The
Global Media: The Missionaries of Global Capitalism (Media Studies)
by Ed Herman, Robert Waterman
McChesney
Synopsis
The authors argue that the
most important features of this globalization process are the implantation,
consolidation and concentration of advertisement-based commercial media
and the parallel weakening of public broadcasting systems worldwide. Asserting
that the US provides the evolutionary model for this process, they describe
the history and characteristics of the US system, along with developments
in seven other countries. Finally, forms of local, national and global
resistance are discussed.
Customer Comments
A reader from London, UK,
October 13, 1998
Superb analysis of the domination of
capital in the media
Professors Herman and McChesney sharply
analyze the commercialization of the mass media over the last 20 years,
and its increasingly global nature. Their debunking of corporate libertarian
myths regarding the market providing consumer sovereignty in this arena,
and the alert they sound, concerning the consequences of a few firms dominating
the media and undermining democracy and the working class, makes this an
essential read for all independently minded citizens. Their treatment of
the internet in particular is well worth reading.
yaronroz@ix.netcom.com,
May 26, 1998
This book shows with remarkable details
how the entertainment industry works. The basic thesis is that the commercial
media sells its audience to the advertisers and as such tries to maximize
the number of people tuned-in with total disregard of the means. Another
covered aspect of the global media is a detailed structural description
of the major media corporations.
Both of these lines are felt in every turn
of out daily life, but here they are systematically analyzed.
The overwhelming number of references might
be useful for readers trying to validate the sources, but sometimes they
are distracting since they are not separated from clarifying remarks.
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