Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

No News Is Bad News: The Death Dance of Journalism and the Twilight of Democracy
Bill Quigley
20 May 2009
🖨️ Print Article

by Robert McChesney

In this 90 minute address, Dr. Robert McChesney argues that the disappearance of journalism from newspapers and broadcast media marks the twilight of democracy.  Back in the days when Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists started their newspapers, the US Postal Service was mailing them for free.  At the time, newspapers were 90% of post office volume, and accounted for 2% of its income, a massive government subsidy.  Only a massive subsidy --- a stimulus program for journalism, and stripping corporate owners of dozens and hundreds of stations that some of them own, can begin to make real democracy possible.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Kenyan government offers Red carpet for colonizers and a bloody nose for Anti-Imperialists
    13 May 2026
    The Ruto regime claims a Pan-African mandate when it sends police to Haiti, but it attacks and arrests Pan-African delegates when they gather in Nairobi.
  • Struggle La Lucha
    Cuba: New U.S. sanctions aim to starve people, justify military aggression
    13 May 2026
    Communiqué issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba — Havana, May 7, 2026
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 8, 2026
    08 May 2026
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a military attack carried out by Western-backed insurgents against the African nation Mali and the imperialist attempt to destabilize the Alliance of Sahel States.…
  • ACLU
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Louisiana v. Callais and the Black Vote
    08 May 2026
    The Supreme Court ruling in the case Louisiana v. Callais eliminated a majority Black congressional district in the state of Louisiana and put such districts at risk across the country. Alanah Odoms…
  • Lousiana
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Struggle for Black Electoral Power in Louisiana
    08 May 2026
    C.C. Campbell Rock is a New Orleans-based journalist. She recently wrote Louisiana v Callais: They Stole Black Power Again" for the site Black Source Media. She discusses the recent Supreme Court…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us