America's Battle for Media Democracy

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.

Author: Victor Pickard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/27/2014
Pages: 262
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781107694750

About the Author
Pickard, Victor: - Victor Pickard is an assistant professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research explores the history and political economy of media institutions, media activism, and the politics and normative foundations of media policy. Previously he taught media studies at New York University and the University of Virginia and worked on media policy in Washington, DC. He served as a policy fellow for Congresswoman Diane Watson and as a senior research fellow at the media reform organization Free Press and at the public policy think tank the New America Foundation. His work has been published in numerous scholarly journals and anthologies, and, with Robert McChesney, he coedited the book Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights. He frequently speaks to the press about media-related issues and his op-eds have appeared in venues like the Guardian, the Seattle Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Huffington Post.