Customer Reviews

The Global Media: The Missionaries of Global Capitalism (Media Studies)

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Professors Herman and McChesney sharply analyse the commercialization of the mass media over the last 20 years, and its increasingly global nature. Their debunking of corporate libertarian myths regarding the market providing consumer sovreignty in this arena, and the alert they sound, concerning the consequences of a few firms dominating the media and undermining democracy and the working class, makes this an essential read for all independantly minded citizens. Their treatment of the internet in particular is well worth reading.

This is by far the best book I have read about the media. The authors explain that the media system has come to be dominated by a few large corporations who use their market powers largely to promote a world-wide monoculture of consumerism. The media companies do this by distributing non-controversial entertainment and infotainment programs. This strategy is funded by multinational corporations wishing to sell their products to ever-expanding markets and supported by the elite classes who benefit the most from capitalist growth. The commercial media companies use their control of broadcast network systems to limit access to alternative materials (especially local content celebrating diversity and alternative, non-capitalist values), forcing consumers to accept the paradox of choice within a narrowly-defined range of possibilities. Meanwhile, as public broadcasting systems falter, the authors point out that citizens who are immersed in commercial media gradually embrace the values of selfish individualism and materialism and tend to disengage from their local communities.

With thorough documentation and clear, persuasive analysis, Herman and McChesney dissect the defenders of media globalization and commercialization and explain why democratic alternatives to the corporate media system are critical to maintaining a healthy democracy. Highly recommended.

This is the second book I've read by MChesney and as with the first one, I found it very informative and important to understanding the ways market forces are shaping global societies on a daily basis. Few people in this country realize the impact of U.S. media conglemerates on other countries. It's too often assumed that what is good for America is good for the world. Well, McChesney and Herman show that it's not. Capitlaist driven media is helping to destablize pubic interests and voices throughout the globe. Owrell's Big Brother is not needed. We simply get from dominate media mergers limited choices about what is happening in the world today. By delivering these limited choices, profit driven media help themselves and other powerful capitalists maintain their own interests and power. Notice, for example, how ABC, CBS, NBC, and even CNN reported the same thing about what took with the recent elections. There's no alternative view, there's only the corporate view. That's what advertisers pay for and that's what the dominate media delivers. The next book I'm reading on this subject is Dean Alger's "Medgamedia," which seems be even more lucidly written than McChesney and Herman's.

I was first recommended this book as part of an undergraduate journalism & politics course. After having read a few other texts in the genre of media ownership, I feel free to recommend this book without any hesitation. Herman and McChesney offer an excellent analysis of the growing concentration of media ownership, and predictions about where the media industry is going in the next few decades. Granted, in the last 10 years since the book's initial publication a lot has happened in the business, but most of the major players are still around, and nothing has changed in a fundamental way. In addition to the drier business and regulatory analysis included, there is some truly intriguing analysis of the international media, and what plays well in markets outside of the United States (such as sports being the single most exportable media commodity). Really, what Herman does is combine a brief history of American media companies, followed by economic analysis, and finishes with a cultural outlook on the current situation and one all is said and done it is an interesting read. This book would also make a perfect addition to any library that includes work by Neil Postman or Noam Chomsky.

This is your typical left wing anti-capitalist drivel. The bias is everywhere and there is no reason to most of what is written. This book is a total waist of time for anyone who is interested in a fair and balanced look at the cost and benefits of free markets. How can anyone be so narrow and ignorant as Edward Herman.