Customer Reviews

The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is another in a long line of enlightening and valuable studies by the authors pertaining the role of big business in the demise of American news media in the name of profit. It is required reading for anyone concerned with the loss of the democratic values that once served as the foundation of journalistic enterprise.

Not only is this book NOT radical, it is intelligently written, well-researched, timely, and important. A functional democracy requires a healthy press, and clearly the US press is suffering under the influence of private capital. (Fox News is the poster child of our moribund press, but it is not alone). Public investment in journalism is a refreshing idea and one that should be take seriously.

The authors point out that Jefferson, Madison, Washington and Franklin along with the majority of the other founding fathers wanted a goverenment-subsidized press. Even Hamilton wanted it, and he was one of the most laisez-faire founders. They all recognized the importance of keeping the people informed. I have to admit of all the programming on TV, I think the government-subsidized PBS the most edifying channel on TV. Democracy does not work without a truly vibrant press. Both democracy and the press are in peril in America, and the authors point out that this is no coincidence, as they are inextricably linked. Some would say federal subsidies for journalism is a radical idea, but it is actually a very old, thoroughly american idea. We as a people have just been duped into thinking that the free market will sort it all out and supply quality news. Although NBC, CNN, FOX etc. report some stories well, like hurricanes and sporting events, the sensitive stories about corruption are usually watered down or cartoonishly-sensationalized. Thousands of exposees never get writen because of the lack of investigative journalism at many news firms. This deprives the public of critical information they need to intelligently vote. McChesney and Nichols argue that we make decisions on what we know. What we know about current events and government is obtained mostly from the media. Why not return to the way of thinking about the press when the country was first formed? It is not enough for government to just not interfere with free press. It is government's job to actively promote a free press, because as John C. Calhoun proclaimed in the early 1800s, "The mail and the press are the nerves of the body politic".

No one in their right mind would call our current media free and fair and democratic. Aside from PBS all privately owned corporate news media is biased to the n-th degree. The truth has a hard time getting out if it gets out at all, not to mention all the manipulation that's going on. I saw the authors of this book on PBS and their solution makes perfect sense. The easiest and most cowardly thing to do is to incite people and Americans have been incited by fearmongers about government involvement. I admit that the way the U.S. Government is run (and has been run) doesn't put my mind at ease but there is a time and a place for government involvement if it's done right. It CAN be done and this is one of those times. Having lived under communism, socialism and now capitalism I can tell you that capitalism is not all that it's cracked up to be. Communism doesn't work for sure but in the past couple of years we have seen that unbridled capitalism doesn't work either. It has to be checked with socially responsible rules and regulations for the public good. The current news media is owned by corporations who only tell you about things that benefit them or their interests and CENSOR everything else. If you think that that's free, fair and democratic then I have a bridge I want to sell ya. If Americans would care to travel to other countries (instead of living out their lives in the town, city or state they were born in) then they would realize that they are being fed mostly BS. They would not be afraid of many of the things they have been led to believe. They would see that when it comes to publicly funded media there is nothing to fear because publicly funded media is the most democratic, fair and trustworthy you can get. The BBC, CBC and most Scandinavian news media has nothing to fear and many times they are their government's own worst critics. They have a very high standard for journalism and you can trust them to give it to you straight. Getting a coupon or voucher that I can give to ANY news outlet I want to as long as they are non-profit would be the best thing for this country. The government would guarantee a certain percentage of GDP to be spent on those coupons and no politician could block the money, withhold it, manipulate it or retaliate with it if a newspaper or other media outlet published something they didn't like. That is what these authors are talking about and there is nothing radical about that.

For anyone who has ever sat in front of the TV or read an article and ever asked themselves, "Why do I waste my time with this trash?" when confronted with the empty, partisan quarrels, conspiracy theories, and celebrity gossip that seem to pass for news these days, this is the book for you.
Of course, there are no easy answers when there are no easy questions.
McChesney and Nichols offer some creative ideas for government subsidies that encourage the revival of journalism (especially at the local level) without direct government control over what gets published. While they maintain that "free press" does indeed mean the exclusion of the government from the editorial process, they point to the important role that federal postal subsidies played in fostering the growth of newspapers in America's early days. Excited but healthily skeptical about the possibilities of digital journalism, this is not a bucket of a nostalgia for the decaying remains of 20th century commercial journalism. McChesney and Nichols exhortations and heady prose get a bit repetitive after a while, but this is still a worthwhile read.

A tad dry at times, but considering the broad topic pie charts and graphs seem to support the assertions made by the authors and aid in understanding some core issues.
This book is actually quite informative in regard to historical precedence. Early news/journalism was initially supported by a stamp tax during the time of Jefferson. As public discemination of news was popularized, it gave rise to news syndicates and corporate conglomerates which became sources of profitability via advertising. Furthering the decline of journalism and unbiased reporting was the mounting issue of increased revenues. Add to this sagging economic times, continued economic slumps affecting the revenues of all forms of media outlets, and the popularization of the internet, and we have a current disaster in the making.
The authors' contention is that this need not be the case. They offer some innovative and at times some traditional solutions to restoring news/journalism to its rightful place in a free and democratic society.
This book is informative and thought provoking. The proposals for remedying the problems defined make sense, but in these seriously troubled times with so much political bickering I wonder how long it will take for the problems addressed to be solved. This is a great book. Hope the topic addressed will not be slipped under the carpet or ignored altogether as my newspaper continues to shrink.
This is a great book for concerned citizens, journalists, and students of journalism.

I've just read this book and find it indeed radical in that the authors discuss what to so many media outlets in un-speakable... Truth about the fate of our system of journalism and along with it, the fate of our functioning Democracy.
The core foundation of our Nation's "4th Estate", the media, was rooted in the very foundations of our system of government. Robert McChesney and John Nichols remind us that our original media, the printed press, was subsidized and fostered by our own government without any strings to the content. The media system as we know it top day reflects little or none of the diversity of opinion, the broad range of content, depth of discussion vibrancy it has had in the past. With an ever increasing focus on Profit as the sole motivation of our media owners and a shrinking number of corporations controlling production and content, we need to reinvent the Press-"wheel" or our representative democracy is likely to perish. The press we engage in the near future may look nothing like that with which we grew up and that's okay. The point is that a well informed, concerned populace is fundamental to a functioning Democratic Republic and the current media-mogul model is not fostering it. McChesney and Nichols bring together the voices and minds with the most viable solutions for this crisis of Democracy.
So, while mid sized and small local papers lay off entire newsrooms or shut their doors altogether, the larger Presses keep rolling without a word about the real crisis and a perspective of its actual titanic scale.
This is a radical book in that it calls the media crisis just what it is, a crisis of Democracy. Furthermore this book will stoke the fires of creativity and entrepreneurialism that will indeed steer us back on course and salvage and strengthen our Press and our Democracy along with it.

As a communication scholar, this book has tremendous theoretical and practical recommendations about where journalism needs to head. It is one of the only out there offering real answers to the most serious problem facing our democratic nation today. I love McChesney's work in general and I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

On page xi, the authors write: "This book reflects our concern about changes that are occurring. But we offer little in the way of nostalgia. In fact, it is the opposite. It is a cry for action to shape inevitable change in a manner that assures that America will have the journalistic institutions, practices and resources necessary to maintain what can credibly be described as a self-governing society. We do not know the precise character or content of the new media that will develop, but we do know that without bona fide structures for gathering and disseminating news and analysis, the American experiment in democracy and republican governance will be imperiled" (p. xi).

This is a well-researched (43 pages of notes), well-written (intended for the layman, not the technical expert), carefully developed argument designed for those who are interested in looking at "the past and the future of journalism in a more fundamental and critical manner" (p. xii).

They add, "This book proposes specific new methods for using public subsidies to generate a high-quality, uncensored, competitive and independent news media. These methods are founded on an understanding of and respect for the new technologies that make possible a journalism that is more adventurous, more exciting, more participatory and more valuable to society and democracy than any American has ever known" (pp. xiii-xiv).

The authors have based their approach and solutions on a "decade working on media policy issues in Washington and across the nation . . . We have worked with politicians from both major parties and all political philosophies on successful campaigns to stop media consolidation and government secrecy and to promote an open uncensored Internet and viable independent public media" (p. xiv).

I quote extensively from their preface for one reason: they deliver on their promise. This book is clearly and purposefully designed as a manifesto for change delivered by two extremely well-qualified experts.

The authors write of the crisis as well as the opportunity. Their statistics, charts, examples, stories, and quotations are absolutely captivating and convincing. I thought the story of Kate Giammarise was an incredibly well-chosen example of what is happening and has happened in journalism. "The naked and uncomfortable truth is that the business model that sustained commercial news media for the past century is dying, and cannot be recreated" (p. 74), is a statement the authors make that is well-developed and supported. They also state, ". . . we can see a new and dramatically superior caliber of journalism emerging as a result of the Internet . . . It will be a journalism that can truly open up our politics, in the manner democratic theory suggests" (p. 81).

Their discussion of solutions has four components: "1) immediate measures to sustain journalism, each of which transitions to a permanent subsidy if successful; 2) a plan to convert the collapsing corporate newspaper into what we term a `post-corporate' digital newspaper, with print versions at the very least until there is ubiquitous broadband; 3) converting public and community broadcasting into genuinely worldclass civic and democratic media; and 4) spawning a vibrant, well-funded, competitive and innovative news-media sector on the Internet" (p. 159).

One of the essential keys to the success of their ideas is mentioned: "There are significant roles to be played by private enterprise, foundations and nonprofit organizations. But we no longer have any doubt that without the government providing subsidies comparable to what other leading democratic nations provide, and to what this nation routinely provided in its first century, the initiatives of these other actors will have limited effect" (p. 221).

This is an excellent -- outstanding -- book that deserves to be read by anyone concerned about the future of journalism. You may not agree with their arguments (but I think you will), but you will have to acknowledge that journalism must and will change. McChesney and Nichols provide a reasonable, well-thought-out, and well presented blueprint as they see it.

This is an excellent book. I encourage everyone who cares about democracy to read it. The authors founded a group to push for the reforms suggested in this book. The group is Free Press. Thousands of people come to Free Press's conferences.