Cambridge University Press America's Battle for Media Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform (Communication, Society and Politics)

How did the American media system become what it is today? Why do American media have so few public interest regulations compared with other democratic nations? How did the system become dominated by a few corporations, and why are structural problems like market failures routinely avoided in media policy discourse? By tracing the answers to many of these questions back to media policy battles in the 1940s, this book explains how this happened and why it matters today. Drawing from extensive archival research, the book uncovers the American media system's historical roots and normative foundations. It charts the rise and fall of a forgotten media reform movement to recover alternatives and paths not taken. As much about the present and future as it is about the past, the book proposes policies for remaking media based on democratic values for the digital age. Review 'Today's media didn't have to be so bad. Pickard tells a riveting and heretofore largely unknown story of how corporate media had its way with the public interest and trivialized our country's civic dialogue, despite the efforts of reformers and a once-heroic FCC. Bringing the story right up to today's high-stakes battle for an Open Internet, this is 'must-must' reading for anyone interested in putting our democracy back on track.' Hon. Michael J. Copps, FCC Commissioner, 2001–12'America's Battle for Media Democracy is a well-researched, thoughtful, and lucid critique of media policy in the contemporary United States. To make his case, Pickard turns to history. During the 1940s, media activists joined together with government officials, academics, and even some corporate leaders to articulate an expansive, social democratic vision for newspapers and radio. The defeat of this movement hastened the triumph of corporate libertarianism - a tradition whose origin Pickard provocatively traces not to the free market fundamentalism of the recent past, but, rather, to the political settlement that followed the Second World War.' Richard R. John, Columbia University, New York'In America's Battle for Media Democracy, Victor Pickard has produced a landmark work in communication history and media studies. Based on painstaking research, [he] sheds crucial new light on the political debates that created the contemporary commercial media system in the United States, and by doing so he allows us to envision a different and better future. This is mandatory reading for everyone concerned with media and politics.' Robert W. McChesney, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign'Victor Pickard is a scholar on the rise. His writing is fine and to the point. There is always need for solid media history based on primary research and good analysis - and this book fulfills both.' Christopher Sterling, George Washington University, Washington DC'America's Battle for Media Democracy is a wonderful contribution. Very illuminating - and poignant, but with rays of hope. A really fine piece of work.' Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology'Victor Pickard has written a definitive book that shows how corporations took over the media, and how the public lost control of the airwaves to commercialism in the '30s and '40s. America's Battle for Media Democracy goes deeply into the history when liberals had a pulse and there was, at least, a controversy. I must admire the luck that students have to learn from Professor Pickard to open their eyes and generate independent thinking about these important issues.' Ralph Nader'In this fascinating history, Pickard gets to the deep roots of the modern media consolidation mess we're in - not a state of nature, but the result of choices. It's a vital, powerful book.' Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University, New York'My frustration with contemporary news media - especially as it covers fundamental questions of war and peace, inequality and the survival of the planet - is rooted in an understanding that it could be so much bet