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