It's the Media, Stupid [Paperback]

John Nichols (Author), Barbara Ehrenreich (Author), Ralph Nader (Author), Paul Wellstone (Author), Robert W. McChesney (Author), Barbara Ehrenreich (Author), Ralph Nader (Author), Paul Wellstone (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1583220291 | ISBN-13: 978-1583220290 | Publication Date: June 2000

An argument for media reform, It's the Media, Stupid explores the takeover of U.S. media by transnational conglomerates and shows how journalism, electoral politics, entertainment, and the arts have suffered.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"a clear plan to turn back the "corporate carpet-bombing of our culture''...offers hope for something better" -- Michael Zuzel, The Capital Times

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR IT’S THE MEDIA, STUPID

You hold in your hands a key to unlocking the corporate media chains that have shackled real freedom of the press and real democracy in this country for all too long. Use it!"
—Ralph Nader

"Congress has become so ‘safe’ and ‘centrist’ that most issues of importance to working men and women, people of color, rural residents and urban dwellers aren’t seriously discussed. Why? Because issues are condensed into ‘sound bites’ for mass consumption by targeting media constituencies in the broad middle and upper-class of consumers—the people who will buy what mass media advertises. The resulting neglect of debate around serious issues and opposing options is eating away at our democracy. John Nichols and Bob McChesney are right to argue that for our democracy to be renewed, issues of media ownership, monopoly and diversity must be on the agenda. Media cannot merely reflect the narrow corporate interests of a handful of powerful media moguls. For democracy to function, media must reflect the diversity of views, viewers and values of the whole of society."
—Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

"I’ve been an organizer for three decades, on every issue from economic justice to civil rights to community empowerment to health care to gun violence. It doesn’t matter what the struggle is, people always complain about the media. What John Nichols and Bob McChesney are saying to us is this: We can do more than complain about the media, we can change it!"
— Horace Small, National Director, Democratic Socialists of America Past president, National Federation of Black Organizers

"With It’s the Media, Stupid! we move beyond a mere list of complaints about the commercial media system as it exists; we have an institutional analysis of the system that accounts for its hypercommercial and anti-democratic tendencies. John Nichols and Bob McChesney provide a careful description of the problem’s various manifestations, and lay out a blueprint for media reform. As they show, there are multiple complementary points of intervention in which critics, activists, teachers, reporters, parents, and people who just want better quality media and less crap all have roles to play."
—Janine Jackson, Program Director Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

"McChesney and Nichols have shown us what is possible; now it falls to all of us to realize that potential with our activism."
—Barbara Ehrenreich

"McChesney’s work has been of extraordinary importance...it should be read with care and concern by people who care about freedom and basic rights."
—Noam Chomsky

"John Nichols is a unique political writer in this country. He digs into politics, he gets to the heart of it, and he writes about what’s going on with a knowledge and a passion—and an optimism—that is exciting."
— U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, D—MN

"Robert McChesney is one of the nation’s most important analysts of the media."

— Howard Zinn

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: Open Media (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583220291
• ISBN-13: 978-1583220290
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief, but disconcerting, portrayal of the media, November 1, 2000

By 

J. Grattan "Ideas can move the world" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's the Media, Stupid (Paperback)

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.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars compelling analysis, March 9, 2002

By 

Patricia O'Tuama "rissa" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's the Media, Stupid (Paperback)

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).

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The media elite is a waste of taxpayer resources, April 26, 2006

By 

Winston Hanke (Cheyenne, WY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's the Media, Stupid (Paperback)

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 !