The Death and Life of American Journalism

Join the Dept. of Media Studies as we engage Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols in a discussion of their new book, THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM: The Media Revolution that will Begin the World Again (Nation Books, 2010), which explores the crisis of modern journalism. Rather than blaming the Internet, they offer an original explanation for the crisis, which locates the problem in the historical conflict between commercial values and the public service that is journalism. They do not merely identify the troubles of American newspapers—they offer a bold solution to saving journalism, and by extension, democracy. Going back to the roots of our republic, McChesney and Nichols make a case for federal intervention and assistance.

Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is co-founder of Free Press, a national media reform organization and hosts “Media Matters” on NPR-affiliate WILL-AM radio.

John Nichols has worked as a daily newspaper journalist and magazine writer for 25 years, reporting from more than 25 countries and interviewing every US president since Jimmy Carter. A pioneering political blogger for The Nation, he is the magazine’s Washington correspondent. A co-founder of Free Press, he appears regularly on MSNBC, CNN, the BBC and other broadcast and cable networks.