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


  • Glen Ford on the U.S. War Against Venezuela
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Glen Ford on the U.S. War Against Venezuela
    28 Jul 2023
    This week I’m reporting from Caracas, Venezuela.
  • Closing Rikers Island and Decarcerating New York City
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Closing Rikers Island and Decarcerating New York City
    28 Jul 2023
    Melanie Dominguez is lead organizer for the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Censorship of the Black Left
    26 Jul 2023
    As the empire crumbles, the neoliberal capitalist order run by a corrupt duopoly is working to silence dissent. The Black left, of course, is always the first target.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: French Nuclear Tests in the Sahara, Tawia Adamafio, 1960
    26 Jul 2023
    A reminder of when Accra was at the center of struggles against nuclear imperialism. African people have always been at the forefront of peace and sanity. 
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Virtual Slave Labor in Congo’s Cobalt Mines
    26 Jul 2023
    I spoke to Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo, about the virtual slave labor in the cobalt mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s cobalt mines.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us