Starr chronicles both the history of the current public television crisis and his own involvement in giving community control back to WQED, one of the most important public television stations in the country.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
At the time of its conception in the early 1950s, public television was designed to provide educational programming independent of government and commercial pressures. But cutbacks in federal funding, unwise and unnecessary reliance on corporate funding, pressure from conservative interest groups and censorious government actions have reduced many public television stations to a flickering vestige of their original promise. In this stirring book, Starr, an activist and award-winning sociologist, provides a rigorous analysis of the U.S. media and the decline of public television, as well as a step-by-step handbook for community activists who wish to reclaim local television and radio stations. Arguing that public television is needed more than ever in this era of corporate consolidation--when "[fewer] than 10 corporations control more than half of all communications enterprises: CDs, books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and motion pictures"--Starr recounts his own community's successful efforts to take back control of Pittsburgh's WQED, one of the first and most respected public television stations. With the drive and energy of "true life" Hollywood expos?s like The Insider, Starr chillingly details how government officials have targeted public television (for example, President Nixon declared war on public TV after learning that a critic of his Vietnam policy was hosting a PBS show) and how the United States has consistently lost alternative and independent news sources over the past three decades. Unabashedly populist in tone and intent, Starr's work is not only a model of American idealism and community organizing, but an engrossing narrative as well. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Sociology professor and self-styled community activist Starr explains how the originally commercial-free, not-for-profit public broadcasting system turned out to be so much like the commercial-laden, for-profit television networks seen today. In response, he is devoting much of his life to running an organization called Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, which demands more highbrow programming, a minimum of middlebrow programming, and an elimination of lowbrow television programs. Air Wars is not an easy book to read because of its schizophrenic organization and style. It is actually several books advertised as one: an omniscient skeptic's turgidly written, third-person history of public television starring institutional entities; a much livelier first-person account of how Starr and colleagues shook up the public broadcasting establishment in Pittsburgh; and a primer for reformers in any city. Recommended for academic libraries and for public libraries in cities where public broadcasting is a hot issue.DSteve Weinberg, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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stripping assets, national desk, fairness doctrine, subscriber election, independent public broadcasting, national program service, community service grants, community advisory board, mass media bureau, corporate underwriters, corporate governance committee, public interest advocates, public affairs shows, station leaders, local programming Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Air Wars, George Miles, Elsie Hillman, Final Showdown, New York, New Bottles, Reproducing the Station Culture, Old Wine, Don Korb, Democratic Alternative, Accountability Project, Gwen Elliott, Jim Roddey, Ervin Duggan, United States, Mellon Bank, San Francisco, Putting the Public, Other Fronts, Allen Kukovich, Round Two, Lloyd Kaiser, Michael Fields, Los Angeles, Deadly Deception Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
stripping assets, national desk, fairness doctrine, subscriber election, independent public broadcasting, national program service, community service grants, community advisory board, mass media bureau, corporate underwriters, corporate governance committee, public interest advocates, public affairs shows, station leaders, local programming Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Air Wars, George Miles, Elsie Hillman, Final Showdown, New York, New Bottles, Reproducing the Station Culture, Old Wine, Don Korb, Democratic Alternative, Accountability Project, Gwen Elliott, Jim Roddey, Ervin Duggan, United States, Mellon Bank, San Francisco, Putting the Public, Other Fronts, Allen Kukovich, Round Two, Lloyd Kaiser, Michael Fields, Los Angeles, Deadly Deception Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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6
books
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- Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollier in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollier in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Listener Supported: The Culture and History of Public Radio by Jack W. Mitchell in Back Matter
- Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding by Tyler Cowen in Back Matter
- The Business of Media: Corporate Media and the Public Interest by David R. Croteau in Back Matter
See all 6 books citing this book
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