“If Thomas Paine were around, he would have written this book.”
– Bill Moyers on McChesneys The Problem of the Media

An Evening with Bob McChesney, John Nichols and Jerry Mander: Media Regime Change – Obstacles & Opportunities

Wednesday, May 5, 7PM, Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley

Join Media Alliance in welcoming Robert McChesney–the author of The Problem of the Media and co-founder of the media reform group Free Press–for a discussion of the problems as well as possibilities for a new media system. He will be joined by John Nichols, D.C. correspondent for The Nation magazine, and Jerry Mander, the president of the International Forum on Globalization.

The symptoms of the crisis of the U.S. media are well-known: a decline in hard news, the growth of info-tainment and advertorials, staff cuts and concentration of ownership, increasing conformity of viewpoint and suppression of genuine debate.

McChesney will outline the many ways citizens can intervene to make this a vastly superior media system, moving those concerned from critique to action.

McChesney’s Rich Media, Poor Democracy was hailed as a pioneering analysis of the way in which media had come to serve the interests of corporate profit rather than public enlightenment and debate.

McChesneys work concentrates on the history and political economy of media, emphasizing the role communications play in democratic and capitalist societies.

In 2003, McChesney co-founded Free Press, a national nonpartisan organization working to build a media reform movement through increased public participation in crucial media policy debates.

“The Problem of the Media follows in the great tradition of Upton Sinclair, George Seldes, I.F. Stone, and Ben Bagdikian.”
Howard Zinn

“Bob McChesney continues to smoke the media barons out of their holes with his latest bombshell, The Problem of the Media.”
Amy Goodman

“In this beautifully written and meticulously researched work, McChesney uses our history to show us what’s wrong with the present.”
Lawrence Lessig