Amazon.com: Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media (9780805078190): Eric Klinenberg: Books

Product Details

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Metropolitan Books; First Edition edition (January 9, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805078193
ISBN-13: 978-0805078190
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,827,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Eric Klinenberg has written an extraordinary and powerful account of the devastating elimination of localism in U.S. media and journalism, and how Americans from all walks of life are rising up to challenge the great media crisis that grips our nation today. Brilliantly written and tightly argued, Fighting for Air is the perfect book for anyone wanting to understand what is going on in this country, and why it is so important to our future."--Robert W. McChesney, author of The Problem of the Media

"Eric Klinenberg has given us a chilling report on how the American news media, increasingly concentrated, have made a mockery of the commitment to operate 'in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.' Admirably researched and lucidly written, Fighting for Air should serve as a wake-up call on the deafness of radio and television to communal needs." --Daniel Schorr, Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio

"Big media conglomerates--in radio, TV and newspapers--have taken over local outlets all over America, silencing independent local voices. Eric Klinenberg has done a masterful job of researching what has happened to America's local news media. Fighting for Air is a must-read for anyone who cares about the role of the media in a democracy."--George Lakoff, author of Don't Think of an Elephant!

"Fighting for Air is a richly detailed, compelling, and timely investigation into the problem of the U.S. media and what people are doing to take it back. Klinenberg pulls back the curtain on complex media policy issues, with stories of real people, how they have been harmed by Big Media, and follows up with inspiring tales of underdogs who are fighting back and winning. This book is a call to action to fight for a strong, vigorous, independent media."--Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now!

About the Author

Eric Klinenberg, associate professor of sociology at New York University, is the author of the highly acclaimed Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. The recipient of numerous academic awards and fellowships, Klinenberg has also written for Rolling Stone, The Nation, and Slate.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

A Critical Contribution to the Field

By Harold Feld on January 16, 2007

Format: Hardcover

As a participant in the "media reform movement" who has witnessed and participated in the events Klinenberg describes, I found his observations accurate and his analysis penetrating. I have full review on my professional blog. To give the teaser:

Anyone who wants to understand the media reform movement should buy this book. More importantly, this is the book to give your friends and relatives so that they can understand why the media reform movement matters, and why it will succeed in transforming the media landscape despite the multi-billion dollar forces arrayed against it.

Others have written excellent books on the rise of media concentration and why it sucks rocks. What makes Fighting for Air different, and therefore a must read, is that it chronicles the history of the media reform *movement*. Certainly you will understand by the end of the book why media concentration has inspired a movement of people dedicated to stopping further consolidation and reversing the effects of our increasingly centralized and homogenized media. But this realization comes through the telling of the stories of the movement -- its people, its victories, and its set backs.
[...]

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

Figthing for Air is essential reading for understanding media reform

By Gregory Rose on January 16, 2007

Format: Hardcover

Dr. Klinenberg has provided a valuable service to Americans in his excellent historical and sociological study of media consolidation, its implications for access, content, and justice at both the national and local levels, and the growing movement to challenge consolidation. The work is a model of scholarship for a mass audience, meticulously documenting both the secondary literature and the extensive interviews Klinenberg has conducted with numerous industry and movement figures, while losing none of the immediacy of a compelling narrative and persuasive argument. Clearly and concisely Klinenberg marshals a compelling case.

My only criticism is that a more extensive discussion of the political economy of consolidation and its wider context in the US and international economies, and a more detailed critique of the failed libertarian economic paradigm which was used to sell consolidation to policymakers would be useful. But that would be asking for a much longer and more complicated book, and one which would probably not have done as admirable a job in explaining in simple and direct terms the complexities of consolidation and its dreadful consequences of American public life.

I recommend Fighting for Air as essential reading for anyone who wants to understand this vital area of public policy.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

What to do about media consolidation should be the #1 issue in the 2008 election.

By Paul Tognetti TOP 500 REVIEWER on February 27, 2007

Format: Hardcover

The genie is out of the bottle. Over the past 15 years our radio and television stations, newspapers and magazines have been gobbled up by a handful of media conglomerates. Turn on the radio in just about any city in this nation and you will hear the same tired and unimaginative programming. Local content has largely been eliminated on a good many of these stations and the number of commercials has increased dramatically. In many of our largest cities media companies are allowed to operate up to 8 radio stations, 3 televisions stations, cable TV service and even the local newspaper. It is an alarming state of affairs to say the least! In his new book "Fighting For Air: The Battle To Control America's Media" author Eric Klinenberg brings these critical issues to our attention. While the American public has been asleep at the switch our President, the Congress and those who are supposed to regulate such matters have allowed companies like Clear Channel, Entercom, Citadel and Infinity to gobble up our local media. If you have grown tired of all of the canned programming and recognize the importance that local media outlets have played throughout American history then this is a book you should definitely consider.

So how did this happen? Over the past two decades our government has been "deregulating" media. At one time, no company was allowed to own more than one television station in a community. The number of radio stations were also strictly regulated. And the FCC would never have allowed a company that owned a major daily newspaper to own a television station in the same town. All of this began to change in the 1980's as broadcasters cried poverty and declared that they were having a difficult time turning a profit.Read more ›

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

Any college-level course in media studies needs this.

By Midwest Book Review on March 11, 2007

Format: Hardcover

FIGHTING FOR AIR: THE BATTLE TO CONTROL AMERICA'S MEDIA examines how national radio shows are adjusted to 'sound local', how the media consolidation is hurting America, and how in fact there is a vanishing case for local representation in the media. The author's interviewed many programming directors, DJs, reporters and more for this book surveying the politics and presence of media conglomerates, FCC and legal influences on media regulations and ownership, and how stories are promoted or killed by special interests. Any college-level course in media studies needs this.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

FCC = BIG BUSINESS agency that writes the laws for their PUPPET LEGISLATURES..

By R. A. Barricklow VINE VOICE on February 18, 2007

Format: Hardcover

EASY GO! That is a tag line for the players in Las Vegas. It is also a tag line for the press when it comes to democracy. In other words, the bottom line is democracy is too expensive.

The accountants, marketers, & investment bamkers have stormed the newsrooms and hijacked its mission - there is NO LONGER THE ILLUSION THAT PUBLIC SERVICE IS THERE FIRST MISSION. IT has become instead a mission to establish local momopolies. Jack up advertising rates, downsize the editorial staffs( & where possible, break up unions), shrink news rooms.

News is actually commentary and entertaiment, not local reporting. What used to be a public trust is now just a cash cow.

What has been lost for the citizen is what A.J. Liebling, legendary press critic, called diversity in ownership that promotes competition, creates opportunities for smaller companies, local business people, creative programming, and in its stead, no public benefit. In short its the journalism, not the news print, that should be the bottom line.

Now they are going after the internet spreading THE LIE that new technology has rendered the changes of internet consolidation obsolite. Net Neutality is in the fascist's crosshairs.

Speaking of Michael Powell, who never met a merger he did'nt like, or monopoloy for that matter; the public be damned was his attitude.

In short the checks & balances made possible by diverse competition are being eradicated. When it all comes down to it there will be 2 or 3 companies that essentially own access to our culture. It will be impossible to break up as THOSE MONOPOLIES WILL BE SO POLITICALLY POWERFULL AND WILLING TO SPEND UNGODLY AMOUNTS OF $$$ - THAT NO GOVERNMENT COULD STAND UP TO THEM.

Highly Recommended

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