Tragedy & Farce, by John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney
This is one I hadn’t heard much about in the media, but it is an extremely astute look at the media: it’s history, why it has failed, and what might be done about it. Nichols and McChesney blame the corporate media for the failure in reporting what was going on before the Iraq war, for doing a terrible job of policing the Democratic primary race, and for atrocious coverage of the 2004 election. They pinpoint the problems of concentrated media ownership and explain how it came about and what they prescribe to lessen its impact. They end with a description of some grass roots organizations that have media reform as the ir primary goal, including an organization,
FreePress, which they started themselves as an umbrella group to create more public participation in media policy decisions. As an example, they discuss broadband internet coverage in communities, and how that battle will be fought by large monopolies like cable companies.
The book features several exclusive interviews, including one with Howard Dean and one with John Kerry. They make the case that Kucinich, alone among the Democratic presidential candidates, understood the problem of the media, but they credit Dean with figuring the problem out as his candidacy went on. They also politely point out the ways in which Kerry signaled he had no clue about the problem of the media, and how that hobbled the Democratic run.
It’s an extremely lively read, with an emphasis on the proper, vital role of an honest media in a democracy, and how our broken media has ushered in tragedy (the Iraq war) and farce (election 2004). They discuss the “Dean scream”, Rathergate, Bush’s wire in the first debate, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and the media’s incredible coddling of Bush.
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