Robert W. McChesney

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Robert Waterman McChesney (Template:IPAc-en; December 22, 1952 – March 25, 2025) was an American professor notable in the history and political economy of communications, and the role media play in democratic and capitalist societies. He was the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.<ref name="faculty">Robert W. McChesney | Department of Communication | University of Illinois</ref> He co-founded Free Press,<ref>Free Press website, freepress.net; accessed April 13, 2015.</ref> a national media reform organization. From 2002 to 2012, he hosted Media Matters,<ref name="will.illinois.edu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a weekly radio program every Sunday afternoon on WILL (AM), Illinois Public Media radio.

Background and educationEdit

McChesney was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 22, 1952, to Samuel Parker McChesney, an advertising salesman for This Week magazine, and his wife Edna Margaret "Meg" (née McCorkle) McChesney, a nurse.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name = Gabriel>Template:Cite news</ref> He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where he studied history and political economy.<ref name = Gabriel/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

After college, McChesney worked for a time as a sports stringer for United Press International (UPI) and published a weekly newspaper.<ref name = Gabriel/> In 1979, he was the founding publisher of The Rocket, a Seattle-based rock music magazine that chronicled the birth of the Seattle rock scene of the late 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

McChesney began to report on the media itself and became an expert in the field, entering academic studies in this area. He did graduate work at the University of Washington, obtaining a PhD in Communications there in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite Q.</ref> He was the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.<ref name="faculty"/> He also taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.<ref name = Gabriel/>

Assessment of the mediaEdit

McChesney said the term "deregulated media" was a misnomer. He described media organizations as a government-sanctioned oligopoly, owned by a few highly profitable corporate entities. They have legislative influence and control news coverage and can distort public understanding of media issues.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In his article "Farewell To Journalism" (October 2012), McChesney described what he considered the deterioration of the current US media system; he said that this freefall threatens the democratic system itself. He highlights what scholars believe to be the key characteristics of healthy journalism, and says, "It is necessary...that the media system as a whole makes such journalism a realistic expectation for the citizenry."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

McChesney proposed a $200 annual Citizenship News Voucher to support journalism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A backer of Bernie Sanders's 2016 and 2020 presidential bids, McChesney was critical of how major news outlets covered Sanders's campaigns.<ref name = Gabriel/>

Personal life and deathEdit

McChesney and his wife, Inger Stole, had two daughters.<ref name = Gabriel/> He died from glioblastoma at his home in Madison, Wisconsin, on March 25, 2025, at the age of 72.<ref name = Gabriel/><ref name="nationobit">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

BibliographyEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Robert W. McChesney bibliography Template:Webarchive
Micha Odenheimer, "Your Free Internet is in Danger", Interview with Professor Robert W. McChesney at acheret.co.il
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