The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain [Paperback]

Judith Scherff (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Clarity Pr (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932863280
• ISBN-13: 978-0932863287
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,563,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs on every journalist's bookshelf, April 16, 1999

By 

David Liscio (Nahant, Ma USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain (Paperback)

Learn how corporations completely circumvent the media. Find out more about the "wise use" movement that counteracts the efforts of environmentalists. Read about rent-a-scientists and news pollution. It's all contained in "The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain," (Clarity Press, 1999), a collection of searing articles by such authors as David Orr, Conger Beasley Jr., Douglas Trent, Wes Jackson and John Stauber. The piece entitled "News Pollution" by Stauber and co-author Sheldon Rampton is particularly riveting. Both men work for the non-profit Center for Media & Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin, and edit the investigative quarterly PR Watch. They are also co-authors of "Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry," and "Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?" The section on video news releases (VNR)produced by PR firms offers a detailed inside look at how these pre-packaged promotions get used as legitimate news by deadline-maddened or budget-strapped TV stations. An excerpt: "VNRs are as much a public relations fixture as the print news release," stated George Glazer, a senior VP at Hill & Knowlton. "In fact, many public relations firms are well into second generation of VNR technology. We use satellite transmissions from our own facilities almost on a daily basis, and wait eagerly for fiber optics systems to allow us to dial into nationwide networks." News Pollution points to databases PR firms keep on environmental journalists. For example, former Wall Stret Journal reporter Dean Rotbart runs a firm called TJFR Products and Service, "which compiles dossiers on his former colleagues so that corporate clients know how to manipulate individual members of the media," according to Stauber. John Passacantando's piece, "How Industry Combats Climate Protection," offers insights into how PR firms are used by the fossil fuel industry to counteract research into alternative energy sources. Tarso Luis Ramos does a fine job explaining the "wise use" movement in his article "Mobilizing Against Environmentalism." This collection, with forward by Thomas Berry, belongs on every journalist's bookshelf.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Learn to proofread, April 24, 1999

By 

Jim Norton ([e-mail]) (cyberspace) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain (Paperback)

The Piracy of America:  Profiteering in the Public Domain is the latest look at the unwise abuse movement and corporate and government damage to the environment.  It is a collection of essays edited by Judith Scherff from Clarity Press Inc. (1999) a human rights publisher. The essays are a mixed bag, including both reprints and new material.   Some are very good, such as David Orr and David Ehrenfeld's essay on the problem of ecological denial.  Others are not so good; John Passacantando's article on climate change is little more than repeatedly claiming that because evil corporations are funding the naysayers they must be wrong.  Unfortunately, the whole book suffers from a lack of proofreading.  For example, according to the book the average passenger pigeon ate nine bushels of food a day!  (Yes kids, you can go out and play.  Just remember your hard hats and rain gear and whatever you do don't look up.)

Favorite quotes (Thomas Puzzo, page 231): All that is needed for great evil to triumph is for good to be complacent and not ask questions.

David Orr & David Ehrenfeld (page 225): Denial, however, must be distinguished from honest disagreement about matters of fact, logic, data, and evidence that is a normal part of the ongoing struggle to establish scientific truth.  It is, rather, the willful dismissal or distortion of fact, logic, and data in the service of ideology and self-interest.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Insightful and On the Mark!, July 17, 2002

By 

Alexander Baker (Harlingen, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Piracy of America: Profiteering in the Public Domain (Paperback)

Found it difficult to put this book down once I began reading.. Insightful and on the mark, this was a very enlightening journey into the world of profiteering in the public domain.... A MUST READ for everyone interested in learning about the piracy of America...! Buy it today!