Robert W. McChesney’s Followers (104)

Robert W. McChesney

Born

in Cleveland, Ohio, The United States

December 22, 1952

Died

March 25, 2025

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Robert Waterman McChesney was an American professor notable in the history and political economy of communications, and the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. He was the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He co-founded the Free Press, a national media reform organization. From 2002 to 2012, he hosted Media Matters, a weekly radio program every Sunday afternoon on WILL (AM), Illinois Public Media radio.

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Robert W. McChesney’s books

Average rating: 4.02 · 8,961 ratings · 540 reviews · 51 distinct works • Similar authors

	Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times 4.02 avg rating — 340 ratings — published 1999 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy 4.02 avg rating — 300 ratings — published 2013 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century 3.97 avg rating — 232 ratings — published 2004 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again by Robert W. McChesney, John Harrison Nichols 3.86 avg rating — 153 ratings — published 2009 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy by Robert W. McChesney, John Harrison Nichols 3.98 avg rating — 125 ratings — published 2016 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy (Open Media Series) 4.09 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 1997 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Media, Not Theirs: The Democratic Struggle against Corporate Media (Open Media Series) by Robert W. McChesney, John Harrison Nichols, Noam Chomsky (Forward) 3.71 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 2002 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas 4.19 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 2008 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done To Fix It by Robert W. McChesney (Editor), Victor Pickard (Editor) 3.67 avg rating — 67 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Communication Revolution: Critical Junctures and the Future of Media 3.57 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2007 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Robert W. McChesney (?)

“In the United States […] the two main business-dominated parties, with the support of the corporate community, have refused to reform laws that make it virtually impossible to create new political parties (that might appeal to non-business interests) and let them be effective. Although there is marked and frequently observed dissatisfaction with the Republicans and Democrats, electoral politics is one area where notions of competitions and free choice have little meaning. In some respects the caliber of debate and choice in neoliberal elections tends to be closer to that of the one-party communist state than that of a genuine democracy.”
― Robert W. McChesney, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order

tags: capitalism, corporatism, democracy, democracy-gone-wrong, democratic-party, elections, neoliberalism, republican-party

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“If you are using an internet service for free, you are not the customer, you are the product.”
― Robert W. McChesney

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“The entire system of free market capitalism, as it is practiced in the United States and in many Western nations,” Simon Mainwaring writes, is leading us further and further down the wrong path, toward a world dominated by narrow self-interest, greed, corporatism, and insensitivity to the greater good of humanity and to the planet itself. Short-term thinking and the single-minded pursuit of profit are increasingly subverting an economic system that otherwise has the capacity to benefit everyone.”
― Robert W. McChesney, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy

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