The Death and Life of American Journalism

by McChesney, Robert W; Nichols, John

• ISBN13: 9781568586366
• ISBN10: 1568586361
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-12
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

American journalism is collapsing as newspapers and magazines fail and scores of reporters are laid off across the country. Conventional wisdom says the Internet is to blame, but veteran journalists and media critics Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols disagree. The crisis of American journalism predates the Great Recession and digital media boom. What we are witnessing now is the end of the commercial news model and the opportune moment for the creation of a new system of independent journalism, one subsidized by the public and capable of safeguarding our democracy.

Author Biography

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. McChesney has written or edited eighteen books, and his work has been translated into twenty-seven languages. John Nichols is The Nation's Washington correspondent and the associate editor of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. He has covered seven presidential races and reported from two dozen countries. Of Nichols, author Gore Vidal says: Of all the giant slayers now afoot in the great American desert, John Nichols's sword is the sharpest. Together, they cofounded Free Press: www.freepress.net.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. ix
Preface	p. xxxvii
Introduction: American Crisis; American Opportunity	p. 1
The Crisis in Journalism	p. 7
Flawed Choices, False Hopes	p. 57
Why the State	p. 109
Subsidizing Democracy	p. 157
Conclusion: The Age of the Possible	p. 213
Afterword	p. 231
Founding Principles	p. 257
Ike, MacArthur and the Forging of Free and Independent Press	p. 267
Sources for the Book's Charts	p. 281
Notes	p. 301
Index	p. 351
About the Authors	p. 368
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