Includes bibliographical references.

"The House of Lords" from Lords of the press (1938) / George Seldes -- "The disappearing daily" from The disappearing daily (1944) / Oswald Garrison Villard -- "U.S. media at the dawn of the twenty-first century" from Rich media, poor democracy (2000) / Robert W. McChesney -- "Bondage of the press" from The menace of privilege (1906) / Henry George Jr. -- "These days in American journalism" from The international socialist review (1911) / Charles Edward Russell -- "Owning the owners" from The brass check (1920) / Upton Sinclair -- "Big business and the press" from Freedom of the press (1935) / George Seldes -- "The advertising influence" from The American newspaper (1911) / Will Irwin -- "The business nobody knows" from Our master's voice (1934) / James Rorty -- "The power of advertising" from Freedom of the press (1935) / George Seldes -- "Advertising" from The first freedom (1946) / Morris Ernst -- "Sex, lies & advertising" from Ms. (1990) / Gloria Steinem -- "The suppression of important news" from Changing America (1912) / Edward A. Ross -- "The art of ballyhoo" from Ballyhoo (1927) / Silas Bent -- "Our un-free press" from Common sense (1935) / John Dewey -- "The vanishing market place of thought" from The first freedom (1946) / Morris Ernst -- "The problem and the principles" from A free and responsible press (1947) / The Hutchins Commission -- "Social control in the newsroom : a functional analysis" from Social forces (1955) / Warren Breed -- "Why a review of journalism?" from Columbia journalism review (1962) -- "The news media and the disorders" from Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968) / The Kerner Commission -- "Night thoughts of a media watcher" from Outrageous acts and everyday rebellions (1983) / Gloria Steinem -- "The growing gap" from The media monopoly (1983) / Ben Bagdikian -- "Re-thinking objectivity" from Columbia journalism review (2003) / Brent Cunningham -- "Code of ethics" and "Integrity of the press" from The founding statements of the American Newspaper Guild (1934) -- "The corps, the press, and democracy" from The Washington correspondents (1937) / Leo C. Rosten -- "Violations of press freedom in America" from Journalism quarterly (1938) / Alfred McClung Lee -- "On the collection of honest news" and "On the right to express and hear unpopular opinion" from the National guardian (1953) / W.E.B. Du Bois -- "The mass society" from The power elite (1956) / C. Wright Mills -- "Access to the press : a new First Amendment right" from Harvard law review (1967) / Jerome A. Barron -- "News as the reproduction of the status quo : a summary" from Making news (1978) / Gaye Tuchman -- "Propaganda mill" from The progressive (1988) / Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky -- "A palace court press" from On bended knee (1988) / Mark Hertsgaard -- "The military's media" from The progressive (2003) / Robert Jensen.

Robert McChesney (U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) has established a reputation for being one of the most important radical voices criticizing the American commercial media over the past few decades. Along with his co-editor Scott (a doctoral student at the U. of Illinois' Institute of Communications Research), he demonstrates in this reader that he is not alone and that he comes from a rich tradition of media criticism in the United States. They present 33 essays spanning the past century, in which writers such as Upton Sinclair, Gloria Steinem, W.E.B. Du Bois, Noam Chomsky, John Dewey, and C. Wright Mills attack the structural problems of the commercial "fourth estate" and the dangers it poses to democracy. Annotation #169;2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.