[ecrea] New Book: America's Battle for Media Democracy

My new book /America's Battle for Media Democracy: The Triumph of 
Corporate Libertarianism and the Future of Media Reform/ was officially 
released earlier this month, and it's now available as an e-book and in 
paperback. Focusing on media activism around radio and newspapers in the 
1940s, the book shows how this history holds much contemporary relevance 
for policy issues like net neutrality and the future of digital journalism.

More info here: http://victorpickard.com/book/

*Table of Contents*
Introduction: The policy origins and normative foundations of American media
1. The revolt against radio
2. A progressive turn at the FCC
3. The battle of the Blue Book
4. The origins of the Fairness Doctrine
5. The 1940s newspaper crisis and the birth of the Hutchins Commission
6. Should the giants be slain or persuaded to be good?
7. The postwar settlement for American media
Conclusion: Confronting market failure

*Reviews*

"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, 2001–2012*

"/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*

"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*


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