Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream

by Robert Jensen

Political activists with radical ideas often find themselves shut out of the mainstream news media. Writing Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream is designed for activists who want to take on that challenge. Based on the author’s experience as a journalist, activist, and academic, this book offers insight into radical politics and mass media and then moves on to describe practical strategies for breaking into the mainstream. Illustrated by the author’s own opinion columns published in daily newspapers, Writing Dissent explains how journalists work and how activists can successfully work with them.

Genres: Activism, Writing, Politics

150 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Robert Jensen is an emeritus professor in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in northern New Mexico with his wife, Eliza Gilkyson, a two-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter.

Reviews

[Phillip Twining · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book from cover to cover one day. The next day I wrote Professor Jensen and thanked him for not only providing an instructive text, but for giving me a sense of solidarity that anyone following a radical philosophy needs. The book is filled with op/ed articles he's written for mainstream papers across the country along with a commentary for each piece as well as techniques for getting radical ideas into wide dissemination. The writing is easy and refreshingly logical--he's a journalist so he knows how to keep a reader's attention. He overturns a lot of common beliefs that most media people hold and rejects "objectivity" (which isn't objective at all) for a more responsible and moral press. Also in the book are many of Jensen's own radical beliefs about economics, sex, politics, and foreign/domestic policy.

[Kidada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful, especially to academics who might be thinking about jumping into the public sphere.