenge business rule, and finally to the growing popular
movements that are challenging this attack on freedom and justice and the means
they can employ. It is not only highly enlightening, but a real stimulus to constructive
action as well.” -- Noam Chomsky
“ Robert
McChesney, in The Problem of
the Media, follows in the great
tradition of Upton Sinclair,
George Seldes, I.F. Stone, and
Ben Bagdikian in exposing the
ruthless hold of corporate power
on the nation’s media.
He brings the analysis up to
date in this revealing book,
and suggests how we may work
to create the free marketplace
of information that is essential
if we are to live in a democratic
society.” -- Howard
Zinn
“ As
Chomsky is to linguistics, Ben
& Jerry'd to ice cream, and Elvis
to shaking one's hips, McChesney
is to media analysis. he is the
King: there is no one more definitive."
--Danny
Schechter, Editor, mediachannel.org
“The
Problem of the Media is another
of Robert McChesney’s
important contributions toward
a greater understanding of how
the major media and government
policy makers have denied the
American public information they
need to understand and protest
damage to democracy inflicted
by official and corporate communications
policies. It is an important
book produced at a critical time
in contemporary politics.” -- Ben
H. Bagdikian, author of The
New Media Monopoly
“The
Problem of the Media is
an exceptional blend of history,
economics, policy and politics."
-- Michael
X. Delli Carpini, Dean,
Annenberg School for Communications,
University of Pennsylvania
“One
of the leading architects of
the democratic revolution against
media consolidation, Robert McChesney
has written an inspirational
and enlightening manifesto for
the growing media reform movement--and
for all concerned citizens who
want to reclaim the media for
our democracy.” -- Katrina
vanden Heuvel, Editor, The
Nation
"Robert
McChesney is the conscience of
the media in America. This book
is just the latest evidence of
his profound importance to this
nation." --
Charles
Lewis, Center for Public
Integrity
“Today
when we say that the press and
media in the United States are
free, all it means is that Rupert
Murdoch is not yet in jail. Bob
McChesney, in his beautiful,
clear, and angry book, The Problem
of the Media, tells why it's
the most dangerous of all the
problems we face, and how democracy
in the media might still be brought
back to life. If you are scared--and
you should be scared--by
a media totally in the claws
of a gang with Bennett's morals
and Ashcroft's love for the Bill
of Rights, this is a book to
read and act.” -- Jim
Hightower
“This
is required reading for every
student of the media and politics,
and for every citizen concerned
about why democracy in America
seems so out of tune with the
people. McChesney traces the
history of how the media became
barriers to public debate, why
it is so difficult to discuss
this situation in the media today,
and what we can do about it.” -- Lance
Bennett, Director, Center
for Communication and Civic Engagement,
University of Washington
McChesney's Rich
Media, Poor Democracy was
hailed as a pioneering analysis
of the way in which media had
come to serve the interests
of corporate profit rather than
public enlightenment and debate.
Bill Moyers commented, "If
Thomas Paine were around, he
would have written this book." The
Problem of the Media is
certain to be a landmark in media
studies, a vital resource for
media activism, and essential
reading for concerned scholars
and citizens everywhere.
Expect
this book to get a wave of one-star
liberal-bashing reactionary reviews
once the neoconservatives learn
that it exists. That's because
their entire philosophy, especially
concerning the media, is decisively
shot down in this powerful manifesto.
McChesney's specialty is media
ownership patterns and their
effects on popular democracy.
Here we find that the modern
push for deregulation in media
industries is leading to a real
crisis for democracy in America
- in effect there really is a "problem
of the media." While megacorporations
wrap their campaign for unlimited
profits in rhetoric about free
speech, the First Amendment,
and giving the people what they
want, McChesney finds that all
of these claims are false and
usually downright dishonest.
The current wave of media deregulation
has been greased by big media
money in the halls of power,
and influence peddling among
a few power players (including
FCC chairman Michael Powell,
whom McChesney unapologetically
cuts down to size). The common
people are left out of the loop,
with a loss of media coverage
toward local and dissenting viewpoints,
and more and more lowest-common
denominator media content. Despite
the rhetoric about free trade
and capitalism, today's media
is far from competitive and equitable.
Instead it's a hyper-commercial
oligarchy of power consolidation
and political power grabbing,
and McChesney provides plenty
of evidence and eloquent arguments
about these trends and the damage
they are doing to popular democracy.
Certain parts
of this book also serve as a
monumentally informative primer
on modern neoconservative politics,
with that movement's almost total
contempt for the public interest
and slavish kowtowing to corporate
bigwigs. That makes this book
essential for media watchdogs,
plus more general political observers
who can then learn more about
media trends as a specific issue.
A bonus is Chapter 3 in which
McChesney brutally deconstructs
the standard right-wing claims
of "liberal
bias" in the media, finding
that this is merely an attempt
by conservatives to monopolize
social thought, in addition to
income and political power. This
book's final chapter presents
a partial happy ending in documenting
the vast popular uprising that
is now confronting the media
giants and their pocketed politicians.
The people are up for a long
fight against media money and
power, but all those who read
this outstanding treatise from
McChesney will certainly have
the knowledge necessary for true
democratic progress. (Filed
with Amazon.com by B. Cramer "doomsdayer520")
Buy it (used) cheap from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Media-Communication-Politics-Twenty-First/dp/1583671056/sr=8-1/qid=1171689875/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4254951-0562320?ie=UTF8&s=books
“ This
masterful study leads the reader
step by step from the fundamental
principles that should guide a free press in a free society, through the process
of transition from ‘a feisty fourth estate in service to democracy...to
a commercial institution dedicated to the rule of big business,’ on to
the latest government-corporate machinations to undermine the threat of functioning
democracy that might challenge business rule, and finally to the growing popular
movements that are challenging this attack on freedom and justice and the means
they can employ. It is not only highly enlightening, but a real stimulus to constructive
action as well.” -- Noam Chomsky