Excerpt
From the Foreword

...Nobody understands these issues quite like Danny Schechter. He combines a remarkable understanding of the best scholarship on the topic with the street smarts of a working journalist who knows how to cut through the bull and get to the point. He develops his critique while providing us with a lively tour through his remarkable career at Boston's WBCN, Harvard's Nieman Fellowship Program, CNN, ABC News, and as the producer of the brilliant public television programs South Africa Now and Rights & Wrongs.

The corporate media giants, advertisers, and other powerful forces that benefit by the status quo have no interest in encouraging the discussion. It is quite all right to bash the media for its alleged "liberal" bias; indeed, our airwaves are dominated by millionaire right-wingers who constantly assert such claims with no sense of irony. But it is strictly forbidden for there to be a candid analysis of the implications of corporate media control on our journalism, culture and democracy. It is not purely a coincidence, for example, that there was virtually no coverage of the crucial 1996 Telecommunications Act in the news media. This monumental law, which gave the green light to corporate media mergers and said to hell with notions of public service, was only covered in the business press, where it was presented as an issue of importance to investors, not the general public. Likewise, don't expect any time soon to see broadcast news covering the FCC's 1997 giveaway of the airwaves to the media giants for digital broadcasting.

Unlike most of the other critics, however, Danny Schechter hasn't thrown in the towel on journalism or the possibility of changing this nation for the better. That explains the irrepressible charm, energy and optimism of this book. If cynicism has become the occupational hazard of contemporary journalists, as so many now argue, Danny Schechter provides the antidote. The solution is not for journalists or citizens to put their heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong; that option is no longer tenable. The solution is to tell the truth, actively discuss and debate the situation, and seek out workable solutions. And any solution will have to involve structural changes that reduce the amount of control corporate executives have over media content, and increase the diversity of viable noncommercial media...

• (To Top of Page)
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: The Many Fronts of the Media War by DANNY SCHECHTER
• Excerpt: from the Foreword by JACKSON BROWNE
• Excerpt: from the Foreword by ROBERT W. McCHESNEY