It's the Media, Stupid

by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney

Book Overview

Open Media Series Number 17 Provides an analysis of the current crisis in the media in the US which, the authors argue, has undermined democracy and has fallen into the hands of a small number of transnational conglomerates that use their political and economic power to carpet bomb the citizenry with commercial messages. Also presents ways in which the media system can be improved and made more responsive to the needs of ordinary people and less dominated...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583220291
• ISBN13: 9781583220290
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

The media elite is a waste of taxpayer resources

Ever wonder why the rightwing fascists and fake liberals in both parties get away with destroying America? It's the media, stupid ! Yes, some rightwing lunatics will cry "Liberal media" while others will cry "conservative/corporate media" but folks, the media is nothing more than a puppet for anti-America government that exists in Washington D.C. . The book does take a strong swipe at the ever corrupt and dishonest media but the reader might still feel powerless as there are no truly working solutions except to quit watching the TV set. Then again, not watching the telly might give the American people more time to get to work and take back their country. Read this book and fight back !

compelling analysis

This indepth analysis should put an end to the myth of liberal bias in the media. As the Left has been saying for years, the media is only as liberal as the conservative corporations that own them. We seem to be tumbling towards a world in which everything is owned by a relatively few number of conjoined companies whose activities are reported on by a handful of aqenda-driven media giants all bent on diseminating a particular view of predigested news aimed at the lowest common denominator. There has to be another way although, like a previous reviewer, I'm not sure all the solutions in this book will work. I would also like to point out that 90% of National Public Radio's funding comes from donations made by listeners and from corporate underwriting. Only 10% of the NPR budget comes from the federal and state governments and all of that is in the form of grants used for specific programs (science, history, music, literature, etc).

Brief, but disconcerting, portrayal of the media

While all industries have undergone tremendous consolidations in the past decade, none of them have the impact on our culture and democracy as do the media giants. The delivery of targeted viewers and users to advertisers is the goal of the media giants, not the creation of an informed citizenry. In fact, the author demonstrates that considerable censorship is exercized to prevent views that question the corporate order as well as their own restricted information flows from reaching the public.The author emphasizes that the corporate media system will have to be addressed before democracy stands a chance. But a real quandry exists. Usually an active citizenry requires good information to become energized - the kind that is needed from the very media in need of drastic reform. It is a most unpromising picture.