[ecrea] New book: Digital Disconnect

“A major new work by one of the nation's leading analysts of media.… A 
hard to put down, meticulously researched must-read.”

—Juliet Schor, author of True Wealth
Purchase Digital Disconnect

“Over the past 20 years, the world has experienced a profound 
communications revolution delivered by the internet as well as an 
equally profound rise in economic inequality and instability delivered 
by neoliberal capitalism. Digital Disconnect explores the connections 
between these epoch-defining trends with clarity, depth, originality and 
verve."

—Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political 
Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts-Amherst

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I am writing you to tell you about my new book on the Internet that may 
interest you. It is titled Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning 
the Internet Away from Democracy. The book is a political economic 
examination of the digital revolution based upon 15 years of research. 
The book provides considerable detail but also an overarching analysis 
and argument, so it is intended for anyone concerned with the Internet. 
It is the capstone of my career.

Michael Delli Carpini, Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at 
the University of Pennsylvania, said: “Digital Disconnect makes a 
convincing case that one can only understand the Internet and related 
communication technologies through the lens of political economy, and 
that the capitalist political economy in which they are currently 
embedded in the United States is anathema to a truly democratic 
information environment.”

The book includes the following:

    * how the standard dichotomy of views on the Internet as 
“celebratory” or skeptical” have important and necessary insights, but 
they almost all fail to factor in or appreciate the importance of 
capitalism as the driving force, as well as the problems capitalism can 
create for democratic values and practices
    * a fresh look at  the noncommercial origins of the Internet, and 
the shadowy process whereby it was converted into an engine for 
commercialism
    * how the dinosaur industries of telecommunication and 
entertainment media have managed to survive and even prosper in the 
Internet era by their domination of the corrupt policymaking process
    * how the Internet, once seen as an engine of economic competition, 
has become arguably the greatest generator of economic monopoly in 
history, with troubling implications for both the economy and political 
democracy; the dominant Internet firms now comprise nearly one-half of 
the 30 largest publicly traded corporations  in the United States, based 
on market value
    * how advertising has been radically transformed online such that 
traditional notions of privacy have been eliminated, and the traditional 
support for media content advertising once provided is disappearing
    * how the national security state has surveillance powers over 
private citizens that were unimaginable a generation ago and are 
inimical to the foundations of a free society
    * how the Internet has assisted in destroying journalism as it has 
been practiced for the past century, and offers no hope on its own of 
rejuvenating journalism as a credible broad-based democratic 
institution; this chapter updates the research I did with John Nichols 
in 2010’s multiple-award-winning Death and Life of American Journalism 
(Nation Books)
    * how a series of crucial policy debates in the next decade will go 
a long way toward determining the course of the Internet and the course 
of society.

This book is written with the aim of helping scholars and citizens be 
informed participants, and to see that the revolutionary democratic 
potential of the digital revolution be realized.

After reading the book, Eric Alterman of The Nation and Brooklyn College 
wrote: “Once again, McChesney stands at the crossroads of media 
dysfunction and the denial of democracy, illuminating the complex issues 
involved and identifying a path forward to try to repair the damage. 
Here's hoping the rest of us have the good sense to listen this time.”

Matthew Rothschild, editor of The Progressive, wrote: “With a panoramic 
sweep and profound insights, McChesney rings the alarm bells, showing 
clearly how capitalism is swallowing up the promise of the Internet. No 
one knows this field better than McChesney, and with this book, he has 
reached the pinnacle.”

Thank you for your consideration,

Bob McChesney





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