Any serious effort to reform the media system would have to necessarily be part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself. Robert Waterman McChesney More Quotes by Robert Waterman McChesney More Quotes From Robert Waterman McChesney You will never ever, in any circumstance, win any struggle at any time. That being said, we have a long way to go. At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies. We are not at that point yet. But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control. Robert Waterman McChesney phones struggle winning But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control. Robert Waterman McChesney phones media goal Copyright protects corporate monopoly rights over culture and provides much of the profits to media conglomeratesm encouraging the wholesale privatization of our common culture. Robert Waterman McChesney media rights culture In the United States, both the upper levels of the Republican and Democratic Parties are in the pay of the corporate media and communication giants. Robert Waterman McChesney communication media party The problem of how to make the Internet advertising friendly bewildered and obsessed Madison Avenue for much of the 1990s. Advertising won. Robert Waterman McChesney advertising problem friendly The whole process of getting licenses to broadcast, which took place decades ago, was done behind closed doors by powerful lobbies, and wealthy commercial interests got all the licenses with no public input, no congressional input for that matter. Robert Waterman McChesney input powerful doors The commercial broadcasters have tremendous influence in Washington, D.C., for a couple of reasons. First, they're extremely rich and they have lots of money and they have had for a long time, so they can give money to politicians, which gets their attention. Robert Waterman McChesney couple giving long If you go to go to countries in Europe or Asia or even Canada, even with all the Internet and cable TV and satellite, public systems tend to be the most popular stations in the countries. In some countries like Norway and Germany, public stations are, if anything, more popular than ever as people see what Rupert Murdoch's got in store for them in the commercial stations. Robert Waterman McChesney internet country people Local television news, on both radio and television, is so appalling. Makes print journalism look like the greatest stuff ever written. Robert Waterman McChesney news television looks Maybe if you and ten of your friends could pool your savings and borrow some money and actually buy some obscure station in Sonoma, and then take some chances and have some fun. Robert Waterman McChesney saving chance fun You know, a left-winger, the barrier to success if you're on the left in commercial radio is a mile and a half higher than it is if you're on the right. Robert Waterman McChesney congratulations half success Coverage of Iraq has plummeted, because people in power no longer want to talk about it suddenly. Journalists should be over there demanding front-page coverage, lead-story coverage every day. They should be demanding that no politician running for federal office can go to bed until they say what the hell they're going to do about Iraq and what how accountable they are for it. Robert Waterman McChesney office running people When the government allocates monopoly rights to frequency, and there are only a handful in each community, it's picking the winners in the competition. Robert Waterman McChesney community government rights But having said that, there's also a sea change in attitude towards media. Robert Waterman McChesney media sea attitude But having said that, what's happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating. Robert Waterman McChesney campaigns political culture Very rarely are you going to see the large shareholder or CEO of a corporation march into a newsroom and say, "Cover this story, don't cover that." It's a much more subtle process. The professional code adapts, but what we try to see, is how commercial and corporate pressure shape both the professional code and the sorts of things that are considered legitimate journalism and illegitimate journalism. Robert Waterman McChesney march journalism trying Our existing media system today is the direct result of government laws and subsidies that created it. Robert Waterman McChesney media government law So the competition isn't once you got the license, running the station; it's getting the license. Robert Waterman McChesney stations competition running The public gets not one penny from them in return for those airwaves. Robert Waterman McChesney return pennies Even if someone wanted a purely free-market, competitive media system, it would require extensive government regulation to set up those markets. All our largest media companies are based on the grant of explicit government monopoly privileges and licenses, or franchises, or subsidies. The government didn't come in after the system was in place, it built the system in the first place. Robert Waterman McChesney explicit
