"Broadcasters have always been coddled by politicians, and Speak Softly explains how and why. J.H. Snider tells the story with the rigor of a scholar, the doggedness of an investigative reporter and the zeal of a reformer."
-Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President, Pew Research Center
"J.H. Snider offers an extremely comprehensive and well-documented look 'behind the curtain' at how the National Association of Broadcasters drives its national legislative agenda. This is must reading for not only political scientists but for all who are interested in media policy and how it gets made in Washington.”
-Chellie Pingree, President and CEO, Common Cause
"This astute book is a first-rate work of original scholarship. It also provides an unsettling description of broadcasters' policy influence. When their own interests are involved, broadcasters cannot be trusted to act in the way they demand of all others in society. Readers will no doubt question whether J.H. Snider's recommended solution is a practical one. But no reader will question his call for new measures."
-Thomas E. Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard University
"Having played a role in the mad-cap drama of telecommunications legislation Snider documents, I can tell you he has captured the essence of the machinations, strange bedfellows, and almost single-minded, righteous self-interest that drives the telecommunications debate. Like it or not, this is how the power game is really played."
-Stephen R. Effros, Former President (1976-1999), Cable Telecommunications Association
"J.H. Snider's Speak Softly is one of the most important books on media policy and governance that I have read in years. With rare thoughtfulness, Snider combines a rigorous and detailed examination of how policymaking works in the United States with a provocative and intellectually imaginative proposal for reform. This book not only deserves, it demands, the attention of policy makers and concerned citizens who wish to see a free press and a free society."
-Robert W. McChesney, Professor and Author, The Problem of the Media
"This is a theoretically rigorous and meticulously researched examination of the growing conflicts of interest embedded in our communications policymakers and the media institutions that cover them. Snider's documentation of the various means by which broadcasters can influence policymakers -- and the extent to which they use such influence -- on behalf of their own economic self-interest is a wake-up call to any citizen concerned about the future of our media system and our democracy."
-Philip Napoli, Professor and Director, Donald McGannon Communication Research Center, Fordham University
"A fascinating and perceptive look at the politics behind the biggest grant of public property to private parties in the 20th Century."
-Blair Levin, former FCC Chief of Staff (1993-1997)
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From the Back Cover
"In a democracy, public policies toward the media carry unusual importance, since they shape the amount and direction of information on which the people make their decisions. J.H. Snider's diligent research and keen intelligence has produced one of the most revealing studies of this poorly understood but vital topic. By examining the remarkably secretive but powerful lobby, the National Association of Broadcasters, and how it worked to ensure that the Telecommunication Act of 1996 gave sweeping grants of free television spectrum to local stations, Snider has given us a eye-opening and indispensable account of how and why the media do what they do."
—Timothy Cook, Reilly Chair in Political Communication, Manship School of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University
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