Description
Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy investigates the rapidly changing role of the media after the momentous political events since 9/11. Kellner shows how corporate media ownership, linked with a rightward shift of establishment media, have disadvantaged the Democrats and benefited the Republicans.
Kellner argues that 'media spectacles' have come to dominate news covereage and distract the public from the substance of real public issues. Exploring the role of media spectacle in the 9/11 attacks and subsequent Terror Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kellner documents the centrality of media politics in advancing foreign policy agendas and militarism. He reveals how conflicting political forces ranging from Al Qaeda to the Bush administration construct media spectacles to advance their politics. Two chapters delineate the role of the media in the highly significant 2004 election campaign that many believe to be one of the key political struggles of the contemporary era. Criticizing unilateralism abroad, Kellner argues for a multilateral and cosmopolitan globalization and the need for democratic media to take a more decisive role to overcome the current crisis of democracy.
Read Doug Kellner's Media Spectacle and the 2008 Presidential Election: Some Pre-Election Reflections at: Article
Author Info
Douglas Kellner, Professor in the Graduate School of Education, UCLA, is the author of many books, including Grand Theft 2000 (Rowman & Littlefield 2001) about the last presidential election.
Reviews
"One of the great books on media and politics in recent years. Kellner provides crystal clear analysis of what he accurately characterizes as a stunning crisis, for both our media system and our electoral system., and democracy more broadly. This book deserves to be read by all who care about core freedoms. Kellner, one of the outstanding media scholars of our times, has produced his finest work."
--Robert W. McChesney, author of The Problem of the Media
Contents
Introduction: Media Spectacle and Politics in the Contemporary Era
Chapter 1: Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election
Chapter 2: 9/11, Spectacles of Terror, and Perpetual War
Chapter 3: The Axis of Evil, Preemptive Strikes, and the Road to Iraq
Chapter 4: Pandora's Box: Bush's War on Iraq
Chapter 5: Media Spectacle and Election 2004
Chapter 6: Decision 2004: The War for the White House
Conclusion: The Media, Elections, and the Crisis of Democracy