Robert McChesney Quotes

• If you look at the history of broadcasting, what you find is the National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association whose mission is to protect the interests of the commercial broadcasters.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in History, Uncategorized

  Tags in Find

• 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 McChesney

  Topics in Money, Uncategorized

  Tags in Give

• 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 McChesney

  Topics in Money, Uncategorized

  Tags in Fun, Friends

• Because Hightower’s problem, among other things, is that advertisers would be a lot less interested in his show than in Limbaugh’s, even if they have similar ratings, because of what Hightower is saying.

   

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Problem, Show

• Also, the commercial media in a superior position, really, to any other corporate lobby, because where would people hear about commercial media or corporate media criticism, where would they hear criticism of them other than in the commercial media?

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Hear, Criticism, Media

• Basically what they’re saying is, if you want to be on TV, if you want to be a credible candidate, you’ve got to buy ads. And if you’re not buying ads, you’re not a credible candidate, we don’t cover you.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Saying, Tv, Cover

• As the mainstream media has become increasingly dependent on advertising revenues for support, it has become an anti-democratic force in society.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Society

  Tags in Become, Support

• And understand that scarce spectrum is used today for example for cell phone operators, they have to pay for the airwaves they use, for their services.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Today, Understand, Used

• And they’ve got to be held accountable; our broadcasting system has to be made accountable; and unless it is, it’s going to be very hard to change anything else for the better in this country.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Change, Better, Hard

• But having said that, there’s also a sea change in attitude towards media.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Attitude

  Tags in Change

• But having said that, what’s happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Political, Culture

• Local television news, on both radio and television, is so appalling. Makes print journalism look like the greatest stuff ever written.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Greatest, Look

• If you’re running for reelection in the House of Representatives race, you know, it’s very important to you that you be on fairly good terms with the local affiliates in the largest market in your area. I mean you don’t want to antagonize them.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Important, Mean

• Because what’s going on now, and this applies mostly to television stations in the largest markets too, but TV stations basically are now the primary receivers of campaign spending.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Television

• So the competition isn’t once you got the license, running the station; it’s getting the license.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Once, Getting, Running

• One survey that I saw that was published I think in Variety or Electronic Media within the last three weeks says that now the average hour of radio in the United States has 18 minutes of commercials.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Last, Within

• Our existing media system today is the direct result of government laws and subsidies that created it.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Government, Result

• So that what you tend to see is someone like a Rush Limbaugh, he’s the classic case because he’s the most successful, he didn’t sort of like come out of his mother’s womb with the highest ratings in the country.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Mother

  Tags in Successful

• So it’s a much more difficult issue to organize around, because you can’t get media at all to make your case. And that’s where cases tend to be made politically.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Made, Difficult

• The cost of congressional and presidential campaigns has been leaping every two or four years. I think this year it will be 60 percent more than 1996; well over twice as much as in 1992 in the presidential and congressional races.

  Robert McChesney

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Over, Year

Robert McChesney (30)

Birth:	22nd December, 1952
Nationality:	American
Profession:	Critic, Professor

About

Robert Waterman McChesney is an American professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication. His work concentrates on the history and political economy of communication, emphasizing the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies.

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