The consequences of the technological revolution are about to hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent stagnation, when the […]
Author Archive | Bob McChesney
Blowing the Roof Off the Twenty-First Century
In the United States and much of the world there is a palpable depression about the prospect of overcoming the downward spiral created by the tyranny of wealth and privilege and establishing a truly democratic and sustainable society. It threatens to become self-fulfilling. In this trailblazing new book, award-winning author Robert W. McChesney argues that […]
Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism Is Turning the Internet Against Democracy
A prescient examination of the relationship between the Internet and the economy—one that has become even more relevant since its publication in hardcover—the book argues that capitalism’s colonization of the Internet has spurred the collapse of credible journalism and made it an unparalleled apparatus for government and corporate surveillance.
Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights
The sudden meltdown of the news media has sparked one of the liveliest debates in recent memory, with an outpouring of opinion and analysis crackling across journals, the blogosphere, and academic publications. Yet, until now, we have lacked a comprehensive and accessible introduction to this new and shifting terrain.
Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media-Election Complex Is Destroying America
Fresh from the first $10 billion election campaign, two award-winning authors show how unbridled campaign spending defines our politics and, failing a dramatic intervention, signals the end of our democracy.
The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the USA to China
This incisive and timely book traces the origins of economic stagnation and explains what it means for a clear understanding of our current situation. The authors point out that increasing monopolization of the economy—when a handful of large firms dominate one or several industries—leads to an over-abundance of capital and too few profitable investment opportunities, […]
The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again
The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again
The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas
More than any other work, The Political Economy of Media demonstrates the incompatibility of the corporate media system with a viable democratic public sphere, and the corrupt policymaking process that brings the system into existence. Among the most acclaimed communication scholars in the world, Robert W. McChesney has brought together all the major themes of […]
Communication Revolution: Critical Junctures and the Future of Media
In this brilliant new book, Robert W. McChesney, one of America’s leading media scholars and activists, brings both his authoritative analysis and unparalleled historical knowledge to bear on the growing but only fitfully successful field of media criticism and scholarship. McChesney explains why we are in the midst of a communication revolution that is at […]
Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, And Destroy Democracy
Tragedy and Farce dissects the media failures of recent years and shows how they expose the decline in resources and standards for political journalism—as well as the methodical campaign by the political right to control the news cycle. In our highly concentrated media system it has become commercially and politically irrational to do the kind […]
Propagande, médias et démocratie
They describe us in a state of alarm for democracy, that impacts home and around the world. They try not to multiply our helplessness but, rather, to encourage us more to respond, since the reversal of the situation, as Chomsky says, “mainly is in the hands of people like you and me” .
Pox Americana
Pox Americana brings together a range of insights and perspectives that were initially presented at a conference in Burlington, Vermont, to honor Harry Magdoff on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday. It is a fitting tribute to Magdoff’s pioneering analyses of U.S. imperialism and a testimony to the resilience and fruitfulness of the radical tradition.
Our Unfree Press
The FCC’s recent controversial decision to roll back restrictions on media conglomeration produced an outpouring of protest and dissent; more than 700,000 Americans personally registered complaints along with organizations as diverse as NOW and the NRA.
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century
By Bob McChesney on March 1, 2004 in Books, Chinese, Hungarian, Korean, Single Author, Slovakian, Turkish
The symptoms of the crisis of the U.S. media are well-known–a decline in hard news, the growth of info-tainment and advertorials, staff cuts and concentration of ownership, increasing conformity of viewpoint and suppression of genuine debate.
Our Media, Not theirs: The Democratic Struggle Against Corporate Media
Our Media, Not Theirs! contains proposals for making our media system more responsive to the needs of the citizenry and less dominated by corporate greed. The authors look at how political parties, grassroots movements and popular performers in other democratic nations increasingly have made media reform a political priority. The authors provide an analysis of […]