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McChesney to speak at 2011 symposium
by Robert Stewart, Director; Professor
Freepress.net founder and media scholar Robert McChesney will give the closing remarks for the 2011 Schuneman Symposium (5:10 p.m., April 6, 2011 in the Baker Center Ballroom). His talk is titled: “In an exact sense the present crisis of western democracy is a crisis of journalism.”
Bob was a University of Washington graduate school classmate of mine back in the 1980s. Since then he has become a major intellectual force in the media reform movement. He’s published several important books on the media, including Rich Media, Poor Democracy, The Problem of the Media – U.S. Communication Politics in the 21st Century, Corporate Media & Threat to Democracy, and co-authored several others.
He’s also been in the news in recent years because of his co-authored book, The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again (Nation Books, 2010), outlining a plan that would provide tax dollar support for journalism organizations.
In the PBS Now January 2010 episode “Saving American Journalism,” McChesney and John Nichols outlined their ideas:
[link]
As founder of Freepress.net and one of the movers and shakers in the National Conference for Media Reform*, he’s also a prominent target of conservative critics such as Glenn Beck.
Because our Schuneman Symposium this year looks at alternative media models, we thought it would be appropriate to invite Bob McChesney to share with us these ideas, and any others on his fertile mind.
*McChesney will take part in our symposium in route to the next conference, scheduled for April 8-10 in Boston.
