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


  • Robert Inlakesh
    Hamas, Trump, Israel, and Who Accepted What Ceasefire – Analysis
    08 Oct 2025
    As it stands, there is no chance that a ceasefire can be implemented, according to the current parameters of the Trump-Netanyahu plan.
  • Chris Gilbert , Cira Pascual Marquina
    A Story of Resistance and Renewal: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part I)
    08 Oct 2025
    Afro-Venezuelans discuss syncretism, anti-colonial resistance, and community organization on the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo.
  • Carlos Ron
    “We will blow you out of existence”: Trump’s Caribbean spectacle
    08 Oct 2025
    What is being carried out against Venezuela is not an operation against drug trafficking but rather a regime change operation.
  • Ajamu Baraka interview
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Trump's Gaza plan is 'pure fantasy'
    08 Oct 2025
    Ajamu Baraka joined RT News on October 3, 2025, to discuss Donald Trump's Gaza "peace plan."
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio October 3, 2025
    03 Oct 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a lawsuit on behalf of the Shabazz family, seeking information on law enforcement coverups and possible involvement in the assassination of Malcolm X. But first, we…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us